Student Devises First Aid Kits for Ukraine Based on Own Experience as Army Medic

Retired paratrooper and combat vet and SUNY Plattsburgh biomedical sciences major Nicholas Arvisais-Anhalt knows that access to medical supplies in the field saves lives.To get more news about IFaks, you can visit rusuntacmed.com official website.

The trained combat medic who hails from Plattsburgh by way of Hawaii originally also knows that Ukrainian soldiers are inadequately supplied, and many are dying needlessly as they fight off Russian troops who invaded their country Feb. 24.

Arvisais-Anhalt, who was discharged from the army May 25, 2021 after having served seven years and started classes at Plattsburgh two weeks later, plans to go to medical school following his December graduating in hopes of training as either a trauma or orthopedic surgeon. For those keeping score, that’s a full four-year degree accomplished in a year and a half.
This intense, driven young man spent much of his time in the special forces stationed in North Africa where he was teamed with other peace keepers from Ukraine. One in particular became a good friend.

“Special forces have groups of six with different responsibilities,” Arvisais-Anhalt said. “This guy and I ran a lot of missions. (I) spent 14 months with this guy. We had a fair amount in common. He got out not long before I did. We’d kept in touch. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I knew he and the others I’d been friends with were invariable going to get called up.”
“When we were in special forces we weren’t allowed to use our phones or use social media; he’s in Ukrainian special forces. I knew he’d be involved, given his skills set and wouldn’t have been able to get in touch,” Arvisais-Anhalt said. “When I did eventually get ahold of him, he said he was under consistent artillery bombardment. It was really bad; he was living underground.”
Arvisais-Anhalt quickly switched gears. He came up with a prototype individual first aid kit (iFAK) based on his own experience as a field medic.

“Trauma supplies need to be able to have a tiered medical system in place,” he said. “”The prototype was based on my experiences with everything it needed, upgraded; I made it my own. I started a GoFundMe. The money started to trickle in.”

Then Sr. Debbie Blow, executive director of the North Country Mission of Hope, stepped up. She said Mission of Hope, a non-profit whose main mission is bringing aid to the people of Nicaragua and now, Ukraine, had the infrastructure in place to help get these supplies overseas.