Local Medical Heroes in Ukraine

Stuff We Love

By Craig Manning | Nov. 12, 2022

Let’s have a big round of applause for Todd Stone and Rob Garvin, a pair of healthcare professionals from Traverse City who recently traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, as part of a relief mission trip. While there, the two joined a team of other volunteers working to help restore mobility to people who have lost limbs because of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Stone and Gavin are both part of the local branch of Hanger Clinic, a provider of orthotics and prosthetics that boasts some 875 locations across the United States. The pair brought their expertise in prosthetic care to Ukraine, where they helped fit approximately 50 patients with custom-designed prosthetic devices over the course of the nine-day mission trip. Per the global nonprofit Limbs for Life Foundation, between 8,000 and 10,000 individuals have likely lost limbs in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, while another 400,000 existing amputees in the country can no longer access care. We’re grateful to our local medical heroes for doing their part to help!