LOS ANGELES (KNX) — A Southern California doctor is part of an effort to send a team of doctors overseas to help the people and soldiers of Ukraine. But just this week, as he’s been speaking with the media about his efforts, Dr. Dan Olesnicky told KNX In Depth that his office has been bombarded with cyberattacks...as Russian forces try to prevent this work.
“Essentially my identity is compromised,” he said, explaining that he will have to stay behind. “We figured something was wrong when Russia started hacking our social media accounts and everyone who’s associated with us…but I’m the only one who’s compromised…so I left in the rear with the gear.”
While the team will continue its work and travel to Ukraine to help, Olesnicky said he will be making first aid kits to send from here in the United States, helping from afar.
Olesnicky, who works at Executive Urgent Care in Indian Wells, Calif., said he’s not worried about what all of this means for his personal safety.
“You know, they’re using terrorist tactics to try and hack our bank accounts…they’re trying to mess with social media, God knows what,” he said.
“But it just shows that we are getting to them. So what we’re doing is pissing them off…but we’re smart, we’re protecting our money, the banks are informed and the money is protected at this point.”
How to help
Many supplies are still needed, Olesnicky said, and they are still taking donations through the Razom For Ukraine organization.
“Every cent counts…Sunday we worked with the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles after receiving donations…[and made] 5,000 medical kits,” he said.
“But there’s 44 million people in Ukraine who are being bombed or trying to evacuate and the injuries are stacking up. So we’re gonna need these kits for a long time…especially if [the war] spills into the rest of Europe.”
When asked how he got into this kind of aid work, Olesnicky said he’s an emergency physician by training and was actually on the ground in New York when 9/11 happened.
“I was recruited into law enforcement 20 years ago in 2001, around the time of the 9/11 disaster in New York,” he said. “I was actually a resident in Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and we watched the planes hit [from] across the river.”
While he can’t say if they’ve arrived in Ukraine or when they’ll get their (for safety reasons), Olesnicky said once the medical crews arrive, they will train civilians to be combat relief medics and use the supplied kits.
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