Russian doctors visit UMC-West as part of Friendship Force
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, WY)
Posted on October 10, 2002
By Becky Orr
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| Kathy Green Director of surgical Services at United Medical Center, explains one of the hospital's trauma surgical rooms to Russian surgeon Andrey Shiryayev. Shiryayev and four other Russian health professionals visited the hospital Wednesday morning. The Russian health care professionals were in Cheyenne with Friendship Force International as part of a cultural exchange program. |
That goal is to heal.
Four Russian doctors visited UMC-West on Wednesday as part of a trip organized by Friendship Force International.
During their stay, they are visiting hospitals, mental health clinics and volunteer agencies in Cheyenne, Laramie, Torrington, Denver and Loveland, Colo.
The doctors were joined by an interpreter. They are staying with host families in Cheyenne.
Friendship Force brings people of the world together through homestay exchanges.
"We believe individuals can make a difference," said Barbara Jo Guilford, a member of Friendship Force International of Cheyenne. "When we communicate with each other by staying in each other's homes, the foundation is set for international peace."
One doctor, Oleg Rudolfovich Shvabskiy, is chief of obstetrics of a hospital Perm, a city he describes as located "in the heart of Russia." The hospital serves a district of 150,000 people, said Shvabskiy, a man with a hearty and easy laugh.
He said the hospital is good, as he spoke through interpreter Lyudmila Nikolayevna Nikolaeva.
The hospital is not that much different from his in Russia. "We have good doctors and good people," he said.
Equipment and buildings are better in Cheyenne, he said, but on the whole he feels at home at the Cheyenne hospital.
"They all understand each other - the doctors - and can speak without even knowing each other's language," he said, and smiled, as he spoke in his native language.
In the 15 years that he has been a doctor, he has seen changes in the medical system in Russia. More openness and cooperation exists now between doctors in Russia and those in other countries.
But some good things have been lost. There is less preventive medicine. People don't go to the hospitals as much for checkups, he said.
Andrey Vsevolodovich Shiryayev is head of surgery at a hospital in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The city of 200,000 is located on an island in the far eastern part of Russia, just 20 miles from Japan.
He is a general surgeon and also performs laproscopic surgery. He practices at both a private clinic and a state-run health-care clinic or hospital.
Shiryayev said he is "really impressed by the equipment here." At UMC-West, he donned green surgical garb and observed a knee surgery.
Shiryayev is especially familiar with some of the equipment at UMC-West. The laproscopy equipment he uses is made in America, and he received special training on it from Americans.
Health care is free in Russia at the state-run clinics. Insurance is available, but is new and not widely effective. Russia has private clinics for those who can pay. But these are still new and governed by regional laws. People who can afford it go to private clinics, which tend to have more modern equipment.
One of the biggest differences he noticed between American and Russian medicine is that such medical equipment is available to almost anyone here.
Rukizaht Magomedovna Abuyeva is a professor from the capital city of Dagestan. She lives in a city of 3 million people.
While she can learn a lot about medicine from Americans, she said there are pluses to the Russian system from which Americans can benefit.
For example, patients in Russia remain hospitalized until they recover, she said. In America, they are released when they are in no real danger, but still require recovery time at home.
For her, the best part of the trip to America is meeting people. "The people (here) are so open, so warm and very hospitable."
© 2002, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Used with permission
[Reprinted with Permission]
