SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio is 6,222 miles away from Ukraine, but distance isn’t keeping one company in the Alamo City from saving Ukrainian lives.
Soldiers and civilians are wounded daily as the war against Russia rages on.
“They have helmets. They have body armor, but their faces aren’t protected. Their limbs aren’t that protected,” said Kevin Barfield, president and chief operating officer of Alamo Biologics, a tissue bank in San Antonio creating skin grafts used for wounds, eyes, dental care, and bones.
The company typically supplies tissue to hospitals, surgeons, and dental offices.
“The patches are used to stabilize that patient or that injury until they can get to a facility where they can get proper care. It prevents infection and starts the healing process,” Barfield said.
About six weeks ago, Barfield got a call from a consultant with Eye Life International, which facilitates eye tissue distribution worldwide. They are currently putting together tissue donations to be delivered to Ukraine to help wounded soldiers and civilians.
“I said, ‘Absolutely, we’re definitely on board,’” Barfield said.
Alamo Biologics has prepared 556 tissue donations to be sent to Ukraine.
Ukrainians requested two types of tissue. One is so small you can barely see it. It’s a thin one-inch square used for eye injuries. The others are skin grafts that are a couple of inches long for small wounds.
The grafts are freeze-dried in large freezers, so they don’t need to be refrigerated during delivery.
“We gathered up the tissue that they needed, package it, send it over to Germany, where they had trucks going in to aid Ukraine,” Barfield said.
In a letter of gratitude to both organizations, the President of the Ukrainian Vitreoretinal Society, Dr. Andrii Ruban, wrote the following:
“In this difficult time of Russia’s barbaric aggression against Ukraine, I would like to express to you my deep gratitude for your solidarity with the people of Ukraine and prompt support for Ukrainian ophthalmologists.
“You were the only one who provided a highly specialized humanitarian aid to Ukraine with corneal and allograft tissues, which are essential for operations on patients with combat eye injuries.
“The donations were delivered to major eye hospitals and clinics in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Lviv.”
The quick response to donate is proof that thousands of miles won’t stop San Antonians from helping those in need.