Ukraine fundraiser to farewell mental health workers and buy first aid trauma kits
A volunteer from Austinmer is teaming up with the Ukraine Crisis Appeal to host an event at Coledale RSL on 21 November
Coledale RSL will host “a great Aussie send-off” next month for seven Ukrainian mental health workers receiving trauma training in NSW.
Held on the women's last weekend before returning home to war, the event will raise funds to address the “desperate need” for first aid trauma kits, said the organiser, Ukrainian-Australian Dr Liz Paslawsky.
“The event starts at 5.30pm on the 21st of November,” she said. “Please come and bring your friends. A big call-out for community groups to attend.
“There will be a band playing Aussie rock and we plan to give these girls a great Aussie send off. On the night there will be a raffle with many prizes.”
Money raised will fund trauma kits, which each costs $100 and contain bandages, blankets, tourniquets and other lifesaving equipment.
The Ukrainian health workers are here for three months on a Australian government scholarship, receiving trauma training in multidisciplinary teamwork.
Liz knows the challenges that await.
Throughout the war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, she has continued to visit Lviv, a historic city in the country's west targeted by Russian drone attacks.
“On each visit I visit family, help at the university and go to the hospitals post-surgery wards and sit with young Ukrainians who have just had limb amputations,” Liz said.
"They are so young and carry the burden of trying to save their family.
“They don't have visitors so I am in place of their friend, sister or mother who can't visit. I listen to their stories. There are jokes aplenty and they are fascinated by this place called Australia. Ukraine has a generation of amputees and the numbers keep increasing.
“It's so hard to get medical aid to the injured because of drones. Tourniquets wrapped around the arm or legs save lives, however, often amputation is the result of delays in treatment.”
When the war began, Liz set up an international civilian supply chain to send medical aid to Ukraine, working out of her home in Austinmer.
“It was totally manned by volunteers,” she says. “Every company, including Qantas and DHL, in Australia and overseas donated their resources for free.”
This remarkable story was told in a Good Weekend feature.
Deadliest year for civilians
It’s now close to five years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This year has been the deadliest for civilian casualties, with the UN reporting 2570 people killed and 15,211 injured between January and September 2026.
“I had a video link with a close friend, Yaroslav Kolodiy, who runs the charity in Ukraine Wheels of Victory,” Liz said.
“They get very old cars, paint them black and retrieve the injured at night. Yaroslav looked so tired he has visually aged so much. Christina, another close friend and driver of one of the cars, had her car hit by a drone, she survived but the injured did not.
“Everyone in Ukraine is very exhausted yet I have never seen a stronger sense of community galvanised to the purpose of keeping Ukraine independent.
“We spoke on the video about how drone warfare has changed the medical needs of communities in the war zone and the desperate need for first aid trauma kits. I made the decision then to fundraise for the kits.
“They are being distributed to first responders, firemen, police, health workers and medics. The kits have their components bought directly from the manufactures in Ukraine. They are being assembled by doctors and volunteers at Ternopil Hospital. They are distributed to local health authorities that have been bombed.”
Coledale RSL volunteer Dr Liz Paslawsky has organised the fundraiser with support from the Ukraine Crisis appeal. Photo supplied
A proud Ukrainian Australian
Born in Australia to Ukrainian parents, Liz is proud of both cultures which enrich her life.
“My parents came out to Australia as refugees from the German hard labour/concentration camps after the Second World War,” she said.
“It was a time when the Newcastle steelworks required labourers. My father was a boiler maker, my mother worked at Kmart. Education was the way my parents saw the way forward for their children. I graduated from Newcastle University with first class honours in psychology. I gained my masters and PhD while working in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
“Twenty years ago I went to find my lost family in Ukraine. My parents lost contact with them during the war. It took three years and I found my mother's family. They live in a hamlet on the outskirts of Lviv. Because it was a small community it wasn’t on any maps.”
Since then Liz has visited every couple of years, volunteering as a visiting professor at the Ukraine Catholic University where she lectures on public health.
“When visiting I help out in their vegetable garden and love listening to their stories around an evening meal. Family is the cornerstone of Ukrainian culture. Every meal is based on potatoes and I find when I come back to Oz I crave potatoes!”
She's learned that a sense of purpose is vital in community-run organisations.
“I became a volunteer at Coledale RSL because I believe in the notion of community, working for the common good is what is required for so many reasons most of all for people to be happy.
“Coledale RSL were very keen to help out in fundraising as well as farewelling seven incredible Ukrainian women.”
Toll on children
With the conflict in Ukraine dating from 2014, entire childhoods have been lost to war. Families have fled their homes, schools and hospitals have been bombed, and since Russia escalated attacks in 2022 UNICEF says almost 4000 children, or likely more, have been killed or injured.
Liz is appealing to the generosity of the Illawarra community and those who can’t make it to November's event are invited to donate here.
“The harder it gets, it is this sense of community working together that gets stronger. That is why I believe the invasion by Russia will ultimately fail,” she said.
“We have teamed up with the Ukraine Crisis Appeal. This means that any donation is tax deductible. We ask that people when they donate write 'Coledale RSL' on the comments field in the donations form.”
