This week, the 32nd group of volunteers from Lenexa-based health nonprofit Global Care Force will depart for Ukraine.
“At this moment, all Ukrainians are tired of war. It's exhausted our mental [and] physical health,” says Ukrainian physician Dr. Lev Prystupiuk. “Global Care Force not only treats patients, a volunteer from the United States coming to Ukraine gives hope, joy and love.”
Global Care Force initially began in response to COVID 19 and grew into a global organization responding to medical needs overseas. Since Russia invaded in 2022, Global Care Force has sent volunteers from the United States to Ukraine once a month, providing health care and distributing supplies.
Roxanne Jones, a Lenexa resident who leads international volunteer programming, said thousands of Ukrainians are in need of care for conditions directly connected to the war, like hypertension, PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The nonprofit travels around Ukraine to serve the areas of greatest need.
“Over 80% of providers have either left the country or are on the front lines,” Jones said. “These villages we go to were once occupied, and these are people without anything. So to provide them medications for their chronic and acute needs, we're very grateful that we're able to do that for them.”
Prystupiuk is speaking on a public panel hosted by the International Relations Council at the Central Resource Library in Overland Park, on Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m.
- Dr. Lev Prystupiuk, Ukraine medical director, Global Care Force
- Roxanne Jones, vice president of global programs, Global Care Force
