For over half a year, about 200 elderly people from the Jewish community in Kyiv were living in Poland - now they returned to their homes and to their families. The shelter in Poland was arranged by the Jewish community JCC Chabad in Kyiv, together with the Jewish community in Poland and philanthropists from England, who joined together to rescue dozens of elderly people from the Ukrainian winter, without electricity, heating and water and missiles flying on top of them.
In Poland, the elderly stayed in guesthouses in Lublin and Lodz, with the help of volunteers from the local Jewish community, who provided them with a full time care, with cultural events, holiday activities and a Jewish atmosphere. Now that the weather has improved and it is possible to live in Kyiv without regular heating, dozens of elderly people have asked to return to their homes and to the family members who remained in Kyiv.
One of them, a 75-year-old Vladimir Ivanovich, who only thought of spending the frozen winter months in a safe place in Poland together with his friends from the community, and did not expect that leaving Kiev for Lodz would save his life. A few days after Vladimir arrived in Lodz, he suffered a sudden heart attack. The local medical team that was called to the scene, gave him emergency treatment.
"The doctors told me that if I had gone through the incident in Kiev, most likely I would not have survived" says Vladimir over the phone from his home in Kiev.
"The work of the medical teams in Ukraine are terribly busy because of the war and the treatment of the wounded" says Rabbi Jonathan Markovich of Kyiv, who accompanied Vladimir throughout his hospitalization and stay in Poland. "Here we had the opportunity to provide him with quality medical care, in a special hospital and without fear of shelling and threats of war."
This week, after half a year resting in Poland, he returned to his home in Kiev, where he first met his daughters who were looking after the house. "The stay in Poland was intended to provide the members of the community, a place of shelter and protection from the cold and the war in the winter months. Now, many of them have asked to return home in the hope that they will have some peace here in Kyiv as well" said Rabbi Markovitch.
"Some of them will return eventually to the guesthouses in Lublin and Lodz, and some of them will get help from our teams here in Kiev who provide them with food, medicine, clothing and all necessary equipment."