KINGSTON, Wash. — A small team from Seattle-based Empact Northwest has returned from a fact-finding mission along the Ukrainian border.
Empact Northwest is a non-profit, non-governmental entity providing rescue, medical, and logistical support to those affected by disaster worldwide.
KING 5 shared the story of the Pathfinder team's departure in early March and now the organization says “This is when the real work starts.”
A 10-day mission had the pathfinder team assessing and assisting Ukrainian refugees fleeing conflict and finding shelter across the Polish border.
Executive Director Jake Gillanders was joined by a logistics specialist, a medical provider who is actually a firefighter from Oregon and a community preparedness manager.
Gillanders said his team worked to create relationships and form a strategy for the next wave of support.
He said it was truly overwhelming to see so many people fleeing with few possessions and many families being separated so the men could stay behind and fight for Ukraine.
“You don’t really understand what one and a half million people means until you’ve seen it yourself,” he said.
Empact Northwest said they’re preparing their next deployment to assist with the 1.5 million refugees that fled to Poland over the course of just 14 days.
Empact Northwest is sending a team Thursday and another next week. Logistics and medical support are the focus for now and Gillanders says the length and effectiveness of their support teams will depend on donations.
“Funding will be our limitation as far as how long we can prolong this mission,” he said.
The non-profit has led 63 disaster deployments since 2010 and relies on volunteers to round out the team.
More than 200 volunteers have been trained in rescue and other scenario-based skills and are led by a small core of firefighters and emergency response professionals.
“People can donate and they can volunteer and we will need volunteers for months to come here in the Seattle area and deployed to Poland,” Gillanders said.