Moscow’s Homeless Try to Avoid Freezing to Death
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MOSCOW) — They are among this frozen city’s most vulnerable population: the homeless, and they fear freezing to death every night.
After a half dozen years providing medical care to Moscow’s homeless, Dr. Elizaveta Glinka, or Dr. Liza as she is known, has seen everything. The most common injuries are frostbitten extremities and burns from unsafe heaters.
The worst, she says, are the frozen bodies she and her fellow volunteers find.
Every day she sees homeless patients in her clinic, part of a charity she runs called “Just Help.” Every day about 100 people come there for food. A couple times a week she and her team take the van out to reach more people in need.
As men and women crowded around her van she doled out medicine, clothing, advice, and a hopeful smile. One day someone donated a jar of caviar, and she was able to spoon out some of the delicacy to the needy.
“This time of year there are a lot more people than in the summer. Now there are lots of people,” said Nikolai Belikoff, one of the volunteers.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio