As part of a humanitarian operation organized by Lyon Metropole, in conjunction with the French government, Birdwell International was asked to provide urgent assistance and logistical arrangements for 3 interpreters.

These three interpreters joined a round-trip flight from Lyon to Krakow on 11 and 12 April to help some forty refugees, including several pregnant women who were due to give birth in the maternity hospital in Zhytomyr, 150 km west of Kyiv, a city which has been hard hit by the conflict. Medical teams, volunteers from the Red Cross and Rhône Civil Protection and representatives of the French state and Lyon Metropole traveled on board the plane. Read more

This repatriation mission to Poland and then Lyon was organized in partnership with the French government, the ARS (Regional Health Agency), Natecia Lyon hospital, which will monitor the women’s pregnancies and deliver their babies, the Red Cross and Alynéa, which specializes in providing accommodation and helping disadvantaged people.

To optimize the outbound flight, Rhône Civil Protection, one of the most important logistical platforms for collecting and transporting donations for Ukraine, filled the plane’s holds with emergency supplies and medical equipment, which were then delivered to Ukraine by a Polish NGO. (More details here)

Of course, these Ukrainian-French and Polish-French interpreters facilitated communication between the Red Cross teams, the pregnant women and their families and the Polish NGO.

Thanks to its extensive network of interpreters and translators, Birdwell International’s teams were able to respond quickly to the urgent appeal launched by Lyon Metropole; Birdwell International has been one of their trusted service providers for several years now.