On the road again: Growing number of Illinois ambulances on the ground in Ukraine

EL PASO – Sending an old ambulance to Ukraine, where it can immediately make a difference, is what being in EMS is all about, says the head of El Paso's Emergency Squad.

Karen Kurg, who administers the Woodford County village's emergency medical team, said it wasn't a hard decision for her and her board of trustees to ship the vehicle – which they had replaced with a newer one – overseas.

"We didn't need it, and no one else wanted it, so why not send it to an organization that wanted it? It's all about the greater good," she said. "It's very gratifying to know. Actually, that it is being used exactly how we used it, but the value is 1,000 times more valuable than when we were using it.

"They need it right now," Kurg said.

That vehicle and about 10 others are either in the war-torn nation or on their way, said Chris Manson, who is OSF HealthCare's vice president of government relations and the person who got the first Advanced Medical Transport ambulance over to Ukraine in April. The program has taken off, and by the end of the year, he expects to have shipped about 20 such vehicles to that area.

And Manson, who has made two trips to Ukraine this year, was the one who drove the El Paso rig over the Polish border. On the dashboard was a picture of Archbishop Fulton Sheen – a native of El Paso.

"On more than one occasion, Bishop Sheen has been someone I have prayed to asking for help with this ambulance effort. Since I was driving an El Paso, Illinois, ambulance into Kyiv, I felt it appropriate that he be in a place of prominence," said Manson, who is Catholic. "Also, I figured he was well positioned to look out for the convoy as well and to make sure we didn't encounter any problems along the way."

Either a smile or a tear in their eye

The campaign started with Manson's daughter, who was 7, asking what was happening in Ukraine. But it has morphed into a large collaboration of different states, organizations and agencies to get medical supplies and vehicles to carry them to the Ukrainian people.

Ambulances came from Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee and elsewhere. And, Manson said, it's brought hope to a nation that has been at war for months.

"It wasn't like I had people coming up to me," he said. "It was more interesting to see the reaction to the ambulances itself. (Locals) would physically touch the ambulance and touch what people had written on the outside of it. Someone would come over who knew English and would translate a message. You'd see a smile or a tear in their eye.

"It was a reaction to the actual equipment being there, and people recognizing that (they) weren't alone. They knew that people from all over the United States are taking their time to fill (the ambulances), donate them and send them," Manson said.

On board the El Paso ambulance was a letter from a Peoria woman who was from Ukraine, Kurg said. There were also supplies, blankets and other items from people who donated things, she said.

"We tried to let them know we were thinking of them. We are fortunate here that we haven't had a war directly in the United States for a long time," she said.

'Very surreal' to be driving an American ambulance in Kyiv

Manson went back to Ukraine, he said, because he wanted to make sure the rigs got to where they were supposed to be going. It was the first time they were traveling by ship, and with more on the way, he wanted to be there if any hiccups occurred.

The ships would dock in Germany, cross that nation into Poland and then make the final push. They had to install license plates in Germany and drive the vehicles on the Autobahn over to Poland.

He drove the El Paso ambulance about 1,000 kilometers (about 620 miles) to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

"It was pretty uneventful. You know you are going through a relatively safe part of the country, but there are border checkpoints and you are encountering people who have weapons who are asking who you are," he said. "Fuel is rationed, so we had to make sure we had arrangements set up there."

They stopped first in Rivne in western Ukraine – still four hours from Kyiv. There, they were able to distribute some of the supplies in the two ambulances that he was bringing on that trip to officials at the regional hospital, which he said was on par in beds and size with OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

Manson said they often traveled at night to avoid detection, making it spooky at times.

"We didn't want a Ukrainian guard somewhere to see two American ambulances at night and be mistaken for being Russian," he said. "The vehicles here are not shaped the same as the ones over there, so they stand out more. I was more worried about mistaken friendly fire.

"It was very surreal to be driving an American ambulance in Kyiv," he said.

'I am still looking for ambulances'

So what about the AMT ambulance, the one that started it all?

Manson spotted it after they got to Kyiv. They arrived in the capital city on July 4, a coincidence that wasn't lost on Manson, a former Marine. The AMT rig was at a cardiac hospital. Manson took some pictures and sent them back to Andrew Rand, AMT's CEO.

"I told him, 'I found your ambulance and it's safe,'" he said.

From there, it took working with medical officials, administrative types and others to determine what was needed and where the ambulances could go.

The two rigs he brought over – the one from Ohio and the El Paso one – as well as the AMT ambulance were all moved east into areas that were seeing more combat.

There is a need, he said, for more. In mid-July, four more left for Eastern Europe and Manson believes he'll have close to 20 in place by fall. He's gotten letters from the military, children's hospitals and other medical facilities seeking help.

"I am still looking for ambulances. As long as there is a conflict in Ukraine, as long as people and the Ukrainian government are looking for ambulances and as long as people are looking to help out and donate ambulances, I'm willing to help out and do what I can," he said.

But it all started here in Peoria, and Manson says people in central Illinois have made a huge impact.

"Without Peoria and without people in Peoria like (Andrew) Rand, AMT and the sisters of OSF who were willing to set all this up, we wouldn't be talking about up to 20 ambulances by the end of the summer," he said.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: More ambulances from Illinois heading to war in Ukraine