How One Doctor Is Helping Support The Ukraine And Deliver Much Needed Medical Supplies
18 Mar 2022 · 20 min
In this special episode of the Practice Profit System podcast, host Matthew Gillogly interviews nurse practitioner Mark Bavarik, whose wife is from Kyiv and who grew up in Soviet Belarus. Mark shares his personal history of escaping the Soviet regime, which fuels his passion for aiding Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. He describes how his Aurora, Colorado practice, Advanced Health Solutions, has become a hub for gathering and shipping humanitarian aid. Volunteers sort donations—medications, antibiotics, tourniquets, diapers, clothing—into organized boxes to streamline delivery. Mark outlines a logistics network involving Ukrainians of Colorado, Project Cure, Carpathi, and bilingual truck drivers that moves supplies from Denver through Chicago and Philadelphia to Krakow and onward to Ukraine. He highlights critical medical needs such as anti‑anxiety drugs, diabetes medication, antibiotics, and the need for translators and bilingual psychologists to handle medical records and mental‑health care. The conversation ends with a clear call to action, providing website links, donation instructions, and Mark’s contact information for anyone who wants to contribute money, supplies, or language assistance. The episode blends personal narrative, on‑the‑ground humanitarian coordination, and a plea for listener support.
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Hey everyone, it is Matt Gillogly and welcome to the Practice Profit System podcast. And we've got a little bit of an emergency here that we're going to cover. As you all know, things are a little crazy in the Ukraine these days, thanks to Vladimir Putin. And there's a lot of needs. There's a lot of things that people need, not just guns and ammo, like Zelensky has been asking, but there's a huge humanitarian crisis happening. And today I have actually one of my members of my private client group, Mark Bavarik, who is a nurse practitioner and is in Aurora, Colorado. And the name of his practice is Advanced Health Solutions. But we're not really here to talk about his practice. We're here to talk about what his practice is doing for those in need. Now, Mark, you have, you have a unique background. Your wife is from Kyiv, Ukraine. You are from Belarus. Give everybody a little bit of your background for you and your wife.
So both of us immigrated as children. I left Soviet Russia at that time. currently Belarus. When I was 14 years old, we came to the United States. Thankfully for my parents and older brother, we were able to immigrate. My wife, at about the same time with her family, went to Israel from Kyiv, Ukraine. She grew up in Kyiv, and that's a few years later we obviously got married and met in Israel. Now we made home in Aurora, Colorado.
So what's it like for you watching this? I know you're from Belarus, I know she's from Ukraine, probably more for your wife Ina. What's this like watching this kind of unfold for you?
Obviously it's a horrible situation. We can recognize streets, we can recognize landmarks. Same was when conflict in Israel took place. You can also, you know, TV doesn't lie. At the same time, there is lots of fakes and lots of dishonesty, but when you see the actual places that you grew up in, when you see the people, you understand the language, you hear what people say, uh, without translations, you understand the situation a little more. We both speak 2, 3 languages, uh, I mean, some of them fluently, some not. For example, I speak Russian, Belarusian, I understand Ukrainian fluently, I cannot speak, my wife can, a little bit of Polish. So when you turn on a TV or podcast or YouTube videos, you hear those languages, you what people say, and you don't have to trust the reporter. You can hear exactly what's going on.
Okay, so you grew up in Soviet Russia, right?
Yes.
But what is now today Belarus?
Yes.
And so what was communism? I mean, I know you came here when you were 14 years old. What's your memory of life under communist Russia?
I was old enough to understand, uh, for example, I can give you a simple—
being Jewish kid in Soviet Russia, Yeah, 'cause that plays out well, right? 'Cause being Jewish, that was a piece of cake, right? They loved you.
So my mother was a teacher, elementary school teacher. My father was a sewing machine mechanic. Mind you, it's a dying breed right now. Sewing machines are not as popular in the United States anymore, but that's what awaited me. I would've become a sewing machine mechanic instead of a nurse practitioner or a doctor like my kids are aspiring to be. Choices were limited. I had a decent, I would say even happy childhood. I had no problems as far as being a kid. Like all boys, I got into fights and disputes and everything like that, but at the same time, I did not fear for my life personally. My parents, that's a different story. They saw a bigger picture. They lived the life. They walked the walk and talked the talk. That's why we came here. That's why— In 1988, my father, you know, sat down with my mother and decided it's gonna take us— and it took us almost 2 and a half years to get out of the country from the moment that he made his decision.
What's that kind of like? Like, when you talk to your father, what was that like for him under that Stalinist, you know, quote-unquote Stalinist communist regime of freedom of speech and freedom of choice? What was that like for them?
We had to think before we spoke. Obviously, there was— at that time, technology was not as advanced, but at the same time, you had to think about who you're talking to and what are you gonna— going to say and how things may or may not turn out eventually. When, for example, my aunt who went to live in LA in early '80s, and that's how we got out eventually because she helped us out. To make a phone call, we had to go to a main hub in the town and take a number, and there would be, uh, like a phone booth that we would go into, and we'll just— my mom, me, my dad— and scream into the phone, hey, how are you? And, uh, but we perfectly knew that we were heard.
