Women to Watch: Rubin Fortunato Celebrates Inspiring Women Leaders — Laura Brady
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March 26, 2024
During Women’s History Month, Rubin Fortunato celebrates remarkable contemporary women, like Laura Brady, who created a Ukraine Humanitarian Aid campaign, sourcing and coordinating the delivery of nearly $250,000 worth of material supplies to the Ukrainian frontlines.
Laura describes the Ukrainians she knows as a proud, lovely, warm, and welcoming people. In 2017-2018, Laura spent a year in the Lviv Region of Ukraine, teaching English and cultural studies as an adjunct professor with the Ukrainian Catholic University. After returning home to the U.S., Laura began working as an Analyst Relations Manager with EPAM Systems, a custom software engineering firm that operates in 50+ countries, with employees in Ukraine and others parts of Eastern Europe.
When Russia began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Laura’s co-workers found themselves on the frontlines, Laura wanted to help. She needed to do something. With the support of EPAM, Laura created a Ukraine Humanitarian Aid campaign, open to EPAM U.S. employees, families, and friends (including you and anyone to whom you send this post). To date, this small group of U.S. residents has marshaled nearly a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of tourniquets, chest seals, hemostatic dressings, and other medical supplies – all shipped overseas at EPAM’s expense. Here is how it works: order any of the approved supplies from an Amazon Wishlist (updated regularly with input from four Ukrainian frontline workers). When checking out, Amazon should auto-fill the EPAM Conshohocken office address for delivery, but if not, please enter: EPAM Systems, 1020 Spring Mill Avenue, Suite 100, Conshohocken, PA 19428, Attn: Ukraine Humanitarian Aid. When the items arrive at the EPAM office, Laura packages and delivers everything to a Meest logistics center in Philadelphia to ship to Poland. From there, the medical supplies are driven to the frontlines, arriving within three weeks.
Outside of the office, with additional privately-raised funds, Laura also buys AAJT-S (abdominal aortic junctional tourniquets-stabilized), a life-saving innovation for use when a standard tourniquet will not suffice. And, they are priceless. Laura explains: “One tourniquet was used for 18 different soldiers before it gave out, and I confirmed that four weeks after the injuries were sustained, every single soldier was alive and in recovery. This means we had a 100% success rate with the AAJT-S.”
Laura’s shipments have helped save lives, including the lives of foreign legion members, and her efforts also have benefitted the Hospitallers, a volunteer paramedic battalion working with the 93rd, 54th, and 47th brigades in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Laura gets emotional when talking about the notes of gratitude and photographs she has received from soldiers and paramedics. Her passion is palpable: “I lived in Ukraine, and helping my friends survive is very personal to me.”
Rubin Fortunato celebrates Laura and other women humanitarians who are raising awareness, rallying support, and making the world a better place. For more information and to lend your support: visit Laura Brady’s EPAM Humanitarian Aid Amazon Wish List.
