A local paramedic who works for South West Ambulance Services is one of a team of five who've gone out to Ukraine with the frontline medical aid charity UK-Med.

Kirsty Porter, 45, lives in Glossop with her partner and two young children and works as a bank paramedic at Newquay ambulance station. She stays in Cornwall for her blocks of shifts and returns home for her days off.

In Ukraine, she and her colleagues are working with local health providers and international organisations to establish how best to address the needs of some of the 1.5 million people who’ve been internally displaced since the conflict began.

Speaking from the airport, she said: “I was on shift when I got the call, at the station in Newquay. 

“I had to drop or cancel everything. My first thoughts were the implications for my family. What it would mean for them? I have a partner and two children, aged two and seven, and I’ll be away for my daughter’s birthday - and my own.

“But the need goes without saying; it’s my driving force. It feels painful to know what people are going through, especially linked to all the family separation, and I have some apprehension about what it’s going to be like. 

“But although the conflict is some distance away, everyone’s going to have friends or family who have been affected by it.”

Kirsty Porter at Manchester Airport 

UK-Med health director Dr Ram Vadi has already been out to visit western Ukraine. 

He said: “Our aim is to get primary health care and general surgical services to those people most in need. 

“As the conflict continues and the situation deteriorates this will undoubtedly include delivering trauma care to the war-wounded.

“From our current information we know the needs are greatest east of Lviv, and we are one of the few NGOs (non-governmental organisation) assessing these areas. 

“UK-Med can respond in a number of ways which includes setting up a field hospital which can provide out-patient care for around 100 patients a day, embedding highly skilled medical teams in existing hospitals to support the Ukrainian healthcare staff, and setting up mobile health clinics which can get to the places where people need them most. 

“This is a long-term response, and the costs will be high. Which is one of the reasons why, for the first time, we’ve launched a national appeal, aiming to raise £500,000.”

Born of the NHS in 1988, UK-Med has an accredited register from which it can draw on nearly 1,000 UK and international doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals; all highly trained to work in emergencies.

Its ability to send conflict-trained surgeons to wherever needed in the world, within 24 hours, is another of its core strengths.

This is Kirsty’s fourth deployment with UK-Med, having first worked during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2014, followed by supporting Lebanon and Papua New Guinea’s healthcare systems during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

She said: “The experiences are hugely challenging but also very rewarding.”

Money to help UK-Med’s vital lifesaving work can be donated direct at www.uk-med.org

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