Albany nurse experiences Kosovo tragedy firsthand

This woman was just a month away from delivering her baby when Serbian soldiers banged on her door and ordered her to leave her home in Kosovo.

Alone, she began walking toward the Kosovo-Albanian border. When her labor pains began, she crawled into the bushes by the side of the road and gave birth, tied the baby on her back, and walked another 20 miles to the border.

Aid worker

An Albany resident, Mr. Amstislavski chose to go to Kukes -- about six miles from the Kosovo border -- because "Albanians should help Albanians."

But, he added, knowing that his nursing skills were desperately needed in the war-torn country, "to stand aside and do nothing sounded like not the right thing to do."

Off to help

When the IMC team finally arrived in Albania, they expected to work from a specially-equipped truck filled with medical supplies. But thieves always lie in wait along the Kosovo-Albanian border, and the truck was broken into.

The team lost medical gear, a defibrillator and an EKG machine. The only supplies that were saved were those the team members were actually carrying -- in Mr. Amstislavski's case, two bags donated by St. Peter's of surgical and suture kits, bandages, tape and other items.

Gunshot wounds

"Most of our patients either had gunshot or shrapnel wounds, or had been beaten up by the paramilitary," Mr. Amstislavski told The Evangelist. "We also saw survivors of mass executions."

In addition, refugees with heart conditions or other chronic illnesses became ill because they no longer had their medications, and stress caused more perforated ulcers than one surgeon said he'd seen in his entire career. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were rampant, especially among the younger refugees.

Difficult conditions

Originally from Israel, Mr. Amstislavski said his ability to speak Russian enabled him to communicate a little with the Albanians. He became fluent enough to ask patients where they hurt and began to teach Kosovar nurses how to care for patients.

Teaching was a necessity, because the team soon discovered that the term "nurse" has an entirely different definition in the Balkans. The basic requirement for Kosovar nurses, said Mr. Amstislavski, is "someone who had worked in a hospital. They had no idea about wound care, IVs, blood pressure. A nurse is a servant to the doctor, someone who washes the bedpans."

Still, he said, it was important to the team to hire only Kosovar nurses -- not only because they would still be in the country after the aid workers left, but also because many of the female nurses had been raped by soldiers, and caring for fellow refugees "gave them the opportunity to do something for people who went through the same horrible experiences they did."

Explosions nearby

The team, realizing that medical care would never reach U.S. standards, compromised as best it could. Even gauze used to wrap wounds was washed and reused by Kosovar nurses so many times that it fell apart, and the nurses complained about disposable supplies because they couldn't be reused.

Mr. Amstislavski noted that none of the medical relief agencies he encountered was very well equipped, because the supplies would be stolen. "There is no such word there as `enough,'" he said -- not enough morphine, for example, so patients whose wounds must be debrided are given Tylenol or vodka instead. If aid workers get some penicillin, "you have to manage it so you save it for someone that really, really needs it."

Going home?

"In the camps, there is food, water, some kind of medical care," he explained. "The need for care inside of Kosovo would be much greater, because there is nothing -- there is no structure. Every system that was in place there was destroyed, either by the Serbs or by NATO."

While the need for emergency care is great, Mr. Amstislavski said that the need for supplies is more critical; a photocopier to copy training materials, stethoscopes, medical books and nursing textbooks are desperately needed.

Of course, he noted, the greatest need is for volunteers with nursing and surgical experience, anesthetists, and other medical personnel to train Kosovar health workers. "The Kosovars are there to stay," he stated. "The only way we can really help them is to establish a good, strong, sustainable health system."

Now that peacekeeping efforts are underway, Mr. Amstislavski doesn't want the refugees to be forgotten. "People think the crisis is over: `NATO's not bombing anymore, so...peace,'" he noted. "But it's a long way from being a peaceful region."

(To contact the IMC about volunteering or donating supplies, call 1-800-481-4462.)

(06-17-99) [[In-content Ad]]