MDF Instruments Crafting Wellness - July 17, 2026
The Lives Within Reach
Worldwide Vets, Ukraine
When Dr. Gemma Campling saw the invasion of Ukraine unfold, she watched as people and animals were forced into circumstances they had never chosen and could not escape. The scale of the crisis was overwhelming. No single person or organization could repair everything the war had changed, but Gemma knew there was something she could do: care for the animals within her reach.
Crafting Wellness with Worldwide Vets in Ukraine
Through Worldwide Vets, the global veterinary charity she founded, that decision became action. Veterinarians began working alongside local organizations to bring free, practical care to dogs, cats, horses and other animals affected by the war, while supporting the people doing everything they could to protect them.
When Every Act of Care Matters
War disrupts far more than what can be seen. Veterinary clinics lose access to medications and equipment, families face impossible decisions, shelters become overwhelmed, and the number of stray and displaced animals grows.
In these conditions, routine veterinary care can quickly become urgent.
Worldwide Vets has responded by providing sterilization procedures for dogs and cats, along with rabies vaccinations, deworming and flea treatments. In a three-month period, the team sterilized approximately 1,700 animals. These services help protect the health of individual animals while reducing the spread of disease and supporting communities already carrying the weight of war.
More Than a Medical Visit
Behind every animal treated is often a person trying to keep them safe.
For families remaining in Ukraine, caring for an animal can provide a sense of connection and normalcy amid uncertainty. Yet accessing veterinary care may be difficult or unaffordable as people navigate displacement, damaged infrastructure and limited resources.
By offering services free of charge, Worldwide Vets helps ease some of that burden. A vaccination, sterilization procedure or preventative treatment may appear to be one small moment within a much larger crisis, but to an animal and the person who loves them, it can mean everything.
The work is also made possible through collaboration. Worldwide Vets partners with local veterinarians and animal welfare organizations that understand the needs of their communities and remain present long after visiting teams leave. These relationships help ensure that care reaches the animals who need it most.
Worldwide Vets Mobile Veterinary Clinic, Ukraine
Choosing to Do Something
For Gemma, the decision to work in Ukraine began with the feeling that standing by was not an option. “I had never been to Ukraine before, but when I saw the invasion of Ukraine, it broke my heart,” she shared. “I just couldn’t bear to see what the people and the animals were going through.”
Her words reflect something many people feel when faced with a crisis of this scale; the desire to help, paired with the knowledge that no individual action will ever feel big enough. But meaningful change is rarely the result of one person fixing everything. It grows through people choosing to do what they can, where they can, with the skills and resources they have.
For Worldwide Vets, that means caring for dogs and cats, supporting horses and other animals, equipping local partners and continuing to return wherever help is needed.
A Commitment That Continues
Worldwide Vets’ work in Ukraine is not a single visit or a temporary response. It is part of an ongoing commitment to improve animal welfare while supporting the veterinarians, shelters and organizations working within the country.
Through our Crafting Wellness program, MDF Instruments is proud to continue partnering with Worldwide Vets and supporting its wider mission to make compassionate veterinary care more accessible around the world.
The crisis in Ukraine is greater than any one organization can solve, but every animal treated is a life made safer. Every local partnership makes continued care more possible, and every person who chooses to help becomes part of something larger.
Wellness as a Commitment
Our Crafting Wellness initiative is a core expression of what we believe: that health is a fundamental right, that the people and animals who need care most are often the ones hardest to reach, and that a company with resources has a responsibility to use them. Across more than 807 missions in 73+ countries, MDF has donated over 45,000 instruments to organizations working on the front lines of global health.
How You Can Help
If Worldwide Vets’ mission resonates with you, there are several ways to get involved:
• Donate directly at worldwide-vets.org/donate
• Volunteer and join a mission anywhere from Egypt to Peru to Ukraine at worldwide-vets.org/volunteer
• Check with your employer about donation matching
And if your organization is running a medical mission and in need of medical instruments such as stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers and reflex hammers, visit our Crafting Wellness donation request page to learn how MDF Instruments can help equip your team.
About MDF Instruments: Since 1971, MDF Instruments has handcrafted stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, and reflex hammers used by healthcare professionals in over 73 countries. Our Crafting Wellness program donates medical instruments to missions serving underserved communities worldwide.
Crafting Wellness Missions
Worldwide Vets in Ukraine
Worldwide Vets in Egypt
Tiba Foundation and Boda Girls
Nampa High School
University of Alabama MEDLIFE
