Old North News

When Dr. David Callaway chose the medical profession as his career pursuit, he probably realized he would encounter some gut-wrenching situations, whether through disease or awful accidents.

That, however, can’t compare to what he saw when he did a stint in Ukraine to help the war-ravaged populace.

“It certainly affects me when I see a population that is largely women and children,” he told NBC 12 after recently returning from overseas. “It makes me think about my kids, but I will also tell you when I come back and my daughters are hugging me and saying thanks for going and all of a sudden they know about cities in Ukraine and Poland and there is now reason that they would have known otherwise it gives me a sense of pride it gives me a sense of community.” 

Callaway works with Team Rubicon, a disaster response team that handles many facets of helping communities recover, from providing medical services to construction, the nonprofit’s website says. Team Rubicon recently sent a crew to Ukraine, Poland and Hungary to help with the humanitarian crisis the Russian military incursion has wrought. 

As the chief of crisis operations and an emergency medicine professor for Atrium Health, Callaway brings a level of expertise to Team Rubicon and helps the team provide the best medical care possible under less-than-optimal circumstances.

“We did mostly mobile medical care in these different camps of people who have been displaced and we saw largely woman and children and the elderly to these highly vulnerable populations that had been displaced from their homes,” he recounted on the newscast.

One objective when Team Rubicon deploys, he said, is to work with local health providers to make sure they are taking care of the people in an ethical and effective way.

“My job early was first to confirm the need, second to make sure that we establish those relationships effectively with World Health Organization, the Ukrainian ministry of health and local hospital systems and third to make sure our teams would be safe operating in this environment,” he told NBC 12.

Before a team sets out, the members plan for the long haul, with the goal being to provide care for 100 patients a day for two weeks without running out of supplies, according to the report. Besides bringing along the necessary medical equipment, they also have to take care of themselves, packing rations, generators and water.

It’s all worthwhile, he said, because he knows the teams are making a difference for those in need. Though he’s back, other volunteers remain to continue providing help.