Mayo nurse volunteering with refugees in Lesvos
A MAYO nurse is travelling to Greece this week to work with refugees for six months.
Elena Lydon, a nurse at Mayo University Hospital, has been working with refugees fleeing conflict since 2015.
Her first stints as a volunteer were in northern France and Paris in refugee camps, and she also worked for two years in the infamous jungle camp in Calais.
Her latest trip will bring her to the island of Lesvos in Greece where she will work voluntarily for the next six months with Medical Volunteers International in the Moria refugee camp and sea rescue team.
She explains: “About 300 people are still arriving by sea at Lesvos. I will be working on the sea front as the boats come in.
“Once processed, those people join the 10,000 plus other people in Moira refugee camp – a camp designed to accommodate 1,600 people.”
The needs of refugees arriving in boats vary from the children who have been drugged by the people smugglers to women in labour and various illnesses. Complete families will have been split up and placed on different boats to make the journey more 'manageable' for the smugglers.
Elena, a native of Galway but now living in Castlebar, leaves for Greece on August 11. In the run up to departure she has been running a fundraising campaign through Facebook to raise funds and awareness about the plight of refugees.
The people of Mayo, she said, have been very supportive in their help and kindness through donations of medical supplies and through funding. The local businesses, and especially the pharmacies, have been very generous with supplies.
Elena will be replacing a doctor at the front line, providing medical health-care and first aid to very vulnerable refugees that are arriving and living on the island as part of their journey to safety.
All support is appreciated to help purchase much needed supplies and equipment to provide treatment - even a couple of euros can buy items like paracetamol, vitamins, scabies treatment, etc.
See Facebook - Nursing care for refugees in camps in Lesvos Greece – for more details or to donate: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2890583140968209/2606952099315659/