The Miriam Hospital Delivers Medical Equipment to Frontline Doctors in Ukraine

In the spirit of giving this past holiday season, The Miriam Hospital helped deliver a special gift to fellow medical professionals on the front lines in Ukraine.

In December, an urgent call for a pair of defibrillators came to the attention of Gary Bubly, MD, emergency medicine specialist at The Miriam Hospital, who learned of the request from the Heal Ukraine Group, a consortium of Boston-based, Harvard-affiliated physicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals supplying medical technology directly to Ukrainian frontline physicians.

Dr. Bubly immediately informed Maria Ducharme, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, president of The Miriam Hospital. She promptly contacted Director of Biomedical Engineering Shyue-Ling Chen, who is responsible for overseeing Lifespan’s inventory of medical equipment, to see what was available.

“Turns out, we had two older model defibrillators that were no longer in our active rotation,” Ducharme explained. “One was here at Miriam, and another at Rhode Island Hospital. Shyue-Ling and his team then conducted functionality tests to make sure the units were still in full working order. Thankfully, they were, so, we arranged to have them picked up and sent on their way to the doctors who desperately need them in Ukraine. We also supplied them with extra batteries, because having a reliable backup power source is always crucial, particularly in the dire situation they find themselves in over there.”

In response to the gift, Heal Ukraine Group cofounders Mark Poznansky, MD, PhD, FRCP, FIDSA and Jacqueline A. Hart, MD remarked, “We cannot thank the generous folks from The Miriam Hospital enough for their expeditious help with this request. New defibrillators can cost thousands of dollars, so this donation of much-needed equipment saves us considerable expense and could help save lives over in Ukraine.”