Local resident David Pivato’s efforts help 22 Ukrainians fleeing the war

If he could, former Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Medical Technician David Pivato would return overseas to rescue trapped Ukrainians without hesitation.

“If I didn’t have responsibilities here, I would probably still be there,” said Pivato.

Despite the inherent dangers of entering a country at war, he spent a month in Poland at the border with Ukraine, figuring out how to bring people out of the war-torn country.

Collaborating with the Sentinel Foundation, he managed to free 22 people and three cats. According to his track record, he helped rescue one family from Bucha, one family from Kherson, one family from Rivna the day before it was bombed, a family from Zaporozhzhe, a person from Donetsk and another from an unspecified Russian-occupied region.

He admits that he relied on luck most of the time, and, unlike some of his Sentinel teammates, he managed to avoid any personal injuries.

“And I just feel lucky,” said Pivato. “Because all that stuff was down to luck, it wasn’t like we knew any of that stuff was going to happen. It just lined up.”

Most of his time overseas was spent filling out paperwork, liaising with contacts, helping bring people to a secondary country, and figuring out what roads could safely be used. He became adept at leveraging his skills to help his teammates in Russian-occupied areas.

Pivato also became familiar with the Russian Army’s bribery system and knew when to approach a checkpoint and when to back away.

The going rate? $150 USD per person going in and $150 USD per person leaving.

The people he helped save were grateful. However, to his surprise, not all wanted to leave.

“The amount of need there is massive,” said Pivato. “But at the same time, the courage of those people is incredible. There have been times where it doesn’t look like people want to get out of those areas.”

His mission is over and he returned on April 30 to the relief of his family and friends, and he is re-acclimating himself to life in Canada. He does admit that he still misses driving in Poland, where the rules of the road are very loose.

He quickly added that he is, however, very happy to be back with his family and dogs and to his day jobs as a Field Specialist at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and part-time professor at Algonquin College.

But just because he is back in Canada doesn’t mean he has stopped his quest to help as many Ukrainians as possible. He is on the lookout for people willing to help house people, give them jobs or donate furniture so they can rebuild here, as well as funds for flights into Canada.

More than 100,000 Ukrainians are waiting for the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel immigration stream to come to Canada. And those that are here are struggling to establish themselves. “I just wish I could do more,” said Pivato.

To contact David Pivato, please email him at dpivato@gmail.com.

Related Link: Work continues in Ukraine as Chernigov residents try to rebuild city