Las Vegas doctor back home after volunteering in Ukraine

Air raid sirens periodically sliced through the ordinary sounds of a shelter with refugees trying to distract themselves from the horrors of war-torn Ukraine. The monotonous buzzing would send them into a bunker where they would wait and rest.

When the danger subsided, “the children start playing again,” Las Vegas doctor Wilson Bernales said.

But the incessant crying is what most haunted Bernales, 55, who recently completed a nearly four-month stint as a volunteer in the Zaporizhia region in southeastern Ukraine that served as a last stop for some fleeing the country.

It took an emotional toll and led to him returning home to seek a sense of normalcy, he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of crying every day,” said Bernales, a Filipino American and U.S. Army veteran. “It was just horrible, horrible.”

When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, Bernales said he knew he needed to be there.

“This is not right, you know. In the 21st century, this should not be happening,” he said he told himself. “My main goal in life is to help people in whatever capacity I can, either big or small.”

Traveling doctor

Bernales, who walks with a limp because of an injury that forced his early retirement from the military, initially planned to integrate himself with the Ukrainian forces, but was instead assigned as the sole doctor at the shelter.

As the 24/7 medical provider, Bernales treated children with motion sickness and patients blood pressure or diabetes symptoms. He helped remove 21 bullet fragments from an older woman who could barely walk. He offered a comforting ear for the displaced who shared their horrifying experiences.

He also helped the roughly 50 other volunteers with the daily chores in the kitchen or laundromat and helped pack supplies for travelers headed on lengthy, hot train rides to Poland or other European countries.

There was sleep deprivation, a language barrier and the sight of the frantic faces of young mothers and older people desperately trying to flee, Bernales said.

And it wasn’t the first time Bernales had packed up with little thought to aid in a crisis.

During the onset of the pandemic, when New York was hammered by COVID-19, he volunteered as a traveling doctor.

Dr. Rachakonda Prabhu, who was his boss at the time at Red Rock Medical Group, recalled finding out about the monthslong trip.

“I said, ‘Wilson, what about you? What about your health?’” Prabhu said in a phone interview.

“Don’t you see how New York is struggling?” he said Bernales told him. “I’m going to go tomorrow.”

Then last year, Prabhu said, Bernales told him he had gotten a job with the federal government, providing medical care for prisoners.

After that, he did not hear about Bernales for a while.

“Next thing I know, he’s in Ukraine helping the refugees,” said Prabhu, adding that he was not “shocked, but pleasantly surprised.”

“He has a passion for the medical profession, and he’s very compassionate,” Prabhu said.

Bernales’ former patients still talk about how much they love him, Prabhu said.

The Ukrainian government had offered to extend Bernales’ visa, but he decided he needed to take care of his mental well-being.

His volunteer colleagues and refugees surprised him on his birthday last month by gifting him a collage of photos from his stay in Ukraine. During an emotional goodbye in early July, they handed him a laminated “certificate of appreciation.”

The Ukrainians, whom he described as resilient and warm, often told him about how much they appreciate the aid the U.S. has provided and reminded him to tell fellow Americans to not forget about their plight, Bernales said.

“It is a rewarding experience” that made him reflect on how good Americans have it here, he said. “I don’t regret it.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.