Rose-Ann Aragon, Reporter

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine – One doctor in Ukraine has felt the love of Houstonians determined to help bring needed medical supplies to help frontline workers in the war.

A Memorial Hermann doctor, based in Shenandoah and a local Houston relief non-profit have made lasting connections to make that flow of help from Houston possible.

KPRC 2 first introduced you to endocrinologist Dr. Kateryna Komarovskiy in mid-March when the Ukraine native was amplifying the voices of the medical community in Ukraine.

After all, she grew up there, graduated from medical school in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, about 150 or so miles from Kyiv, her hometown.

She says she has been in touch with many of her former classmates who are still there, taking notes on the badly needed medical supplies.

Her colleague, Dr. Kostyantyn Dumchev, went to school with Komarovskiy and is working to organize supplies for doctors and many local hospitals in Ukraine.

One local relief non-profit saw Komarovskiy’s story and decided, their volunteers, already in Europe, could help Dumchev.

“All the hospitals in Ukraine are now connected to the large military hospital in Ukraine which accepts a lot of wounded,” Dumchev said.

Dumchev, who lived in Kyiv for more than 15 years had to leave the city and went to his hometown of Vinnytsia where he went to school with Komarovskiy.

”I’ve known Kateryna since 1995, our first year of medical school,” Dumchev said.

There, he has found refuge in a friend’s home with relatives and friends, but he continues his efforts to organize relief for the war. He says the war is felt there too.

“They’re shooting missiles all over Ukraine. Vinnytsia had been hit several times,” Dumchev said. “The airfield was bombed. The airport destroyed, the TV tower. Downtown was hit by missiles.”

Despite the fear, this public health leader is a hero.

He has been organizing efforts to send trucks or shipments of needed medical supplies through the border of Poland to hospitals and doctors in Ukraine. It turns out, Komarovskiy’s story touched the hearts of Crowdsource Rescue leaders, a non-profit disaster relief organization founded during Hurricane Harvey to help rescue people from their flooded homes.

Then the non-profit shifted its focus on feeding people and helping people with mobility concerns during COVID.

Now, they have shifted to the next important need, Ukraine.

“I’m linking suppliers with the hospitals directly,” Dumchev said. “Through her, I know a group of Americans who are now in Ukraine.”

With the guidance and connection of Komarovskiy along with the Crowdsource Rescue team’s search for Dumchev, all three parties connected, creating a masterful partnership in bringing aid from Houston to Ukraine’s local doctors.

“We thought, wait a minute...We can help! We do know how to operate in extreme environments,” Crowdsource Rescue Executive Director Matthew Marchetti said.

Through their own hard work and troubleshooting, Crowdsource Rescue volunteers found Dumchev in Ukraine and greeted him with a truckload of supplies.

“That’s incredible help,” Dumchev smiled. “Lifting our spirits.”

But they need more, he said, especially, first aid. They’re hoping to get more medical equipment such as negative wound therapy devices, used after surgery to speed up the healing process.

Crowdsource Rescue said they want Ukrainians to know “that the world supports them,” and that they will continue to send supplies from the Houston area there.