Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Northwell Health president and CEO Michael Dowling on Monday, September 18 to express his gratitude for the assistance provided by the healthcare system to Ukrainian doctors and healthcare providers during the country's ongoing war with Russia.
In New York to give an address to the United Nations General Assembly regarding human rights violations he says Russia has carried out during the country's invasion, Zelenskyy met with Dowling at Northwell's Staten Island University Hospital and presented him with Ukraine’s Order of Merit as a show of appreciation for Northwell’s Ukraine Relief Fund program.
The program provides funding for aid for Ukrainian soldiers and hospitals, and Zelenskyy lauded Dowling for his leadership and compassion.
“Thank you very much to everybody, to our soldiers and their relatives. I see some of them sitting here with their wives, sisters, and mothers,” Zelenskyy said. “Thank you to the staff and doctors who gave them the possibility for one dream: to live and to come back to us...home.”
“It’s our privilege to help in any way we possibly can. What you’re doing, Mr. President, is absolutely extraordinary. What happens in Ukraine, is important to all of us,” Dowling responded. “This is not an issue for just over there, it’s an issue that affects us here. And as you said on television last night, this is a protection of democracy and a western way of life, so we thank you for everything you’re doing.”
Northwell Health runs numerous medical facilities on Long Island, including South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Huntington Hospital and Peconic Bay Medical Center.
If you're interested in contributing to the Relief Fund, please click here.