A North Bay resident since 1988, John Best, 65, is back home after spending more than a month (Feb. 26-March 29) in Poland and Ukraine helping Samaritan’s Purse Canada assist desperate and hungry Ukraine refugees.
Best, a retired general contractor, set up latrines and showers for staff and patients at the Samaritan’s Purse emergency field hospital in Lviv. He also did some construction work and loaded trucks with emergency supplies for distribution to refugees.
This is his eighth deployment with the Samaritan’s Purse DART (Disaster Assistance and Response Team) team, according to a news release from the group.
Among his other DART deployments are Bahamas in 2019 after Hurricane Dorian; Cremona, Italy, with our emergency field hospital for COVID-19 patients in 2020; and helping Thunder Bay through a COVID-19 emergency in 2021.
Some facts about Samaritan’s Purse’s relief work in and around Ukraine:
- 170 staff members in the region
- 1,700+ patients treated across all medical intervention sites, including an emergency field hospital and several medical clinics
- 80+ tons of food distributed across two countries
- 41,000+ people assisted
For more information on Samaritan’s Purse’s Ukraine response here.
