Once their morning began with the steppe wind of the Donetsk region - hot, dry, smelling of wormwood and iron. Now their morning began with the damp, heavy fog of the foothills of the Carpathians.
When Olena and Mykola arrived in Stryi, they brought with them only two backpacks and the silence that only comes to people who have lost their homes under shelling. But there was another thing that Olena carried with her—a debilitating, dry cough that tore through her chest in the nightly silence of rented corners. She blamed it on the dampness of Lviv’s basements and the endless fatigue of the roads. “It will pass,” she would tell her husband, hiding her pale face in a scarf. “The main thing is that we escaped.”
But Stryi met them not only with cold rains, but also with people who knew how to see through the fog. On the advice of acquaintances, they came to social services.
The moment of truth
The social worker who took in the couple noticed not only their confusion, but also how hard it was for Olena to get every word out. Instead of just filling out paperwork, she began screening.
"This cough... how long have you had it?" the question came softly but firmly.
The referral for fluorography was the crossroads where the couple's life changed for the second time. When the white film revealed shadows on the lungs, the diagnosis came like a bolt from the blue: tuberculosisThe world they had just begun to rebuild was shaken again.
The path to light
However, this time they were not left alone with their troubles in a foreign city. The system, which seemed like a bureaucratic machine, turned into a support network:
Treatment: Olena was immediately taken to the hospital, where specialists began to fight for her breathing. Mykola, as the contact person, received a course of prevention — so that the chain of the disease would break on them.
House: Thanks to the cooperation of social services, the couple was helped with IDP housing. For the first time in many months, they had a roof that didn't leak or shake from the explosions.
Care: The charity foundation provided humanitarian aid, and the Center for Social Services (CSS) took them under its wing: from psychological consultations to basic items and products ("kind assistance").
More than medicine
This case was made possible thanks to the project "You should know about tuberculosis"Where the steppe ends and the mountains begin, the project builds an invisible shield for the most vulnerable — those who have lost everything but have the right to a healthy tomorrow.
Today, Olena looks out at the Carpathian peaks. Her breathing deepens. The disease, once considered a death sentence, is retreating before the combined force of doctors, social workers, and international support.
From January 1 of this year to April 30 in the Lviv region 1400 people underwent a screening questionnaire for signs of tuberculosis, 704 individuals underwent a medical examination, of which it was found 33 TB cases.
The project is implemented by the NGO "Social Initiatives for Occupational Health and Safety" (LHSI) with the support of the Public Health Alliance Foundation under a grant from the Global Fund fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malariaWe work in Donetsk, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi regions and Kyiv so that everyone who finds themselves in difficult circumstances can breathe freely.