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Ukrainian Caregivers and Care Providers in the United States
“No one even knew where Ukraine was before this happened,” said Oleg Teleten, MS, RN, CWCN, referring to the war in Ukraine.
I work with Oleg, and we both live in Sacramento, which received approximately 100,000 Ukrainian immigrants in the 1990s after Mikhail Gorbachev opened the borders for those seeking religious freedom and a better life. During that time in the Soviet Union, people of any faith tradition, including Christianity and Judaism, were fined and imprisoned for practicing their religion. In addition, higher education and work opportunities were not available for people of faith.
The wave of Ukrainian immigrants to the United States that occurred in the wake of Gorbachev’s declaration of open borders was considered the “fourth wave” and is also called the economic diaspora although many were seeking religious freedom. The three previous waves were from 1920 to 1945 (World War I and Russian Civil War period), 1945 to 1991 (World War II and Soviet periods), and 1991 to 2016 (after Ukrainian independence).1 However, the majority of Ukrainian immigrants in the United States emigrated after 1991.1 In the 1990s, the Soviet Union told those wishing to emigrate that they must take all their older family members with them because the state did not want to be left with an aging population with no family support.
Caring for older family members is not out of the ordinary in the Slavic community, which naturally raises the question of caregiver burden. Valuing a shared descent and belonging to a culture that includes beliefs that guide social action are important factors that affect caregiver burden, and those with stronger cultural ties and religiosity may suffer less caregiver burden and stress.2 Through extensive interviews of those who provided care for a family member with dementia, preliminary data suggest strong cultural differences in the positive effect of the caregiver role.3 The same pilot study highlighted the importance of immigrants sharing collectivism, intergenerationality, and rituals and routines as well as how these characteristics and practices may interact; they may lead to a decrease in caregiver burden and unpredictability while providing care. This may also provide meaning and positive effects, thus improving outcomes for the caregiver and the recipient.
Sacramento has one of the largest communities of past and more recently arrived Ukrainian immigrants. Much of their lives revolve around traditional churches, schools for Ukrainian children, and supporting their brethren. Most of the Ukrainians who have arrived in Sacramento since 1990 are Pentecostal and Baptist, with Slavic churches in many neighborhoods around the Sacramento region. Many Ukrainians and their faith communities are now working diligently to ease the suffering caused by the war.4
While living and growing up in the former Soviet Union, Ukrainians and other Slavic peoples were required to learn the Russian language; however, most Russians do not speak Ukrainian. Most Ukrainians had to learn English when they arrived in the United States, find jobs, and acquire education to advance themselves while caring for their aging parents and grandparents. At UC Davis, we have many Ukrainian nurses who learned English, went to nursing school, and then went on to earn higher degrees in nursing.
Oleg has nine brothers and sisters. When they first immigrated, they all lived in a small apartment. He said he first worked for a Polish construction company while also working at McDonalds to learn English, which he polished up by watching television (cartoons were great for this). All his brothers and sisters are either health care providers or engineers and stay within the family until they marry. He had a 90-year-old aunt living with him and his family until this year when she died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oleg was initially hired at the university hospital to work with the Russian and Ukrainian translation teams. Once he became a nurse, he worked in the dialysis unit and now is a member of the wound team. We laugh because he says his spelling–even in his own language–was never good, but he is quite adept at constructing a proper paragraph and cleans up my hurried work. This is why we work so well together!
Oleg has had work published in Wounds and is one of the authors–along with me, Tatyana S. Polyak, MD; Jessica Espinoza, OTS; Andrew I. Li, MD; and Ariel J. Rodgers, MD–of the article, “Measuring Pressure Redistribution Properties of Four Hospital Bed Surfaces: A Quality Improvement Project,” which appears in this issue of Wound Management & Prevention.
REFERENCES
1. United States Agency for International Development. Ukrainian Diaspora Investment Study. SEGURA Consulting LLC; 2016.
2. Farran CJ, Miller BH, Kaufman JE, Donner E, Fogg L. Finding meaning through caregiving: development of an instrument for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease. J Clin Psychol. 1999;55:1107-1125. doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199909)55:9<1107::aid-jclp8>3.0.co;2-v
3. Kirkland-Walsh H. Immigrant caregivers of family members with dementia. Poster presented at: Qualitative Research; Quebec, Canada, October 22, 2012.
4. Bartolone P. How Ukrainian Churches in Sacramento are Leading the War Response. Accessed May 12, 2022. https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/03/04/how-ukrainian-churches-in-sacramento-are-leading-the-war-response/.
Dr Kirkland-Kyhn is Director of Wound Care Services, UC Davis.
The opinions and statements expressed herein are specific to the respective author and not necessarily those of Wound Management & Prevention or HMP Global. This article was not subject to the Wound Management & Prevention peer-review process.
