A study journey across four continents, a pandemic, and a war zone

Thursday 11 August 2022

Martina Paletova can easily say her life has been bursting with unique experiences and significant career positions. This year, the 51-year-old PhD student found herself taking on her most challenging role yet: leading a health care team on the Moldova-Ukraine border.

Martina Paletova during the IsraAID humanitarian mission on the Moldova-Ukraine border.

Last updated: Friday 25 November 2022

For the last three months, Martina has played the role of nurse, logistician, and social worker as she assisted refugees. While both challenging and rewarding, nursing wasn’t her initial career choice.

Martina grew up in the Czech Republic, and following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, decided to see what the world had to offer. She lived in Namibia for a year, before moving to South Africa where she sold ice cream to support herself as she completed a degree at the University of South Africa, graduating with a Religious Studies major and an English Literature minor.

From there, she made her way to Canada and worked in the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women as a prison guard. After a change in personal circumstance, Martina felt the need to do something for herself.

With her background in Religious Studies, which included learning about Biblical Archaeology, she decided Israel would be an interesting place to explore. With Israel also being prominent in world news due to political and safety situations, Martina considered it the place to study emergency and disaster management.

In 2011, Martina was accepted into the Master of Public Health, Emergency, and Disaster Management programme at Tel Aviv University in Israel. During this time, she volunteered in a hospital in Jerusalem and discovered she enjoyed working with people and talking with families. This inspired her to continue studying in line with her passions, and she went on to graduate with her second master’s, this time in social work, alongside a Bachelor of Nursing.

While it wasn’t always easy, Martina says she loved studying and all the opportunities it afforded her.

“Passing the stage exams in Hebrew was a challenge. But once finished, I was able to begin working as a registered nurse in a bone marrow transplantation unit with children and adult patients in both Israel and the Czech Republic.”

With two bachelor’s, two master’s, and one diploma under her belt across multiple universities on four different continents, Martina began to explore what was available in Australia for PhD studies to complete her collection. She started studying at Central Queensland University and began her self-funded PhD studies in cancer nursing.

Martina worked in the COVID wards, and was part of the Israeli vaccination from December 2019 to January 2020.

As with the rest of the world, the arrival of COVID-19 changed her plans. The professor that Martina was working with moved to Massey, with Martina being able to follow as she entered Massey’s distance study programme.

Distance study meant Martina could arrange her research work around her career, as she continued nursing in COVID wards, and was part of the Israeli vaccination drive from December 2019 to January 2020. Her work inspired and fed into her studies, with her PhD research topic changing to focus on her nursing experience with COVID patients. Her PhD ‘Exploring the experiences of nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic and the organisational supports provided by their organisations: A case study of two countries’ will compare New Zealand’s response with that of Israel.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Martina’s nursing skills and her ability to speak Russian saw her offered a post as a nurse in the IsraAID humanitarian mission on the Moldova-Ukraine border.

“My duties involved delivering humanitarian aid around the villages. I’d see patients with high blood pressure and diabetes, and try to assist local volunteers with burn out and stress prevention workshops. I’d help find medications for people and change diapers for elderlies. I even tracked down a leash for a little kitten that needed to spend time out of her cage, but the owner was scared she would run away.”

“A big part of what I did was listening – I listened to stories from refugees, mothers and grandmothers who had no idea where their husbands and sons were. I would hear stories from children who spent weeks in basements, and kids who described horrific experiences. They would draw pictures no kids should draw.”

Martina says being a part of the humanitarian mission was a huge responsibility, and though she was glad to be able to help, it was a challenging three months.

“It was mentally draining; I think three months was the maximum I could manage. People trusted me and were sure I could take care of them. Most days, I felt hopeless and that I didn’t have enough hours to manage everything that was needed.”

“I received many hugs and blessings. When we took food to villages on the border, people would be so grateful to receive such basic supplies because they had nothing to eat. Kids would be smiling because I gave them a banana. It was hard to see people in that position.”

At the end of June and after a long 37-hour flight, Martina finally touched down in New Zealand. She can now attend Massey in person as she works towards completing her PhD over the next few months on the Manawatū campus.

When asked what’s next for her, Martina is happy to report that she doesn’t know just yet.

“I have no idea! Somehow, some way, things happen to me. Whatever I plan usually takes an interesting turn.”

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