Everything was being recorded.
Everything was listened to, if not recorded, but it was listened to. And letters were opened and packages that were sent to us from United States were always open, from Israel, whatever. So we had to— and when Iron Curtain fell, I vividly remember the Russian comics doing skits of how people used to talk on the phone, how, you know, when freedom came, everything like that. But it was actually true. And you laugh— we know today we laugh at those things, but back in then, people were afraid. They did not want things to be known, or if everybody knew what was going on but nobody would say what it is.
So no real freedom of thought, no, no, no, no, no freedoms at all. So when you see what's going on, and I know you're not a, you know, I don't want to have a quote-unquote overreaching geopolitical discussion because I do want to get to this humanitarian crisis that you're helping solve, but I think it's important for people to have this context really because, you know, a lot of people probably forget what the Warsaw Pact and what, what that was like. You know, I have a couple of clients like you and Beata and Karolina that, you know, Beata and Karolina were born in Poland.
Poland.
Right? You know what I mean? So like, when you see what is going on over there, aside from the humanitarian crisis of the war, what is your thought process like, or what are your feelings like for you and your wife with regards to having no freedom again? For having once tasted freedom, what would that be like for you to have once tasted freedom and then not have it again?
It's impossible. I think my, my hands are itching. I think Inna would not let me go, but I don't think I would right now to get up and go to, to, to fight for them. And there's hard choices that needs to be made. So for myself, I decided I would help humanitarily. I would Protect— I mean, to drop a practice here, what's going to happen to people here? Army of one, basically. Uh, so we decided— I contacted all of the Russian-speaking and Eastern European docs that I knew in Denver, and I asked them to contact the other docs, American docs, and we basically cleaned out our offices of everything that's not expired, obviously. Medications, antibiotics, tourniquets, you name it, there's lists, is endless. There is wars that can be fought from United States, there's wars can be fought on the streets of Kyiv. Horrible situations we're thinking about. For example, one of the things that we are able to do, medical professionals like me, there is a link from St. Jude's Hospital. They're gonna take in some kids that are ill with cancer, and they're Ukrainian kids. we need to translate medical records into English. So there is a wave of doctors that's gonna spend 1 to 2, 3 hours, as much as they want a day, to, to translate that, the medical records for them. Other things, but for—
And simple things, what people would take for granted. Let's say they're on anti-anxiety medications, right? Let's say—
Absolutely.
And all of a sudden that Wellbutrin runs out. What happens when somebody's Wellbutrin runs out? It's not pretty, right?
It's not pretty, and it makes things worse. The psychological impact on families and wives— I've seen and talked to people who were able to make it all the way to the United States, but as the wife and children, or a child, crosses the border from Ukraine to Poland, the husband stays behind to fight. And the moment of understanding that you will never see that person again, or you'll never see your wife and children again, because there is a huge— huge chance that you're gonna die. It doesn't lay in my head. I cannot understand that. I cannot fathom that. And, uh, this morning I wake up, I take my children to school, I see the sun shining, beautiful day, and, uh, it doesn't— you know, you cannot comprehend what's happening exactly on this other side of the world and what people are actually doing and causing so much pain and destruction to one another.
And like simple things like, okay, so anti-anxiety, anti-depression medications, diabetes medication.
Diabetes medications are huge. Yeah, antibiotics are huge because there's gonna be cuts and bruises besides the gunshot wounds. And, you know, PTSD— I've rounded up psychologists, I'm still waiting for them to come forward, but bilingual psychologists so they'll be able to translate. Actually, the medical translators, translators period, to be able to help people to navigate those services.
It's not just the injuries in war, meaning shots, shrapnel, things like that. It's pretty easy. There's a psychological component.
Psychological.
But there's also just like, okay, now I have a million refugees, say in Poland.
They have to be fed, they have to be dressed. Again—
And sanitary conditions, like, you know, 'cause that's a condition where like cholera and things like that could all of a sudden No. Just rampantly kick off, right? I mean, assuming they don't have the— maybe Belarus is not the perfect example.
Yes, thankfully Poland is, uh, you know, advanced country and, uh, people that crossing the border, you know, also educated and, you know, European, whatever. Not, not to put anybody down. They're good people, they're educated, they're smart, and, uh, they're trying to make their ends meet right now. Another thing that, uh, gets me, we're sending diapers, we're sending, you know, first necessities because once you bring to a small town like, I don't know, Aurora, or, you know, a suburb of a huge city, you bring a few thousand refugees, women and children, all of a sudden you're out of certain things. So we do send a bunch of stuff. We do send clothes. We try not to send clothes too much because it's heavy and it takes place of the medications and first necessities. And hopefully— it's been 10 days of war. It's horrific war. They've managed to do a lot of destruction in that time. And so what we're trying to do is number one, money, medicine, and then everything else. Once this thing is over, we perfectly understand that there's going to be a long time to rebuild and get things back together. Family needs to come back together and start, you know, going back to normal. Hopefully it will happen sooner than later, but at the same time, we kind of looking forward. The organization that I'm working with, we're kind of managing our resources so we do not dump on them and things are standing under the rain and going bad, versus when we can, uh, constantly infuse little by little or whatever they need. Because we can't— thankfully, again, for the electronics and being able to keep in touch and see things firsthand, what they need and how, how we can help.
