CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — An emergency doctor from Cooper Hospital in Camden recently returned from a trip to Ukraine where he helped teach classes on wound treatment and how to stop bleeding.
“A little bit of lecture, and then just hands-on course work with the mannequins and the tourniquets,” said Dr. Josh Rempell.
The trip was set up through the International Medical Corps and started with a flight into Poland. Dr. Rempell and his group walked across the border because the line of cars to get in and out of the country was way too long.
Then they got to work.
“I taught some courses geared toward source control of bleeding, that were geared towards anyone that was interested, and it was really amazing,” he said. “Some of the participants were folks that just sort of witnessed traumas and were there to gain a little bit of experience.”
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Dr. Rempell says while he did hear some bombings happen off in the distance, it never got close enough to really scare him, though they did scurry off into bomb shelters a few times just to be safe.
The best part of the trip for him was connecting with people who were eager to learn.
“It’s amazing, obviously, how appreciative the folks are,” said Dr. Rempell.
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One thing that surprised him was how so many people were trying to live a normal life amid the chaos.
“You know, (I was) struck by people just out gardening and in their yards going about their business,” he said.
As news about the free classes spread, seats filled quickly.
“There were more people wanting to take it than we could accommodate, unfortunately,” he said. “The word got around very quickly when they were set up in the different regions.”