In most 20th century wars, civilian hospitals were off-limits to attacking forces. The Geneva Convention formalized this protocol in 1949: there should be no "obstacle to the humanitarian activities" and the wounded and sick "shall be respected and protected in all circumstances." Article 19 demands that hospitals and mobile medical facilities may under no circumstances be attacked.

Yet rogue states have begun to disregard this mandate. Russia launched repeated civilian assaults, including the bombing of a pediatric and maternity hospital in Mariupol.

Northwell’s Center for Global Health was established to assist medical providers wherever healthcare is under siege, and it has been doing so for 5 years now. Our brief for this film was to tell this story in direct, human terms: to establish both Russia’s deliberate attack on some of the most vulnerable people in Ukraine, and support critical efforts to counteract and shore up Ukraine’s struggling healthcare heroes.

“Two Wars” is set in Lviv Regional Children’s Hospital in western Ukraine. It tracks the work of Dr. Natalia Fedyk, a transfusion specialist and podiatrist who has to manage a distressing influx of patients in need of urgent care due to Russia’s assault on other facilities. These kids have complex medical issues that require uninterrupted treatment, a challenge in the conflict zone. Northwell’s telemedicine system has stepped into this breach wherever possible.

The film lives on RaiseHealth.com/Ukraine, where visitors learn more about Northwell’s efforts in Ukraine and donate to the Center for Global Health’s Relief Fund..

Since standing up this telehealth capability in the early weeks of the war, Northwell has provided over 400 remote consults, and that number continues to grow. In sharing Northwell’s global telehealth initiative, we hope to inspire other health systems and clinicians to join us in addressing this emergent need in future conflicts.

“There are few greater ways of terrorizing the population... than through attacking healthcare." – Dr. Michele Heisler, Physicians for Human Rights,

As soon as bombs started falling on hospitals, Northwell kicked in gear, adapting its Center for Global Health’s telehealth capabilities to assist Ukraine’s frontline healthcare workers. Real-time doctor-to-doctor consultations help doctors practicing outside of their comfort zone with critically ill patients who require care traditionally provided by subspecialists. Within weeks, Northwell built a countrywide telemedicine support system to reach Ukraine’s besieged medical staff, and further mobilized supplies and personnel to send directly to the region.

But what brought us up short was how surprised the Western media seemed to be about Russia’s deliberate targeting of hospitals, and that was our “aha” moment: we knew we had to tell this story, so the world will understand that these assaults are not collateral damage – they are the point.

This was an unusual effort from the start: not a marketing campaign in the traditional sense; nor a straightforward reputational gambit. We saw what Northwell’s purpose-driven commitment could accomplish. We saw Ukraine’s need for assistance and wanted to spread the word. Most of all, we wanted to tell the story of “healthcare terrorism”, not just for the sake of accountability and support in this war, but to establish a name and framework for understanding this emergent dimension of war in the 21st century.

So yes, Northwell was able to raise over $382K in donations for Ukraine, matched with $175K contributed directly by Northwell, plus $1MM in additional supplies and aid of various kids. While we are proud of that effort in terms of delivering direct aid when it was needed, we hope this film is the beginning of a wider conversation about the deliberate targeting of healthcare in modern warfare.