DOCTOR ON CALL: Chernobyl Responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation Expert

April 26, 2021 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

Dr. Alla Shapiro – a pediatrician and hematologist in Kiev in the 1980s – was one of the first physician-responders to the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Chernobyl changed her life and career forever. Within a few short years, she and her family left the Soviet Union, became Jewish refugees, immigrated to the United States, and among the many challenges and obstacles she faced, she had to go back to medical school since her foreign diplomas were not recognized.

She shares her fascinating story in her new memoir, DOCTOR ON CALL: Chernobyl Responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation Expert, which is available from today, April 26, 2021, the 35^th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion-

Motivated by her experiences as a physician-responder at Chernobyl, Dr. Alla Shapiro has become one of the world’s leading experts in medical countermeasures against radiation exposure.

EXCERPT

DOCTOR ON CALL Preface

I was one of the first physician-responders to the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Amid an eerie and pervasive silence, I treated traumatized children and witnessed frightened families and civilians running barefoot across radioactive sand, carrying stretchers to save others. The images of these victims and of widespread destruction remain in my memory.

A pediatrician and hematologist in Kiev at the time of the Chernobyl explosion, I was dispatched to the emerging nuclear nightmare. Some first responders extinguished fires and cleaned up radioactive debris. We physicians triaged and administered first aid. None of us were given protective clothing or detailed instructions. At international conferences, I am repeatedly asked this question: “What were medical first responders least prepared for at Chernobyl?” My answer never changes: “Everything.”

The first part of Doctor on Call describes my experiences while responding to the disaster. Some previously published narratives emphasize the Soviets’ lack of preparedness for coping with radiation events. My chronicle goes on to recount the lies and deliberate misinformation perpetrated by the government from the outset of the disaster. We first-responder physicians not only worked “in the dark,” but, contrary to our principles, we were ordered to participate in the deception of the public.

The bureaucratic lies and cover-ups in the aftermath of the explosion were the final reason my family and I fled the Soviet Union, along with hundreds of thousands of other people. Many of them, like us, had also endured decades of open hostility toward Jews. The Soviet government declared us all stateless, and many were branded as traitors. Each of us defectors was allowed to take, at a maximum, forty pounds of possessions and ninety dollars in cash. Our emotional and historical baggage would be impossible to put down, leave behind, or unpack.

The second part of this memoir describes our emigration experience and our adjustment to living in the United States. Four generations of my family and a diverse group of fellow refugees traveled to Austria and then on to Italy, where my family remained in limbo for six months. We belonged nowhere. Nobody knew if we would ever arrive in the United States, with its promise of freedom and new beginnings.

In the third part, I discuss my professional work in the US, where I became an international expert in the development of medical countermeasures against radiation exposure. At the US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Development and Research, I held the position of medical officer, Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Coordination Staff.1 With a passion born of heartbreaking experiences, I applied what I had learned from the Chernobyl disaster to my work.

I have tried to follow in the steps of the immigrants who built America over three hundred years. The stories of their resilience, courage, and contributions to society give me hope that, despite any disasters that could destroy us, new days will continue to dawn.

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