Army veteran and Providence VA doctor Michael Siclari recently took 10 days of personal leave to volunteer to help the people of Ukraine during their ongoing fight after Russia's invasion.
“In retrospect, as I think about why I wanted to go to Ukraine, I think it’s more of a sense that I thought an injustice was happening,” he said in a VA news release. “It’s more of a global thought that something wrong is happening to innocent people. Do you say ‘Oh, it’s too bad but at least it’s not us?’ I thought, ‘If not me, then who?’ It was just an intrinsic spirit or sense that spoke to me and said you have an obligation as a physician to help take care of people.”
The trauma doctor’s wish was to help Ukrainian soldiers in combat zones, but that proved to be impractical with the short amount of time he was there. Instead, he took on the medical care of refugees living in Stryiski Park in Lviv, Ukraine. His base was one medical trailer where he provided treatment for the refugees, many of whom fled from Mariupol.
Siclari, 70, also helped with the medical evacuations of wounded Ukrainian soldiers, who had to be evacuated by ambulance or train because Russians were in control of the airspace over Ukraine. Siclari helped with ambulance convoys and stabilized wounded patients so they could then be further evacuated out of the country for long-term medical care.
Service has always been at the forefront of Siclari’s life. Inspired by seeing the many young men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, Siclari joined the military. As an emergency medicine doctor, he felt motivated to help.
“I was really interested in deploying,” he said. “It was soldiers my kids’ age that were the casualties and I thought I would want my kids to get good care. So, I wanted to try and contribute.”
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At 58, he needed special permission to join and, after many hurdles and waivers, he was finally accepted into the Rhode Island National Guard medical unit.
From June 2012 to Oct. 2012, Siclari served in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, where he was assigned to a small combat surgery hospital at Forward Operating Base Salerno.
Siclari is grateful for his time in Ukraine. He will be giving a presentation at the Rhode Island American College Emergency Physician meeting in October, where he hopes he can tell groups of healthcare providers that healthcare workers are in dire need in Ukraine and there are options for volunteering.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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