This past year, Connecticut College’s Ethan Bankowski ’24 utilized his winter break to take a trip abroad and help Ukrainian refugees.
Bankowski—a member of the men’s lacrosse team—assisted the International Medical Relief organization as part of a crew of 14 doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and one other non-medical volunteer to care for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Bankowski looked into volunteering in Ukraine but found it prohibitive. The biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology major, who intends to become a doctor, had been seeking an opportunity to gain more experience in the public health field.
“I’ve always been interested in international humanitarian health,” he said. “It’s something I want to do with my life going forward, so I was seeking opportunities to volunteer anywhere in the world. The need in this crisis in particular with the Russian-Ukrainian War was most compelling.”
Nearly 10 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Poland since the invasion last year, and most of them lack access to medical care. Many left their medications behind or have long since run out.
“IMR wants anyone who’s willing to go,” Bankowski said. “I think it’s around 1.5 million refugees right now who are just waiting for something to change before they can get help. All of these people are sitting and waiting in camps sort of in a stalemate, and so no one’s really taking care of their health, which is where these kinds of groups come in.”
Bankowski and his group flew to Poland from the U.S. with donations including cold weather gear and medications.
“We would go to a new refugee shelter every day, set up a temporary clinic there, and just treat as many people as we could,” he recalls. “Some people had longstanding health problems and hadn’t had a chance to see a doctor. Some people just needed to talk to someone. There was a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression in these communities.”
Bankowski was inspired by the doctors on his trip who use much of their annual vacation time on similar volunteer missions. He intends to do the same in the future.
“I can’t imagine living the life of a doctor and not being involved with trips like this,” Bankowski said.
