Wilmington doctors staff mobile clinic in Ukraine as war drags on

Two retired Leland doctors traveled to Ukraine last month to staff a mobile clinic that’s serving those still living in the war-torn country.

In early November, Guy and Marilynn Fiocco were some of the first medical workers to staff a mobile health clinic run by a Ukrainian group in conjunction with Global Care Force, a Kansas-based medical volunteer organization. 

The clinic targets civilians living in areas impacted by the war between Ukraine and Russia. Since the war began in February 2022, many residents have run out of prescriptions and other over the counter medications. Some are suffering from high blood pressure, anxiety, asthma and other medical conditions made worse by the war’s destruction.

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For Marilynn Fiocco, the war’s impact on Ukraine’s people stood out during her time working at the mobile clinic. She remembers one middle-aged woman coming into the clinic with back pain aggravated by new job digging graves for soldiers. Another day, Fiocco saw a young girl with asthma triggered by a stay in an underground, mold-filled bomb shelter. 

Outside the clinic, Marilynn Fiocco and her husband Guy Fiocco witnessed the destruction Russian fighters had left behind in Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv.

“There were bombed out apartment buildings. There were deserted Russian tanks rusting in the streets. There were piles of automobiles that were destroyed,” Guy Fiocco said.

“It was worse than we expected,” Marilynn Fiocco added. “It’s just a lot more real than seeing a picture, but to be standing next to an apartment building that’s just hanging in rubble.”

Over the course of two weeks, the Fioccos volunteered in several makeshift clinics near Kyiv and Odessa. Bombing had blown out the windows of some of the clinic locations, which included a former school, a church basement and a former clinic.

The Fioccos communicated with patients through a translator and used their medical skills to recommend treatment, which a Ukrainian doctor would then prescribe. 

“We can’t write a prescription, but we can analyze the problem,” Marilynn Fiocco said.

High blood pressure was the most widespread issue they encountered. Some patients were rationing their blood pressure medication while others had run out of it entirely.

“The level of hypertension we saw would easily have been sent to the emergency room here,” Guy Fiocco said. 

Many of the people the Fioccos treated had been displaced from their homes due to fighting. Others had been separated from their families or had relatives fighting in the war, Marilynn Fiocco said.

“The level of mental health and trauma, even though it’s very much internalized, it’s going to last a lifetime,” she said.

The Fioccos moved to the Wilmington area in 2014. They both worked for New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Physician Group until retiring in 2019. Guy Fiocco specializes in rheumatology – a field that treats inflammation of the bones, joints and muscles – while Marilynn Fiocco specializes in pulmonology – a field that focuses on respiratory diseases.

The two have practiced medicine in clinics across the U.S., including stops in Wisconsin and Texas. 

They’ve also used their medical knowledge on volunteer trips to the U.S.-Mexico border, a Navajo reservation in the Southwestern U.S. and a trip to hurricane-impacted New Orleans. Closer to home, they volunteered to administer vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and regularly volunteer at the Cape Fear Clinic.

“There’s always something to do and it’s always been rewarding,” Guy Fiocco said.

As for Ukraine, the Fioccos said they want to return to volunteer although they’re not sure when they’ll make another trip. Despite the destruction they saw, Marilynn Fiocco said the Ukrainian people she talked with were positive about the war’s outcome.

“They don’t know when it will end, but they’re so sure that it will end with victory,” she said. “So they’re just prepared to suffer and survive and hopefully get back to their families and their homes.”

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.

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