Southwest Florida emergency medical workers head to Ukraine as part of humanitarian relief

Three Southwest Florida residents have gone to Ukraine on behalf of a Florida humanitarian organization which provides emergency medical aide in regions of the world facing conflict or disaster.

A nurse practitioner from Collier County, Andrea Leiner, 43, is overseeing efforts on behalf of Global Response Management, based in Yulee, Florida, to provide emergency medical personnel and supplies in Ukraine.

As director of strategic planning for Global Response, Leiner spent 18 days in Lviv, Ukraine and in Poland from March 9 until March 26, doing initial assessment work for how the organization could help.

Leiner said she is returning to Ukraine on Thursday, adding that Global Response has committed through June to provide emergency medical aide in Ukraine.

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Last week, a Naples emergency medicine physician, Dr. Scott Dunavant, left for Ukraine to be part of a surgical team that includes an anesthesiologist and former special operations medic, she said.

“He is medical director of rapid response (for Global Response) for this type of high-risk work,” she said.

Ken Craft, a former Bonita Springs assistant fire chief, was in Ukraine with Leiner in early March as an EMS liaison for rapid response, she said.

Global Response is led by veterans to provide “humanitarian medicine to vulnerable populations displaced by conflict, war or disaster,” according to its website.

In June 2020 when the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic was being realized and the farmworker community of Immokalee faced high infection rates, Global Response had a team in Immokalee to help stop spread of the virus.

Before Dunavant left for Ukraine last week, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk provided him with a ballistic vest and protective helmet.

Dunavant works for Team Health, a company which provides emergency medicine physicians to hospitals under contract. He works in the emergency room at NCH Healthcare System.

“I’m honored to lend this safety equipment to Dr. Dunavant, a Collier County physician who is bravely and selflessly helping those in dire need,” Rambosk said in Facebook post for the sheriff’s department.

“We’ve worked with the team at Global Response Management in Immokalee during the pandemic and know this nonprofit organization provides a great and much needed service to people in need.”

Leiner said it was unclear where Dunavant would be based in Ukraine for a two-week period but it will be at a hospital where the need is great. He is part of a second surgical team in Ukraine, she said.

The teams are purposely small to travel in one vehicle to provide back-up support at hospitals and to increase surgical capacity, she said.

The organization has three initiatives in Ukraine: Providing small cell surgical teams, helping with medical evacuation for the injured to Poland, and providing training to physician volunteers on the frontlines so they can learn what to expect on a practical level, Leiner said.

So far Global Response has had about 30 volunteers in Ukraine, with its first team on the ground three days after the invasion. Leiner said she was there shortly afterward to help assess the readiness of hospitals alongside other humanitarian organizations.

For more information about Global Response or to make a donation, visit the organization’s website at global-response.org.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: SWFL medical workers travel to Ukraine to provide emergency aid