Eusebio R. Sheffield 
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sparked echoes of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in a historic virtual appearance before a joint session of the US Congress, arguing for additional sanctions against Russia, military hardware and a security zone. air exclusion over the country. .
As talks continue between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, no deal seems imminent and people continue to find themselves in the midst of the Russian onslaught, which is difficult for anyone who has spent time in the country to watch.
Gary Jerkins, MD, is a comprehensive ophthalmologist with Loden Vision Centers in Nashville, Tennessee, and he also operates Advanced Vision Research, where he conducts clinical trials. He also founded SeaStar Kids, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged youth in Ukraine, and has made dozens of trips to the country over the past 26 years.
“My first visit to Ukraine was in October 1996, and one trip led to another and another, and over time I had interactions with certain humanitarian groups and religious affiliations,” he said. he declares. “I was a little embarrassed that I would go back year after year and see some of these young people. What if they grow up and then they get old and we don’t see them anymore. And so the idea was to create a non-profit foundation to meet the needs of these young people.
Founded in 2010, SeaStar Kids has helped Ukrainian youth with faith-based programs, educational opportunities, and college scholarships. It offered a summer Bible camp and year-round youth activities. Following the February 24 invasion by Russia, its focus shifted to assisting Ukrainian refugees temporarily sheltering in Poland.
To visit SeaStarkids.org to find out more about the association or to make a donation.
In total, Jerkins has made 47 trips to Ukraine over the past 26 years. He also assisted ophthalmologists in the country, and it all started when he was invited on a mission trip by his brother, who is a pediatric urologist.
“I was very impressed with their knowledge base,” he said of the Ukrainian doctors. “They were great ophthalmologists with a great knowledge base. The lack of technology at their disposal was staggering.
As a result, Jerkins and others have worked over the years to put the latest technology into the hands of Ukrainian ophthalmologists to help them provide the best possible care to their patients.
“During one of our first two or three trips, we helped some ophthalmologists perform their first intraocular lens implantation,” he says.
During subsequent trips, they provided phaco apparatus, microscopes, and other equipment to Ukrainian ophthalmologists.
“We had a few surgery teams to help them learn how to use the micro machines and the new microscopes,” Jerkins noted. “They are remarkably bright and intelligent ophthalmologists. We just needed to put the technology in their hands.
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As Jerkins and his colleagues taught Ukrainian ophthalmologists how to use new equipment and surgical techniques, they were also getting a lesson from their students.
“We were learning resilience and gratitude,” Jerkins said. “When meeting some of these ophthalmologists from the former Soviet Union, the idea of trust was simply not part of their vocabulary.”
After a teaching session, a Ukrainian ophthalmologist asked Jerkins why he would go to such lengths to help them.
“I told him ‘I’m a doctor and you’re a doctor,'” he said. “We’re both here to help people.”
Even with this explanation, Ukrainians were still surprised that people were leaving the United States, with all its advantages, to come to their country and help them.
“I remember on the first trip I took a little bag of battery-powered penlights,” Jerkins recounted. “I was amazed at the response because technically no one had ever given them anything without expecting something in return.”
Jerkins made his last trip to Ukraine in October 2021. The mission had evolved and the team worked with international medical students from various medical disciplines.
“I always stop by to see my eye doctor friends and see what they need,” he said. “And of course everyone always needs something, and we work very hard to achieve that. So the last two years have been around an international medical conference.
Over the years, Jerkins had been keenly aware of political unrest. In 2008, when Russia annexed part of Georgia, he was in Lviv, Ukraine, and saw stores all over the city displaying the Georgian flag as a sign of solidarity. In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and then annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.
“There’s always been this feeling of wondering what’s next,” he said.
In the United States, festivals often feature a dipping booth. Jerkins recalled a street festival in Ukraine that featured an enclosed space. Participants could use a bow to shoot at a target with the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even as Putin moved troops, the idea of an invasion seemed unthinkable.
“I’ll be honest, three weeks ago if you had asked me if Russia was going to invade, I would have said ‘no,'” Jerkins said. “I didn’t think it would happen because he apparently achieved everything he wanted without firing a shot.”
The ensuing invasion sparked a humanitarian crisis as millions of Ukrainians fled the country. Jerkins said it was hard not knowing how his friends were doing. He has not heard from friends in kyiv, nor from a woman who served as a translator on 46 of his 47 trips.
“You know, some of them just sank,” he said. “And let’s face it, they are fighting for their survival and keeping us informed is probably not on the priority list.”
The emails Jerkins received were tragic, including one he received from a young cardiologist who had a pediatrician friend at a hospital that was bombed last week in Mariupol.
“You have young children dying of dehydration because there’s no water,” Jerkins said. “It’s appalling. It really is.”
What the future holds is anyone’s guess. In his travels since 1996, Jerkins has seen Ukraine blossom into a free and democratic nation as a new generation emerges from the shadow of Lenin and other Soviet leaders to enjoy a lifestyle free and independent. All this was shattered by Russian bombs.
“It’s like watching the History Channel and watching a movie from the 1940s,” Jerkins said. “Only this is in color, and I’m watching this and it’s like it’s going to rewind. 30 years ago, and they’re going to have to rebuild everything again.
Jerkins remains hopeful that Russian aggression can be thwarted, but acknowledged that a high price could be paid.
“Unfortunately, who knows which pieces of the puzzle will be left to build with,” he said. “I don’t know the answer to that. I have good hope. I hope there will be something to rebuild, but it feels like we are going to start all over again. Several doctors have spoken to me over the past few days and they have expressed interest in returning. It will be a different mission.
