Authors

  1. Szulecki, Diane

Article Content

On this month's cover, Ukrainian nurse Svetlana Stetsiuk comforts an infant in a shelter in Kyiv. The infant is one of dozens who were being cared for at a surrogacy center when a rocket landed nearby in early March-shortly after Russia's invasion of the country-forcing the staff to create a makeshift underground nursery. The center's nurses lived at the shelter, providing 24/7 care, while waiting for each infant to be evacuated.

  
Figure. On this mont... - Click to enlarge in new windowFigure. On this month's cover, Ukrainian nurse Svetlana Stetsiuk comforts an infant in a shelter in Kyiv. The infant is one of dozens who were being cared for at a surrogacy center when a rocket landed nearby in early March-shortly after Russia's invasion of the country-forcing the staff to create a makeshift underground nursery.

The photo exemplifies the dedication of health care workers in a time of great danger, destruction, and need. In his June testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives, Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Christopher Stokes said, "We find that, in general, Ukrainian health care workers have not left, and many who moved their children and other family members to safety have returned to care for those unable or unwilling to evacuate Ukraine."

 

According to the United Nations, more than 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country since February. In this month's Conversations article, nurse Teresa Gray-founder of the nonprofit volunteer organization Mobile Medics International (MMI)-discusses her group's efforts to help care for Ukrainian refugees living in Romania. MMI has aided individuals on five continents in the wake of conflict and natural disasters. Gray observes that, for refugees of all backgrounds, "the emotional damage is the same the world over. It doesn't matter where [they] come from. The grief and the horror is the same."-Diane Szulecki, editor