Former CT man leading effort to help Ukrainian refugees

NORWALK — Adam Keehn spent two months in Poland this year aiding Ukrainian refugees flee their war-torn country and is now hoping the Connecticut city he called home for more than a decade can help in the effort as well.

As Americares’ director of complex and humanitarian emergencies, Keehn spearheaded the nonprofit’s response to the war in Ukraine and spent more than two months in Poland this year helping refugees secure mental and physical health care treatment.

Keehn, who moved to Oregon two years ago after living in East Norwalk for 11 years, is leading an effort to bring a Ukraine fundraiser concert to the Wall Street Theater on Saturday.

“We are based in Krakow, eastern Poland, about a two-hour drive to the border and there was another town closer to the border where we’d go when the (United Nations) set up a coordination office,” Keehn said of his work in Poland. “All UN agencies and international (non-governmental organizations) like ourselves met there and shared office space so that we were in closer proximity to the border.”

In the border town, Ukrainian refugees crossed over from the war-torn country to seek shelter, many with friends or relatives that live in the surrounding countries, including Poland, Keehn said.

So far in the war, about 7 million people fled Ukraine, with about half of them traveling through Poland, Keehn said.

“You could see trainloads of people coming across. There were tents — and there still are at the border — tents that were providing various types of support: food, clothing, emergency health support where needed and transportation for them to get where their destination is,” Keehn said. “People didn’t linger at the border for any length of time. It’s different than some of the refugee situations you may have seen in other parts of the world, where refugees are gathered in huge camps.”

For most of his time in Poland, Keehn and his team worked at the train station providing immediate support for those disembarking the trains from Ukraine.

Keehn’s group supports medical treatment for refugees and delivers medicines and supplies to health facilities and partner organizations in Ukraine.

“There, we would meet individuals with a range of needs. One of the physicians early on met an elderly man whose medications were running short and, with a translator, communicated to the doctor how he was running short of medicine, and she noticed his ankles were swollen. Without access to medicines, he needed that condition would likely be aggravated,” Keehn said.

One challenge in treating refugees at the border, however, was identifying those in need of mental health support and treatment, Keehn said.

“It doesn’t look like anything, which is part of the challenge. These are internal mental health issues, but they do manifest in things like depression and anxiety, sleeplessness and those kinds of disorders,” Keehn said. “People are understandably upset because of their displacement. They’re concern and worried about family left behind in Ukraine, but also practical day-to-day concerns of where are we going to live? How are we going to make a living?”

Routine pressures and concerns are exacerbated by the upheaval of the refugees’ lives, particularly for family members who were forced to leave their adult male relatives behind, Keehn said. Americares partnered with various other nonprofits and Ukraine-based groups to provide mental health support, including working with Lifeline Ukraine which operates a 24/7 suicide hotline.

In providing medical care and support, Americares only accepts supplies from pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers, but encourages monetary donations from individuals, according to Donna Porstner, Americares media relations vice president.

To raise funds for Ukrainian refugee services,

Americares partnered with the Gary Wendt Foundation to hold a fundraiser concert Saturday at the Wall Street Theater.

On Saturday, the Gary Wendt Foundation will hold a concert featuring Ukrainian pop star Iryna Lonchyna performing the Ukrainian National Anthem and a musical performance by Greenwich resident Valerie Ahneman and her band, Bon Chic Bon Genre.

Tickets can be purchased online and at the door for $50 per person, Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 8 p.m.

“Proceeds from the event will support the response to the crisis in Ukraine but the way we are responding to the crisis includes deliveries of medicine and medical supplies,” Porstner said. “Emergency funding to medical places in Ukraine, services to families displaced in the crisis and providing mental health support for refugees displaced by crisis.”

Americares has donated more than 130 tons of medicine and medical supplies to Ukraine and given more than $1 million in grants to more than 30 organizations working inside Ukraine and border countries, Porstner said.

Americares / Contributed photo Americares Director of Complex Emergencies and former Norwalk resident Adam Keehn at work in Poland in March. Keehn was based in Krakow, Poland from early March until mid-May, overseeing deliveries of medical aid and working with partner organizations assisting displaced children and adults. He continues to oversee the Ukraine crisis response from the U.S.