Svitlana Boitsaniuk: “I did not believe in the possibility of war until the last moment”

“Until February 24, I denied the possibility of a full-scale war. I remember replying to everyone who was talking about it: “Don’t be ridiculous. We live in the 21st century.” But I will never forget February 24. My mother had health issues. I was next to her. She doesn’t have internet, so I didn’t read the latest morning news and didn’t have any information. The morning call was from a friend from another city. She reported that the war had begun. You know, when the phone starts ringing at 6 in the morning, your first rection always is: “Something must have happened.” So, I asked my friend if she was joking, but she said she wasn’t. After that, I no longer belonged to myself, because there were a lot of calls and messages from students: “What to do? What is the form of study now?”. It did not stop until we received official information that we are studying online.

In stressful situations, I always manage to put myself together, but the thought was in my head: “What to do?”. Until the last moment, I did not pay attention to the news, so I did not keep my alarm suitcase ready, because I believed in a peaceful solution. On the first day, I packed an alarm suitcase, I unpacked only a few days ago. It was not big. First of all, I gathered all the family documents. But I was not ready to go anywhere. I am not going to leave Ternopil even now. I am a person of military service and ready for various scenarios. For now, I am fulfilling my professional duty, but if necessary, I am ready to serve my native country,” Svitlana Boitsaniuk, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry of Ternopil National Medical University, says.

She knows for sure that the dental volunteer service was started on Monday. Svitlana Boitsaniuk, together with other teachers, brought another part of humanitarian aid for the military to TNMU administrative building. Then they went to the Vice-Rector Stepan Zaporozhan, with the idea of ​​organizing free dental care for our defenders and temporarily displaced persons on the basis of the dental department.

“Immediately after that, me and Nataliia Chornii, Associate Professor of the Department of Therapeutic Dentistry, together with the Vice-Rector went to the Rector for approval. And the work began. We made an announcement on our media resources – and the patients immediately started coming. We do not regret it for a minute and are ready to continue working in the same way. It is nice that many 4th-5th year students and graduates joined us. They helped us a lot, but dental treatment was not their only volunteer work. They volunteered wherever they could. For them, it was a school for mastering dental skills, a school of life, a school of humanity.

First, we started receiving people at the Department of Therapeutic Dentistry and used two dental chairs. Then we expanded our volunteer clinic to three chairs, and even later to four chairs. We have no time limits. We accept as many people as come every day. Our priority is our defenders. At the beginning, everyone from the Territorial Defence Forces received dental services for free. Now we also pay more attention to military personnel, soldiers of the National Guard. We help temporarily displaced persons, we do not reject anyone who has an acute toothache. Our task is to ensure that those fighting against the Russian aggressor receive a full range of dental care. We perform a full examination, treat teeth if necessary and perform professional oral hygiene. They will not have time for all this at the front line. We will do it even after the victory, so that everyone who defended the country has our maximum support,” Svitlana Boitsaniuk says.

And these words have their own confirmation, because for many years, TNMU Faculty of Dentistry has a tradition of providing free dental services to people from socially vulnerable groups of the population. At the same time, teachers manage to fulfil their pedagogical responsibilities. Other colleagues of the Dean – Nataliia Chornii, Liudmyla Patskal and others – do not miss a single class, the schedule of classes and work with patients is made so that not to harm the teaching process and that the dental service works without interruption. Representatives of the Faculty of Dentistry even on weekends serve military personnel, when the latter have to go to defend the country next day.

“I had many emotional stories during this time, but there are some that will be remembered forever. In the first days of the war, our graduate from Volnovakha, Denys Biriukov, returned to us. I remember him very well, because in 2014 he came to Ternopil with his parents to resume his studies. He did not have his documents with him then, because they remained in occupied Donetsk. We renewed them to start his training. He studied well and graduated in 2017. He completed an internship and worked as a dentist in a polyclinic in the city of Volnovakha.

During one of the air raid alarms, I went to the shelter. We follow all the recommendations and definitely go to the shelter. And at that moment, in the distance of the corridor, I saw the silhouettes of two men. I looked and one of them was Denys. In the first seconds, I had a feeling of déjà vu, but he came up and told his story: there were many missile strikes on Volnovakha, and he had the experience of escaping from military operations, he immediately packed his things and left. It was the first and last evacuation train. He had a choice of where to go, but during his studies, Ternopil became his hometown, so he came here. He joined our service on a volunteer basis and is a member of our team,” Svitlana Boitsaniuk proudly adds.

An interesting story from work comes to mind. In May, a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was on rotation, came to us for help. He comes from the Ternopil region. As it turned out, he is a neighbour of our graduate Vitalii Ivanitskyi. The meeting was extremely exciting. Help was provided and a photo for memory was taken.

The good news about TNMU dentists is spreading among our defenders. I remember the touching story of the first acquaintance with the fighters who were on rotation after the liberation of Bucha. With tears in our eyes and pain in our hearts, we helped them. While communicating, we became convinced that the Ukrainian people are invincible, because we have an indomitable spirit.

Yanina Chaikivska.

Photographs by Mykola Vasylechko.