Spine surgeon Freeland Ackley, DO, is back in the U.S. after serving in Ukraine, Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health said in a Jan. 2 Facebook post.
Dr. Ackley and general surgeon David McCall, DO, went on a medical mission trip to Ukraine's third-largest city, Odesa, according to Baylor Scott & White Health. Along with operating on soldiers and civilians, the surgeons taught new surgical techniques to physicians in Ukraine and consulted on cases.
Both surgeons hope to return to Ukraine to continue aid.
"t’s the realization of how much we have to be grateful for, and how guilty I am of complaining about the most trivial things," Dr. Ackley said in the post.
Dr. Ackley specializes in degenerative, revision and minimally invasive spine surgery, according to Baylor Scott & White Health's Southwest Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics in Waco, Texas.