Doctor Irina Zhovnitskaya is convinced that medicine, like mountains, does not forgive mistakes
The Birth of a Miracle
We meet her on a bench near the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Maternity Hospital. Normally, the recreation area with a fountain, surrounded by flowers, is a favorite spot for patients to stroll. Now, due to the epidemic regime, there is no one around. But one day, everything will surely return to how it was. Life goes on.
Irina Georgievna is temporarily acting head of the maternity department. Her area of responsibility includes the coordinated actions of all doctors, mid-level and junior medical staff. And, of course, successful deliveries, the interlocutor highlights:
— We do everything possible to ensure that the mother and the baby, who has just come into this world, are doing well.
In the spring, the regional maternity hospital was repurposed to receive people with coronavirus infection, contact persons, as well as pregnant women and gynecological patients with signs of ARVI, fever, and other respiratory pathologies. This increased the workload for the medical staff. Now they have to ensure not only the safety of others but also their own. There are enough protective equipment and medications, shares Irina Zhovnitskaya:
— A multidisciplinary team of specialist doctors has been created, which manages each patient depending on the clinical situation. And the PCR laboratory, which is part of the maternity hospital, allows for round-the-clock real-time diagnosis of coronavirus infection in pregnant women and newborns. Babies are tested for COVID-19 twice – on the 3rd and 10th day of life. Most of our coronavirus patients had a mild form of the infection. They were discharged home healthy and uplifted by the fact that the illness was behind them.
By profession, Irina Georgievna is a doctor – an obstetrician-gynecologist. Her work experience is 13 years, and during all this time, she has never regretted her choice. Although she made it, as often happens, on a whim. In the 9th grade, her close friend decided to enter a medical college. Ira joined, and then it was a classic story. Her friend did not get in, recalls the interlocutor:
— But I did. My parents, both engineers, technical specialists through and through, tried to dissuade me at first. But later, when they sawthe college supported her wholeheartedly. After graduation, she worked for two years at the Sennenskaya Central District Hospital, where she gained a solid foundation. However, to be honest, she really missed obstetric practice, as there were no deliveries in the district as such – expectant mothers were sent to Vitebsk.
In the regional maternity hospital, Irina finally found professional harmony. Mentors also provided support. These were colleagues Lyudmila Kuznetsova and Lyudmila Matveeva, Irina Pasakh, to whom Doctor Zhovnitskaya is grateful. Irina Georgievna also has her own "list" of patients who express sincere thanks. They call, write, and congratulate her on holidays. Such attention is natural, as the doctor once helped them carry their babies through difficult pregnancies. She still remembers the names of two patients. They were in the ward, one after the other, and in the same bed. Even the clinical picture turned out to be similar: preservation from the earliest stages, mandatory bed rest... Fortunately, with joint efforts, everything ended well. Both mothers and their babies are healthy.
One cannot get used to the miracle of birth, Irina Georgievna is convinced:
— That's why it's a miracle. Being a part of it is happiness, but at the same time, a serious challenge.
Irina Zhovnitskaya is also a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, Daria. The girl is already looking towards medicine. Irina Georgievna sees her as a pharmacist, while Dasha dreams of being a practicing doctor.
IN FOCUS
Irina Zhovnitskaya's hobby is extreme tourism. Together with her father, she travels to Karelia to go kayaking. Before that, they conquered the peaks of the Caucasus. Medicine and mountains have a lot in common, the doctor believes: one cannot do without a cool head, knowledge, and the desire to move forward.
naumova@sb.by "Belarus Segodnya"
We meet her on a bench near the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Maternity Hospital. Normally, the recreation area with a fountain, surrounded by flowers, is a favorite spot for patients to stroll. Now, due to the epidemic regime, there is no one around. But one day, everything will surely return to how it was. Life goes on.
Irina Georgievna is temporarily acting head of the maternity department. Her area of responsibility includes the coordinated actions of all doctors, mid-level and junior medical staff. And, of course, successful deliveries, the interlocutor highlights:
— We do everything possible to ensure that the mother and the baby, who has just come into this world, are doing well.
In the spring, the regional maternity hospital was repurposed to receive people with coronavirus infection, contact persons, as well as pregnant women and gynecological patients with signs of ARVI, fever, and other respiratory pathologies. This increased the workload for the medical staff. Now they have to ensure not only the safety of others but also their own. There are enough protective equipment and medications, shares Irina Zhovnitskaya:
— A multidisciplinary team of specialist doctors has been created, which manages each patient depending on the clinical situation. And the PCR laboratory, which is part of the maternity hospital, allows for round-the-clock real-time diagnosis of coronavirus infection in pregnant women and newborns. Babies are tested for COVID-19 twice – on the 3rd and 10th day of life. Most of our coronavirus patients had a mild form of the infection. They were discharged home healthy and uplifted by the fact that the illness was behind them.
By profession, Irina Georgievna is a doctor – an obstetrician-gynecologist. Her work experience is 13 years, and during all this time, she has never regretted her choice. Although she made it, as often happens, on a whim. In the 9th grade, her close friend decided to enter a medical college. Ira joined, and then it was a classic story. Her friend did not get in, recalls the interlocutor:
— But I did. My parents, both engineers, technical specialists through and through, tried to dissuade me at first. But later, when they sawthe college supported her wholeheartedly. After graduation, she worked for two years at the Sennenskaya Central District Hospital, where she gained a solid foundation. However, to be honest, she really missed obstetric practice, as there were no deliveries in the district as such – expectant mothers were sent to Vitebsk.
In the regional maternity hospital, Irina finally found professional harmony. Mentors also provided support. These were colleagues Lyudmila Kuznetsova and Lyudmila Matveeva, Irina Pasakh, to whom Doctor Zhovnitskaya is grateful. Irina Georgievna also has her own "list" of patients who express sincere thanks. They call, write, and congratulate her on holidays. Such attention is natural, as the doctor once helped them carry their babies through difficult pregnancies. She still remembers the names of two patients. They were in the ward, one after the other, and in the same bed. Even the clinical picture turned out to be similar: preservation from the earliest stages, mandatory bed rest... Fortunately, with joint efforts, everything ended well. Both mothers and their babies are healthy.
One cannot get used to the miracle of birth, Irina Georgievna is convinced:
— That's why it's a miracle. Being a part of it is happiness, but at the same time, a serious challenge.
Irina Zhovnitskaya is also a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, Daria. The girl is already looking towards medicine. Irina Georgievna sees her as a pharmacist, while Dasha dreams of being a practicing doctor.
IN FOCUS
Irina Zhovnitskaya's hobby is extreme tourism. Together with her father, she travels to Karelia to go kayaking. Before that, they conquered the peaks of the Caucasus. Medicine and mountains have a lot in common, the doctor believes: one cannot do without a cool head, knowledge, and the desire to move forward.
naumova@sb.by "Belarus Segodnya"