Dan Moezzi is a family practice physician in Alamogordo at Indian Wells Family Practice. He is also an Iranian refugee who saw two revolutions and lived on three continents before coming to New Mexico in the 1990s.

Moezzi said when he saw news coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine he was moved to help. So he traveled to Ukraine and lend his services as a doctor to Ukrainian hospitals and clinics.

"I felt I am in a position to help," Moezzi said. "It was a great experience. It was one of the best trips I've ever done in my life."

The Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital is a "city within a city," Moezzi said, as it is walled off from the general population.

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The Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital was built in 1870 and currently holds 845 patients. The hospital provides comprehensive behavioral healthcare, Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital Acting Director Irina Halamai wrote in a letter to Moezzi.

"Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, our clinic has admitted to inpatient treatment of about 300 patients from eastern Ukraine, about 1,500 patients received outpatient treatment," the letter states. 

The hospital continued receiving patients at the end of March including 220 patients who were evacuated from Kharkiv Psychiatric Hospital on March 23 and 62 patients who were evacuated to the Lviv hospital from Bakhmut Psych-Neurological Boarding School on March 25.

Conditions at the Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital were bleak, Moezzi said. Beds were a spring base with a thin foam mattress for patients to sleep on.

The letter from Halamai included a list of needs: medical exam tables, gurneys, an X-ray viewer, digital ultrasound machines, resuscitation trolley kit bags, disposable kits such as are used for spinal taps, tracheostomies and pleural punctures.

Halamai also asked for printers, an ambulance and a car to transport up to nine people. 

When Moezzi went to Ukraine, he took supplies donated from Alamogordo locals and businesses including Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, Walmart Neighborhood Pharmacy, Rotary Club, American Medical Response (AMR), Lillie Lewis, Renee French, Melinda Brooks, Bob Patillo, Dr. Douglas Dodson of Southern New Mexico Surgical Center and Indian Wells Family Practice.

Moezzi set up the Facebook Page New Mexico with Ukraine documenting his trip there. He has also partnered with Ukraine Children, Inc. for donations.

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter. If you have questions about your subscription, please contact Customer Service at  AlamogordoDailyNews@Gannett.com or call 1-877-301-0013.