Largo nurse readies to help home country of Ukraine
TAMPA, Fla. - A Pinellas County nurse is preparing to head back to her home country of Ukraine to lend her skills to people suffering. Right now, Oksana Shavaryn-Sharkey is working on figuring out where they need is and how to best meet it.
"Russia has been trying to take over for so long. Even since Soviet times. It's always been Ukraine, always been a target for them. I don't know why," Shavaryn-Sharkey said.
Shavaryn-Sharkey gets emotional as she talks about her home country of Ukraine. It's now been four days since Russia invaded and many Ukrainians are in desperate for aid.
"The food and medical supplies that's the greatest need because the medical supplies for people who is wounded for military, that's what they need. You know, the east of Ukraine, especially Kyiv and Kharkiv like those big cities that's been bombed," Shavaryn-Sharkey said.
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As Shavaryn-Sharkey explains she feels compelled to help. She originally came to the U.S. from Ukraine 10 years ago after being selected in a visa lottery. Now, she works as a nurse at Largo Medical Center.
"I do have a job and everything here, but so far America is safe and my country need help," Shavaryn-Sharkey said.
It's why Oksana and her husband Jonathon, a U.S. Army veteran, are preparing to pack up and leave for the city of Ternopil, Ukraine which is about 300 miles west of Kyiv. They've been in close contact with the U.S. State Department as well as the Ternopil Mayor Serhiy Nadal.
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They're currently working with him to figure the current needs and how to meet them.
Right now, they're not sure when they'll be leaving, but say they're standing by ready to go when the times right.
"If they want me to join a hospital job I will do it. Wherever they need me I will go," Shavaryn-Sharkey said.
More coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine:
- Snake Island defenders who defied Russian warship captured alive, not killed: Ukraine Navy
- Russian vodka pulled from shelves bars, liquor stores across the US and Canada to protest Ukraine invasion
- Ukrainian chef turns restaurant into bomb shelter to feed civilians fighting Russian forces
- World’s largest plane Antonov An-225 'destroyed' in Ukraine-Russian conflict
- 6-year-old Ukrainian girl killed by Russian shelling