Greensboro Reporter

Helping Ukrainian refugees doesn’t always require that those providing assistance make a trip abroad. Technology is letting the University of North Carolina at Greensboro offer virtual support.

Audrey Snyder, a nurse at the UNCG School of Nursing, said the university is using webinars to offer helpful instruction to the refugees and those caring for them.

"They have one trauma center," Snyder said in a recent WTVD report. "We are trying to help them with the information that they need to be able to do the best job that they can. Especially if there continues to be civilian casualties, civilian injuries. And they need to work with them as they enter their country."

The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russians invaded at the end of February. At least 300,000 of them are in Moldova.

The challenge for Moldova is that many of the refugees need health care. Now UNCG Nursing School is offering advice on how best to care for those who have fled the war zone. 

The university has been helping with the ongoing war situation for months, running what is called the N.C.-Moldova Nursing Collaborative, with one of its early Zoom seminars in March hitting a maximum capacity of 500 participants, the report said. The topics range from how to treat common infectious diseases, to managing special conditions that hit vulnerable populations like refugees.

The program is gaining attention now because of the Ukraine crisis, but it has actually been around for a decade. It just marked the 10-year anniversary last week, drawing the Republic of Moldova ambassador to the United States and members of the Guilford Rotary Club to share in the celebration.