Andy Oishi has been known to take his gift of healing to war-torn countries and areas impacted by disaster. He has been a physician for the last 26 years at Kuakini Medical Center and Queen’s Medical Center, and is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM).
Oishi, a JABSOM alumnus, has taken part in humanitarian missions as part of Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that aids hurting people around the world. He has administered surgical care in the Battle of Mosul in Iraq in 2017 and treated patients when Haiti was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2021. As part of the organization’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), Oishi helps respond to crises, and aids victims of war, natural disasters, disease and famine.
His latest assignment took him to Ukraine in June to provide medical aid to those affected by the war, which required Oishi to be deployed for a month.
Overcoming, adapting to challenges
During his travels to his primary assignment, including a 22-hour flight and 24-hour bus ride, Oishi faced yet another obstacle.
“It was fifteen hours into the bus ride that I was starting to get that sick COVID feeling,” Oishi recalled. “My first five days in Ukraine were hard because I was in COVID isolation and trying to work, but I was in a foreign country. I didn’t know the language and I couldn’t get a translator because I was considered infectious.”
Once out of COVID-19 isolation, Oishi was ready to get to work, but soon realized the mission had changed. The leaders of his mission pivoted his role to distribute medical supplies instead.
“It was kind of an interesting experience because in previous DARTs, I had been deployed to do trauma surgery or acute medical care,” Oishi said. “But the war in Ukraine transitioned quickly. [The Ukranians] actually put [up] a big fight and pushed Russia out of the central part of the country, and Ukraine became quite stable very quickly, except for the eastern and southern areas where Russia had occupied. There was a huge need for supplies for all the medical facilities in the occupied zones.”
By the time Oishi left Ukraine, Samaritan’s Purse had distributed 200 metric tons of medical supplies. Though Oishi had no knowledge of the Ukrainian language, there were translators who were able to communicate with the local community they were engaging with.
To accomplish his work, Oishi had to develop skills that he normally doesn’t use in his practice: contacting hospital administrators, writing up hospital contracts, and organizing and then delivering supplies to those hospitals. All of these transactions were carried out in the Ukrainian language.
Danger in the war zone
Meanwhile back in Hawaiʻi, Oishi’s wife, Laurie Tam, also a JABSOM alumna, received this text from her husband: “Missiles hit the city where we are. We are hiding in a basement.” They later discovered that at least three people were killed and 15 were injured in the attack.
Tam said, “I waited for a while, then a few hours later, I texted him, ‘Are you okay?’ My friends and family hoped that the reason he was not replying was because he was down in a basement with no wi-fi. And then it became hours where I didn’t hear from him.”
Oishi later responded that he had fallen asleep in the basement, something they can now look back on and laugh about. He added that his team had spent their time in the basement having deep conversations and building camaraderie.
“For me, the missiles and the bombs were never the biggest concern,” said Oishi, who had prepared for the worst and thought of a game plan with his wife before proceeding with the mission. “The biggest concern was not being able to complete the tasks that I was assigned to.”
Despite all of the challenges they faced throughout this experience, the couple found peace in their faith in God during this time apart.
Making an impact with medical knowledge
Oishi and Tam encourage their students and residents to use the medical knowledge and skills they learn at JABSOM and find ways to make a difference both here and in other parts of the world.
“We live in the safest, richest country in the world,” Oishi said. “We think this is how life is, but it’s not really like this in most of the world. Life can be very difficult in those places.”
He added, “We have all these opportunities to serve and grow our faith, and this was definitely an opportunity where our faith grew.”
Read more about Oishi’s mission at JABSOM.
