Quebec doctor returns from Ukraine-Poland border after treating refugees

A doctor from St. Jérôme, Que. has returned home from the Polish-Ukrainian border where he was providing care for refugees.

Dr. Julien Auger went to the border earlier this month with a plan to help those fleeing the war zone created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"It was really for the refugees to cross the border to flee their country and, at this border point, we had a medical tent for primary care and emergency care," Auger told CTV News. 

Shortly after leaving three weeks ago, his plans to enter Ukraine and help in a hospital changed.

"There had been many attacks and shellings on hospitals and humanitarian corridors so I decided, as the days passed, I would not cross the border," he said.

He eventually settled in Hrebenne, a small town in Poland, treating people who had been through long journeys to get there.

"They had to drive for multiple days often and they had to wait up to 16 hours just to cross the border," said Auger.

If he could go back and do it again, he would have left Quebec earlier.

"The day before I arrived, there was a death of a 50-year-old man who had a seizure because he didn’t have access to his medication and the problem for the providers there was they couldn’t intubate him," he said.

He knows, however, that he helped a lot of people.

"It was really a wake-up call that our peace and our comfort, it’s not to be taken for granted," he said. "It’s pretty fragile."