Ukraine Assistance Report -No.2 from the Small Infirmary, Suceava, Romania

2022-08-30

I moved alone to the refugee center from Kairos to see patients.

When I arrived there, six people were already waiting in the medical room. The staff there immediately helped with translation. Some of them lived outside the center. Most of them had diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic pain in their hips, shoulders, and knees. I explained to them that medication would not solve their problems since they were all overweight by about 15 kg. Part of the problem is that the center uses a standard catering service and the inability to cook is a major challenge. Even for those who can cook, there are doubts whether nutritional guidance will improve their condition since they are here because they want immediate solution through medication. I feel like I can’t meet their expectations.

I started doing Yang Mei Ji's TaiChi for my health every day and gradually 6-8 people joined me in the mornings and evenings.

The evacuation center became busy with 25 Ukrainian mothers and their children who spent a week at the center, which is just over two hours by bus from Suceava. They were going sightseeing in Suceava to relax and make happy memories. A young Japanese man and a woman from Canada studying nursing at a university joined the tour and had a good time together. There was also a missionary couple from Mauritius, Africa, whose wife is from Ukraine, and they acted as interpreters.

The Japanese group offered a class on how to make sushi, origami, painting, and ikebana to the people returning from the tour. Both children and adults enjoyed being exposed to different cultures. I had the opportunity to participate in the flower arrangement class.

Suchi Making Class

Flower Arrangement Class

It was early Saturday morning when they left here, and with no staff, a woman from Canada and I saw them off together. Before they got on the bus, we sang the Ukrainian national anthem together, and everyone was so excited that we hugged and said goodbye to them.

[Ukraine Natinal Anthem]

August 24th is the anniversary of Ukraine's independence from Russia. However, the war continues. Families are not allowed to leave Ukraine together and so families are separated. They can call them on their phones and they can talk to them on video, but it is still a sad situation. I have wanted to be there for them in their grief, but I feel frustrated about how to go about helping them. I feel that I have no choice but to listen to what they want to talk about and enjoy each other’s company, having meals together, and drinking tea.

After the tour group left, the center returned to a calm routine. However, an 89-year-old woman tested positive for corona. I wanted to isolate her, but since there was no room, the people in close contact along with the patient had to stay in one small room and be treated as if they were all infected. I had brought N-95 masks in anticipation of this situation and handed them to the three patients, but I was troubled by the fact that they did not wear masks thoroughly. The fever had gone down, but the oxygen level had not risen from 93-94%, so I was concerned that the patient might become seriously ill. It is said that the virus becomes less infectious on the 10th day, so I tested again on the 11th day and the result was positive again. I was troubled by this and asked Dr. Michio to search for literature and learned that elderly people may continue to test positive even though they are not contagious. We created a policy for the evacuation center that suited Romania's situation and obtained the consent of the person in charge.

An 18-year-old young man knocked on my door in the middle of the night saying he had hit his head on the window and was bleeding, so I gave him first aid. Another girl fell on her bicycle and sprained her ankle. It was not serious and so I treated the wounds and I applied a cold compress. Treating injuries was not my area of expertise, but I was fortunate enough to be able to manage it.

Around 9:00 p.m. some kind of a quarrel between children resulted in a fall and a 9-year-old boy suffered a nose injury. The police came and took him to the ambulance, but I was not informed until the next day when it was reported to me. Fortunately, the boy had no broken bones, but his mother came to my room and asked, "My child is getting anxious, do you have any tranquilizers?" I said, "He is a child and I don't treat him with medication unless he is very sick, so I would like you to take me to see your son." The mother and the child were able to communicate in English to some extent without an interpreter. It seemed that the boy was not as upset. He is sleeping without nightmares and does not seem to be frightened, but he does seem to be worried that he might be beaten again someday. As I listened to the story, I could see that the mother had calmed down. I heard that she had also spoken with the father of the perpetrator, but he had not apologized at all, and seemed very frustrated. We decided to keep a distance from the child and see how things went. After that, nothing happened and the matter was resolved.

I have loved shiatsu since I was in college, so I have been offering daily massages to people with stiff shoulders and back pain who do not need medication. Some staff members have become addicted to it and want it done every day. Some have insomnia and headaches all the time, some have shoulder and arm pain from cleaning facilities they are not accustomed to, and some have back pain. Perhaps there is a need for this type of help.

One night, a volunteer came with a woman who lives alone and had been infected with corona for months. She had tested positive for corona four days earlier. I brought water, fruit, and yogurt. As for me, I was prepared for the possibility of an ambulance ride right away, but I was relieved to see that the antigen test was negative, the oxygen level was 97%, and there was no problem. On the way home, I was going to pray for her in English, but she said she wanted to pray herself, so she prayed in Romanian and she seemed to have regained her energy.

I accompanied a family member who had been experiencing psychological symptoms for some time and wanted to consult with a dermatologist, a hay fever patient who could not tell whether it was an allergic reaction or acne. She took ATB and recovered well.

The medical office has donated medicine, but they are all in Romanian, and the amount of medicine is 2-3 times larger than in Japan, so it was hard to use and the most frequent medicines are running out.

A Japanese nurse who lives in Vienna came here to support us and she organized the medicines so neatly that the doctor's office looked completely different. Since then, I have been able to have Shiatsu in the doctor's office instead of my room. I am very thankful that I can use it comfortably.