Okay, so there's a group, ukrainiansofcolorado.com, that you're associated with.
Yes.
And that's really the, the mechanism through which So people have been bringing in supplies to your office, right?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I sent out the word through the social media and the word of mouth through the churches, through the synagogues, and people just come. 5, 6, 7 donations a day we're getting every day, and it's, mind you, truckloads. I opened up a room that I do usually IVs in my office for, uh, donations, and that room is being filled every day. And volunteers come in and we separate things and set things aside. So they have to be prepared certain way. For example, IVs go in one box, antibiotics go another, clothes another. So when they reach it, when reaches the destination, people don't have to waste time to reopen. And, you know, so meds will go to the field hospitals or local clinics and things like that. Uh, so we teamed up with, uh, Project Cure. It's a huge organization, wonderful, wonderful people who helped us out with logistics. We teamed up with Carpathi, another company— well, nonprofit— that helps us with channeling the information and supplies to Ukraine. There's a way— we're trying to figure out the cheapest and fastest ways to deliver. We don't want to waste resources on on travel and delivery of the items. For example, we teamed up with truck drivers who are bilingual Russian-speaking or Ukrainian-speaking truck drivers who have vested interest in helping out. They volunteer their time and trucks and things like that. So from Denver, we send things to Chicago. From Chicago, it goes to Philly. From Philly, it goes to Krakow or There's a city in Ukraine by the name of—
So basically how people can help wherever they are, they don't have to be in Colorado. They can go to ukrainiansofcolorado.com.
Ukrainians of Colorado has a list of items that are needed and links to other organizations. Also, I can provide after podcast, I can provide you the links and the information that you can list as well.
We'll list those in the show notes as well.
Yes, yes, exactly. Also on the Facebook Ukrainians of Colorado, they're also available. By— you're welcome to put out my cell phone number. I'm willing to pass it along, and, uh, text and calls are fine. If I'm in the room with a patient, I'll politely, you know, decline or send you a text back, but I will call you back and I will talk to you, and I'll take the information and help with any way I can.
All right, we'll put that in the show notes as well. And again, you know, folks, this is You know, one, clearly, what is going on, what Putin has done, is just unconscionable in the 21st century. I don't think— I'm saying it even though it probably doesn't need to be said.
Yeah.
But, you know, there's way more that happens with this when we have the military might and the things of that that we need to have. But, you know, it's not like the Ukraine is some kind of, you know, backwater knucklehead country. I mean, this is a very prosperous country. This is, you know, in my industry, we— We hire a lot of VAs and a lot of technical people from the Ukraine, very smart, very, you know, highly, highly educated people. And they didn't ask for this. They didn't ask for this war. They didn't ask for this. Thank God they're standing up. But, you know, there's a lot more that's— that needs to happen besides no-fly zones and guns and bullets and all that other fun stuff. There's a lot of people that are going to be displaced. There's a lot more fighting that's going to happen. This is going to go on for a long time. Putin unfortunately probably is not going to back down, and so we got to be in this for the long haul. So I encourage you to go to Ukrainians of Ukrainians. I'm sorry, Ukrainians of Colorado dot com. I'll put the website in the show notes. If you can't contribute, you know the medical supplies. Make a financial contribution. We'll put Mark's cell phone if you have the ability to do transcriptions. If you can, if you speak Ukrainian or things like that, and we you know Mark can get you. He can be your point person of getting in contact with the right people to make your own contribution to support the people of the Ukraine and. Eastern Europe that are all being impacted by this. Because it's not just the Ukrainians, it's, you know, it's people in Poland are being, you know, Moldova, we've got Romania, Hungary, all of these places are feeling the impact of this. So, so there you go. Mark, any final comments that you want to pass along?
I just want to say is that it doesn't matter, it's Ukraine, Belarus, any other country, Mexico, Canada, doesn't matter. People are people. Governments are the ones at fault. Blame solely the Russians and other governments of this world for standing and watching. And it doesn't matter what nationality, what creed, we will help those people.
Exactly. Okay, everybody, again, ukrainiansofcolorado.com is the place to go make your contribution. You know, instead of buying another Starbucks, send $7, $10, $25, whatever you can. You know, decide not to go to Starbucks once a week or something like that and send that $7. It'll go a long way. And you have no idea the lives that you're going to positively impact. So, Mark, thank you for everything that you do. And you and your wife, thank you. Okay. Thanks again for listening to this special presentation of our podcast. And we will talk to you all soon. Have a great day.
Thank you so much for listening. If you liked this episode, take a moment and share it with your fellow medical professionals, or post a positive comment and rate it on wherever you just listened. Now don't forget, you can get a copy of my book, The Anatomy of a 7-Figure Medical Practice, for free. Just pay $7.95 in shipping and handling, plus you'll get over $1,197 in free bonus material. Simply go to srpmedicalmarketing.com/book. That's srpmedicalmarketing.com/book. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next week.
