Joany McDougall, RN, told us about her work with Samaritan’s Purse training nurses in Ukraine. She described training on her third deployment to Ukraine during the war.

Training took place in a parking garage serving as a bomb shelter. In the shelter 4-foot cement culverts tubes covered with sandbags were close at by in case bombs were falling in the immediate area.
Two training sessions took place seven days a week. Joany estimated her group trained 23,600 nurses in diverse topics. During blackouts generators kept the lights on and computers working. Topics covered in the training ranged from treating fractures, burns, ICU operation under difficult conditions, and other trauma situations.
An example of Joany’s burn training was shown. Simulated burns were placed on translators and nurses learned how to apply treatment and dressings in an appropriate manner.

Resilience of the Ukrainian people impressed Joany. Some nurses continued to serve their people despite being bombed out, losing family members and all their possessions. A picture of a bombed-out children’s hospital was shown that continues to operate despite partial destruction from cluster bombs.