Being the hands and feet of Jesus in a warzone

Apr 16, 2022 by Jill

from Christian Today:

British doctor Laura Douglas-Beveridge, 33, has just returned to the UK after serving for three weeks at Samaritan Purse’s field hospital in Ukraine. She speaks to Christian Today about the trauma she witnessed but also how her faith inspired and sustained her.

CT: How different was what you encountered there from what you might be dealing with as a doctor day-to-day here in the UK?

Laura: The differences were pretty enormous. People had quite extreme presentations with illnesses that had really deteriorated after having to flee without their medications etc. The combination of having to travel for several days, with injuries and delays to receiving treatment meant that they often developed infections or had complications that potentially needed surgery. This was quite a different set of challenges from what we would see in a stable environment where you could treat someone immediately at the time they had sustained that injury or where someone was able to look after their own health.

But then at the same time, there were also a lot of similarities. People are still people wherever they are in the world and the things that bring hope to people are often the same – showing kindness and compassion, just spending a few moments to listen to someone and help them feel heard. Those things are exactly what we would try to bring to patients at home here in the UK as well.

Read here

See more in our ‘Attack on Ukraine’ collection here