“One of the biggest needs we’ve seen is just psychological support,” said Broccoli, who is also affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. “We’re speaking to women whose husbands are back in the country and talking with them about their future plans and all the people we’ve talked to have basically said ‘We don’t know, we will go back when it’s safe, but we don’t know how long that’s going to be.’”
Broccoli gave high marks to the Polish government, the Polish Red Cross, and other agencies that are handling the stream of refugees. While the wait in Ukraine to cross the border can stretch to 24 hours, once in Poland refugees are processed quickly, given food and clothing, and then transferred from the border to facilities elsewhere in the country. However, safety concerns are keeping responders out of areas of highest need, where the fighting is ongoing, and there have been reports of Russian attacks on hospitals and clinics.
Broccoli said her team is planning a trip to Lviv, Ukraine, a major city about 50 miles from the border to the west. The city has not experienced sustained Russian attack, but its health care system is thought to be under strain.
“The Ukrainian health care system is more disrupted than the Polish one, so it’s much more difficult for the Ukrainian health care system to meet even the smaller amount of medical needs,” Broccoli said. “But the biggest need overall — which is something I don’t think any humanitarian actor has figured out — is how to get medical aid to the people in and around the towns where there is active conflict going on.”
While health care workers in Poland and other nations are doing “a phenomenal job,” Broccoli said that if the refugee wave grows significantly, relief workers could assist in hospitals to relieve overtaxed staff.
“Like any doctor, we just want to help people who need help,” Broccoli said.