Barrie, Ont. nurse takes unpaid leave to help those in Ukraine

Kyleigh MacLeod saw firsthand the struggles of the Ukrainian people while on a three-week mission offering medical aid in the war-stricken country.

"People here are complaining about the price of gas. Whereas people in Ukraine, there is no gas. They're trying to flee the country, and they don't have gas to flee with," said MacLeod.

She said her motivation for heading overseas was simple.

"It was just not okay what was going on, and I wanted to do whatever I could to help the people there."

MacLeod, a 25-year-old registered nurse from Barrie, with the full support of her husband, decided to take unpaid leave to travel to Poland with Canadian Medical Assistance Teams.

"It was a big learning curve in terms of how to show empathy and not just sympathy. How to show that you really care for what's going on even if you're just doing something small for them".

The group crossed the border into Ukraine daily to provide medical relief to those who had been forced to flee to the western part of the country.

"My husband and I had actually talked about if this became a bigger thing, would we enlist in a war. He's a mechanic. I'm a nurse. We have marketable skills in that sense, so this was the perfect opportunity to kind of in a controlled way go and help the people there," said MacLeod.

• Get the latest updates on Russia's attack on Ukraine

A nurse at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, she recalls the line of trucks trying to leave Ukraine being 25 to 30 kilometres long, with only about a quarter of that line crossing per day. At that border, she saw things she would never forget.

"There's this image burned in my mind of this husband and wife forehead to forehead. She was relatively hysterical, and he was trying to calm her down before they hugged each other and said goodbye. The women and children got in the car and drove across the border to Poland, and the men stayed and watched them go".

While the medical team from Canada wasn't on the front line, they had no shortage of alarming moments.

"I was at the border container, so I was safe technically, but the rest of my team had gone further into the country, and there was an air raid. There was a level of stress for them in terms of they were en route, so there wasn't a bomb shelter nearby that they could easily access".

Macleod's experience there made it difficult to return back to Canada.

"My husband had to talk to me like what you do at your work also is important and also has purpose. Because when I was there, it was so fulfilling, and I felt like I was really making a difference in the lives of everyone we saw".

She says seeing the damage and destruction up close was enlightening.

"I just want people in Canada to be aware of how truly barbaric things are over there. People are really suffering, and I would love to see us as Canadians rally to do more for them".

Her perspective changed throughout the trip, especially when seeing citizens brought to tears by the mere presence of Canadians.

"They felt like by virtue of us being there that Canada hadn't forgotten them, and that was such a huge thing for the Ukrainian people."

The Barrie woman raved about the resiliency of the Ukrainian people.

"I couldn't help but reflect when I was there. People are still going to work there, and there is no money to pay them. But they're going to work because they say they need to keep their economy going. Upon reflecting, I don't know if we would do that here. Maybe. Maybe not."

MacLeod said she would be willing to go back to Ukraine and do it all again without hesitation. She would even like to return and help rebuild the country when the war ends.