A call from one childhood friend to another during the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early March sparked a quick $20,000 fundraiser that was used to buy anesthesia machines laptops and pulse oximeters that were sent to the Licarnya regional clinic in Kharkiv.
“I knew what was going on from the very start of the war, and he called me a little freaked out,” Dr. Vadim Firdman, a Woodmere dentist with offices in Lynbrook and Brooklyn, said of his friend. childhood, Dr. Rostylav Chaplinskyy, who is the head of the anesthesiology department at the Kharkiv hospital. “He said there were only four anesthesia units left and they were struggling with a lack of equipment.”
Firdman, 57, who was born and raised in Ukraine, immigrated to the United States 20 years ago but has remained in contact with Chaplinskyy. They have been friends for more than 50 years, Firdman said. “I was born in Ukraine, I grew up in Ukraine,” Firdman said. “Like all normal people, I want to help, especially people who need help.”
Within two weeks of their conversation, the money the hospital needed was raised thanks to Venmo. Gradian Health Systems, a not-for-profit medical technology company, has partnered with Diamedica UK Ltd. to provide the equipment. Rohlog SUUS Logistics, a Gradian partner, coordinated the shipment and delivery of equipment to Chaplinskyy Hospital.
“We believe that because of the partnerships we have developed with people like Dr. Chaplinskyy and Dr. Firdman, we can help meet some of the ongoing healthcare needs exacerbated by the crisis,” Nicole wrote. Lund, Gradian’s logistics manager in North America. an email. “At Gradian, we believe in building strong networks and commend Dr. Firdman for the work he is doing to ensure resources are sent to Ukraine at this time.
A former board member of Marion & Aaron Gural JCC, Firdman is doing what that organization is also doing, watching the war unfold in Ukraine and offering help.
“We are keeping our eyes and ears open and helping in any way we can,” said Aaron Rosenfeld, CEO of Gural JCC.
The mission of the JCC Association of North America is to lead and connect the movement of Jewish Community Centers across the continent, to advance and enrich Jewish life.
There are more than 170 JCCs which welcome some 1.5 million weekly visitors in person and online, according to figures from the association.
Recently, the Gural JCC, in Cedarhurst, and the Sid Jacobson JCC, in Roslyn, collected what Gural’s chief operating officer, Lisa Stein, described as “medium-sized bags” containing medical items such as bandages and ointments, and worked with St. Michael’s Ukrainian Church, Uniondale, to ship the supplies to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world,” the JCC association said in a statement, “with some 200,000 Jews concentrated in the country’s four largest cities, spread across dozens of smaller towns. and villages across the country”.
Rosenfeld said the Gural JCC was working on a program under the umbrella organization, partnering with JServe and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Israel to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country and settling in Hungary, Moldova. , in Poland and Romania.
Jewish History Day was celebrated during the April 3 Rangers-Flyers hockey game at Madison Square Garden.
The donations and part of the revenue from ticket sales were added to a crisis fund for Ukraine, Rosenfeld said.
As more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees head to the United States, Rosenfeld said the JCC will “help in any way we can.”
