An army veteran and community councillor from Abergavenny has travelled to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help a charity deliver medical aid to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country following Russia’s invasion.
Hannah Jarvis has been working with the charity Bridge to Unity to stockpile a range of medical equipment including defibrillators and trauma kits to deliver to Zintegrowana Sluzba Ratownicza (ZSR).
ZSR is a not-for-profit organisation based in Poland made up of voluntary medics providing emergency support to those crossing the border from Ukraine, with volunteers driving 6-8 hour round trips daily to the border towns to deliver vital aid to those suffering.
As well as securing medical equipment, Hannah has been helping Bridge to Unity raise further money through a crowdfunding page which has now raised over £25,000. Money raised will be used to purchase more medical equipment or will be donated directly to charities working on the ground in Ukraine and Poland.
Last year, Hannah also helped Bridge to Unity with their evacuation efforts during the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, helping Afghan translators get out of the country.
Hannah, a mother of two children, works as a community councillor in Llanfoist Fawr and Govilon as well as Office Manager for a member of the Senedd. She served in the Welsh Royal Regiment for 12 years, serving in Iraq in 2007.
Speaking to the Chronicle before she set off on her journey, Hannah said: “As the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated, we have realised we need to shift our focus to Ukraine and lending any support we possibly can with our military backgrounds into helping those suffering.
“We have received regular text updates from our contacts on the border, and understand that many refugees are in a bad way.
“A few of us who are going are army veterans so we are familiar with this sort of situation and know the risks, but believe what we’re doing is worth it and outweighs the risk involved.
“As situation remains and donations keep coming in, we plan on making further trips as many as necessary while the conflict continues.”
In the early hours of the morning on Saturday March 5, Hannah set off alongside Bridge to Unity Director Matt Simmons - himself a former RAF veteran - and other volunteers on a 2,600-mile round trip to the border of Poland and Ukraine.
The team of volunteers took the ferry from Dover on Saturday before sharing driving duties as they made their way across from France through Belgium and Germany on their way to the Polish-Ukrainian border.
After their long journey, Hannah, Matt and the team arrived at the border – just 100 miles from one of Ukraine’s major cities Lviv – on Sunday morning and met with representatives from ZSR, before visiting a large refugee camp on the border to see the impact their work is having in helping the people of Ukraine.
Bridge to Unity is now planning to continue their co-operation with the NGO and return to Ukraine with further aid in the near future.
Posting on their Facebook page, Bridge to Unity said: “Thank you to every single person who has donated to our Just Giving page over the last
week.
“The van arrived at ZSR’s hub and delivered all the medical equipment we had been able to purchase directly with the
donations from Just Giving.
“Zintegrowana Sluzba Ratownicza are the most incredible group of selfless, heroic people we’ve ever had the joy of working with and we are going to do everything we can to support the wonderful work that they are doing to help the people of Ukraine.”
If you would like to donate to allow Bridge to Unity to provide further support and medical aid to help on the Polish-Ukrainian border please visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/matt-simmons-1