In December 1997, mothers clutching their listless and limp children lined up around the block of the Marcial Wilf and Ira Yavarkovsky Children’s Medical Clinic. It was the first year Tzivos Hashem and the Jewish Renaissance Foundation brought a group of American doctors, who spoke fluent Russian, to town to treat the children whose symptoms baffled local doctors. The trip made an amazing difference in the lives of ill children. Boys and girls who were once shut out from the world were given medicines and therapies that have radically changed their lives for the better. Parents, whose faces were lined with worry over their ill children’s fate, began to feel hopeful again as they watched their children recover with help from modern pharmaceuticals. Now an annual trip, the doctors bring medicines, medical equipment, and their expertise to diagnose and treat sick children.

The American doctors may only be in town for a week each year, but thanks to their expert care and teaching abilities they continue to save lives in Ukraine long after they have returned to America. On recent trips these doctors organized symposia to share their expertise with their Ukrainian counterparts. Once back home, the American doctors continue treating their patients by maintaining contact with local doctors over the Internet. The U.S. Physicians Medical Trips have made a world of a difference.