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'Seeing my homeland destroyed': Valley ER doctor on medical mission to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing invasion

Dr. Svetlana Reznikova-Steinway says she's had 'uncomfortable conversations' with her 3 young children about why she's heading to a war zone.

MESA, Ariz. — A Valley emergency room doctor is on a mission to provide desperately needed care for Ukraine.

“I am seeing my homeland being destroyed,” Dr. Svetlana Reznikova-Steinway said Friday, as she picked up medical supplies donated by a Scottsdale surgery center.

“This is beyond heartbreaking. We have some family and many, many friends who are living there, and are trying to be as safe as they can. It's been very tough.”

The mission came together in just four days.

It started with a Facebook plea for money and medical supplies Thursday night. 

Departure for Warsaw, Poland, is scheduled for Monday, followed by travel to the Poland-Ukraine border near L’viv, the site of a mass refugee exodus.

Hi friends, 3 of us are working to see if it’s gonna be possible for us to go to help out with medical disaster relief...

Posted by Svetlana Reznikova-Steinway on Thursday, March 3, 2022

Reznikova-Steinway, an ER doctor at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, will be joined by two friends and fellow medical professionals — pediatric nurse practitioner Janet Semenova-Hornstein and registered nurse Carla Stark.

None of them have ever worked in a disaster area.

“We're not really sure exactly what we're going to face,” Reznikova-Steinway said. “But we're very hopeful that we can do some good work.”

Semenova-Hornstein, who also runs a travel business, connected the group with a veteran-staffed non-profit, Aerial Recovery Group, that's doing work in Ukraine. 

“They asked us to help to set up medical help at the border site because right now, they're actively trying to evacuate orphans and many other people from Ukraine,” Reznikova-Steinway said.

Their bags will be packed with 300 pounds of medical supplies from friends and colleagues around the country. 

Dr. Rajan Bhatt saw the Facebook plea at midnight Thursday. 

Bhatt stacked supplies for the mission on two patient beds at his Scottsdale surgical center. “Emptying the closet,” he said.

“From anesthesia to antibiotics to saline to IV fluids to sterile surgical drapes,” Bhatt said. His wife, Nancy, was a University of Arizona medical school classmate of Reznikova-Steinway’s.

“She is a real hero,” Bhatt said. “We were so moved by her desire to go and help the people of Ukraine that we thought, ‘What small thing can we do?’”

Reznikova-Steinway was born and raised in Ukraine. She moved to the United States from Donetsk when she was 18 years old.

Now, 26 years later, she’s having “really uncomfortable conversations” with her three children about why she’s going back to a war zone.

“They're asking will we come back fine and alive and safe,” Reznikova-Steinway said.

“Why would I do that? Why would my friends do that? Why can't we just stay home and send some money?”

She and her husband have three children: a 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old twin boys.

“It's not an easy decision,” Reznikova-Steinway told me. “But I do believe it's the right decision.”

Conflict in Ukraine

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