PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - A newly outfitted ambulance is ready to help Ukrainians as they fight against Russia, all thanks to one a Florida doctor who has ties to the war-torn country.
Dr. Tatyana Borisiak runs her own practice at HCA Florida Westside Hospital in Plantation. Born in Ukraine, she moved to the U.S. in 1996. Since the start of the war, she’s wasted no time trying to help.
“It affects us all, all the situation in Ukraine, it affects us all, and all of us have to do some kind of part,” said Borisiak.
Borisiak set up to use her hometown house in western Ukraine as a shelter for more than two dozen people fleeing the violence, just days after the first strikes. She also remembered her teenage years working in her hometown village hospital and seeing the ambulance that is still used today.
“That was my first thought is, ‘Maybe I could help from this part of the world to do something for them.’ I cannot send weapons,” said Borisiak. “I cannot send bullets or anything like that, but I thought as a medical doctor, I should be able to help, and that’s where our idea to arrange for an ambulance and to form the foundation was born.”
That’s when she started getting to work, asking for donations and eventually raising $37,000.
“All my friends who knew me and asking for help and asking me to support in this mission and the medical staff of Westside gladly, the moment they heard about my idea, they asked me for some evidence and to show what’s happening there, and they were like, happy to provide me support.”
The ambulance was outfitted in Germany and arrived in June to Ukraine by way of Poland. The ambulance is fully operational and already providing emergency services.
“You know, we’re helping to bring the wounded people from the front line as well, and unfortunately, people dying from our town. We already have several young men who lost their lives in this war,” said Borisiak. “It’s very devastating, but I’m glad I can help in some way.”
The ambulance is being used in Borisiak’s hometown and where she will also be donating additional medical supplies in August.
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