Ukraine defends the world
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Her mission is rescue

April 4, 2016 // "Viysko Ukrainy" magazine
Her mission is rescue

The women's mission is to give and protect life. Putting shoulder boards, she feels double responsibility for those who near her, due to the high calling of nature. On heavy army weekdays, at exercises, on the battlefield. Today, the whole world bows its head before the beauty and courage of the Ukrainian women. The lives of many people depend on her actions, face of the army depends on her words, and the power of the people depends on her beliefs.

More than a year passed since our military men left Debaltsevo in Donbas. They had several days to leave the territory surrounded by armed gangs. Then, a medical team went to meet our warriors. No one knew how the withdrawal will end, whether the terrorists would prepare an unexpected "surprise" of mortar or artillery fire the next moment. When the vehicle, which had to take the wounded and injured, approached an appointed place, the medical service Lieutenant Colonel Liubov Nazarenko did not feel panic. She worried only about the wounded that had to be taken to the hospital.

One boy got a cold injury. Liubov Vasylivna has immediately assessed the situation and understood what to do. Subsequently, they managed to save the limbs completely, and the warrior was able to return to the ranks.

After a few days, they had to go to the same point again – to take a prisoner of war. And the diagnosis again was the frostbite of the extremities. The warrior was handed over to the military doctors from Luhansk hospital, from the occupied territory. The soldier has not believed that he would return to his forces. "You should have seen those eyes, I would never forget them, – the Lieutenant Colonel of the medical service Nazarenko says. – When we transported him, he was weeping, and he was shocked".

Lieutenant Colonel Nazarenko taught her subordinates to do their job, as they say, "in autopilot mode" at the highest level. Medical instructors are very grateful to her for that. This practice has especially helped in extreme situations on the battlefield. "The head is off, but the hands do what they should. You understand that the wounded must be saved, because someone is waiting for him at home. There's no place for panic. Explosions, shots, screams... but you act automatically. Only then you realize that you worked it out every day there, in the unit: get a tow, swab the wound tightly, apply first aid dressing package, inject analgetics..." – a subordinate of the officer medical instructor Sergeant Andriy Dotsenko tells.

Liubov Vasylivna met service men coming back from Debaltsevo with tears in her eyes. Medical instructors were so exhausted that they could not do anything. "Three days without sleep, without water and without food. They went with their last ounce of strength", – one of the medical instructors recalls. Liubov Vasylivna took all the reception of the ill and wounded over her. And there, in Debaltseve, her words added force and inspired her subordinates: "She said – you should never give up, go to the very end and do not lower your hands. If you can not do the job, you must do it anyway".

The doctor should also be a psychologist. Patients, especially severely injured, very often need moral support. We can not allow panic. Once, an officer with a shot shin failed to immediately stop bleeding. Liubov Vasylivna carefully watched him and tried to cheer. "In such cases, we must always speak to divert the patient's attention from his own state," – the doctor says.

Her mission is rescue

In any case, cold mind and cold premeditation of actions are the keys to the success of the doctor. Perhaps, only when you live with full dedication, forgetting about yourself, the work will be done with 100 percent quality. Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service Liubov Nazarenko went to the ATO area twice, and sometimes, had to perform tasks under fire of the enemy. When somebody asked her whether she would go there again, she replied "yes" without any hesitation. She still remembers faces of the first mobilized men who stood on the parade ground of the 8th separate Special Forces regiment, where she serves now. They shone with pride of knowing that they were called to defend their homeland.

"When I looked at them, I felt a little uncomfortable – they were going to defend the state, and I stayed here, in the unit. I felt myself a real warrior only when I joined them in the ATO area", – the military doctor says.

So, it is not a coincidence that all who serves with Liubov Nazarenko now say only warm words about her: "She is brave when it's "hot", she puts on the body armor without any questions, takes the machinegun and goes to perform the task. Her greatest achievement is that no fighter died in her hands. And, probably, this speaks for itself. "