Kateryna Halushka joined the Hospitallers while seeking an opportunity to join the security forces. She was considering the National Police and the National Guard.
"After talking to my military friends, I came to the conclusion that before signing a contract for half my life, I needed to check whether I was able to withstand the work on the front line, the stress, both psychological and physical. So when I completed the Hospitaller training and realised a critical shortage of paramedics, I decided to stay with the battalion. Firstly, being a paramedic is critical for saving the lives of the wounded. Secondly, the battalion has already become my family, and I didn't want to leave it," says the paramedic.
"I have a month of rotation and one or two months of rest. So I can shape my time the way I want, choose the dates and duration of my rotations, come back and go to work," says Halushka.
At the Hospitallers, separate people are involved in fundraising and communication with fundraisers. In addition, they deal with businesses, philanthropists, and organisations abroad.
"That's why we tell and show our work. When you raise money from people, they need to see the results," says Kateryna Halushka.
"I have a certain audience on social media. Accordingly, I use this media to promote our support headquarters," she says.
She says that not receiving support from the state is a choice.
"The Hospitallers decided to be independent. The absence of state funding and support from donations of caring people is also about freedom of action," she says.
Hospitallers have a range of responsibilities, but it is now standard practice for a particular unit to make a request. They send this request to the battalion, examine, evaluate and analyse it.
"It's about constant communication and cooperation with battalion commanders: we are on the ground together, and we see each other daily," says Kateryna.
She adds that sometimes the Hospitallers fully cover medical needs, sometimes partially or when asked individually to stay for a while due to the number of wounded or lack of paramedics.
"My tasks are to stop the massive bleeding, check if the person is breathing, if not, to ensure breathing, check if there is air circulation if these are wounds where you can't apply a tourniquet, and monitor all the wounds to bring the person to the next stage," she says.
Usually, Kateryna's team takes out not just one wounded person but several. However, sometimes there are five or seven wounded.
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