MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS Correspondent Viktoria Ivonina/. Though Svetlana Vernigorova was trained to be an obstetrician-gynecologist, she could have started working as a therapist. The girl did not drop the dream to work as trained, and under the Local Doctor Program moved to a village on the Yamal Peninsula. That decision was not easy. Anyway, right now Svetlana is a deputy chief physician at hospital in the village of Muzhi. That decision was absolutely correct, she said. TASS spoke to the young doctor to discuss how she had moved from sunny Rostov-on-Don to an Arctic village, where slightly more than 4,000 people live.
(Un)easy choice
Svetlana is 32. She comes from the Rostov region, where she graduated with honors from the Rostov State Medical University as a gynecologist. She studied under a contract, according to which she had to work at a local hospital after the graduation. But at the time she was supposed to be enrolled, the hospital did not have vacancies for gynecologists, and she was offered the position of a therapist. "I was distressed. I truly wanted to work as trained, and following advice from my friend, I went to argue the appointment," the doctor said.
It turned out, there were options to work at a different hospital despite the binding condition - due to the A grades she had at the university. "I come in and say I wanted another direction. They tell me: take it, if you want it," she said.
Another possible variant was to join the Local Doctor Program in the Far North. Earlier, a friend had joined the program, told her a lot about the work, and invited Svetlana to follow suit. She didn't feel like insisting on the position at the local hospital, and, on the other hand, it was challenging to test a new location, and thus Svetlana, without much hesitation, decided she would move to the North.
If North accepts you
"I can remember clearly, my flight from Rostov-on-Don was on September 30, 2015. It was +29 (degrees) there, I was wearing a sundress. In Rostov, September is still summer, its fourth month. I was on the flight with my mom - we wore jackets, sneakers. When we landed in Salekhard, it snowed there … I couldn't realize what was going on. We, of course, ran for gloves, everything was gray, overcast," Svetlana told us.
The village of Muzhi in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region turned out to be much further she could have expected. When she heard storied about Salekhard, the impression was it must be somewhere nearby. In reality, getting to Muzhi is possible from Salekhard only, and the distance to cover is almost 200 km. Interestingly, the distance from her native Rostov-on-Don to Salekhard was about 4,000 km.
"You may take a motorboat, then take a flight from Salekhard, but there are no direct flights to Rostov-on-Don," the doctor said. "So, via Moscow, Sochi or Mineralnye Vody. And from there - a train to home. This route will take up to three days if all flights and crossings fit well. Another option, not to depend on flights, is to drive. Then it would be a ferry from Muzhi to Salekhard, and then to drive all the way across the country."
Svetlana is lucky to have relatives and friends practically everywhere: she may stay in Perm with the mother's relatives, or in Nizhny Novgorod with a sister. With good rest on the route, such a journey may take up to seven days. And then, a similar return trip.
It was tough at first: she was accommodated at a boarding school, where young specialists used to stay, then in a room at a new hostel, and later on Svetlana was given a comfortable one-room apartment. Any young specialist may face a similar situation in any region. However, it is only in the high latitudes that people find themselves in the frost, polar night and a long time without sun.
"When considering coming here, I couldn't imagine it may be so dark," the doctor laughed. "I was too young to treat this change other than a journey. You know, it's absolutely right when they say: if the North accepts you, everything will work out. I used to suffer from the eternal twilight, felt drowsy at first, I had an endless depression. Then, I started to monitor and test my health. Vitamin D levels left much to be desired. I made up for the lack of vitamins - that helped a lot. People get used to everything, and I quite quickly got used to short daylight hours."
"People are making bets when you will leave"
Everything turned out fine at hospital: a modern building, modern equipment, a smart chief doctor. Everything in Muzhi was modern and more equipment continued to come. Doctors worked there comfortably. "I refuse to understand those dissatisfied with medical care here. Everything is accessible - no huge queues that are so typical on the "mainland," she added.
The young doctor got busy immediately. She can remember the first patient - a pregnant woman with a urinary infection. She was doing her best to treat the woman. It was a great responsibility - that was life, not an internship where a doctor is responsible for a student. Everything went well, the patient was released upon recovery.
However, not everything in medicine depends on the skills of a doctor, on a wise mentor or a modern technology. In the North, even the weather can be a factor.
"The most difficult case was in the first month of my work. It happened in the evening," Svetlana said, and pauses in her speech were growing longer. "A pregnant woman was bleeding. She was about to deliver. She had suffered the pain all day long waiting for the husband to return, and did not address the doctor. We reacted quickly - I was working with the chief doctor, also an obstetrician-gynecologist. We planned a surgery. Quick, quick. We did manage the time in the protocol. But, unfortunately ... Back then the sanitary flight could not get to the baby what felt bad due to hypoxia. It was November, bad weather. By morning, the baby was gone..."
For every doctor such a blow is followed by yet another blow - to tell the bad news to relatives. Svetlana, recalling that time, said she felt so badly that the thoughts were to quit the profession.
She called her university supervisor. He reassured her there was no medical error - everything was done correctly. But the situation did not get easier. "I come to the chief doctor, and he says: 'The village is small, people are making bets when you will leave...' I promised myself I would not leave," the doctor said.
"I'm already home"
The first two years, Svetlana said, were the most tough, crucial. This is what many people had described to her - that must have been the period when the North was testing the newcomer. When at work, she was dreaming about a vacation, she was madly home sick. Everything changed at a certain point.
"The interest allowed me to survive it all. Right now, whenever I come to the Yamal, I say: "I'm home," and when to Rostov-on-Don - I'm visiting," she said.
A year later, Svetlana applied for additional training - to become an ultrasound doctor. The workload at hospital was evenly distributed: they had enough resources. The only exception was rather during the pandemic, when everyone went to see patients at home. On regular days, Svetlana had 15 patients before lunch as a gynecologist, and then another doctor replaced her, and she went to conduct ultrasound tests - another 20 patients. During holiday seasons, one gynecologist could have up to 30 patients within one full day.
Twice a year, doctors visit remote territories, receive patients at primary care centers. In winter, when ice roads function, doctors see children, and in autumn - adults.
At times, it was hard, but anyway quite all right. It was very hard to examine the patient whose child could not be saved. Every time, the doctor could not get rid of the guilt, although she understood everything had been done correctly. One day, Svetlana decided to talk to the woman, offered planning a new pregnancy. The patient was worried, afraid, but still agreed. The doctor started preparations, insisted on mandatory intake of vitamin D.
"When I conducted an ultrasound, she started talking to me: 'It's all my fault in that situation. I did feel the pain, but said, well, nothing special...' After so many years I finally got released, she didn't blame us..." the doctor recalled. "Right now, she has delivered a baby, everything went fine. And she continues thanking me for the prescribed vitamin D, saying she's got cheerful and active."
Sunsets, northern lights and first snow
She managed to blend into the team eventually. Svetlana spoke most caring about her senior nurse, who had retired recently. "She was like instead of mom to me, she was very supportive. The attitude to the team is warm, we haven't had conflicts. I probably wouldn't have stayed here in case of problems in the team - after all, we spend most time at work," she said.
She had noticed it was rather tough now to bear the heat in native Rostov-on-Don. Whenever friends asked: "When are you coming home?", then, when on the Yamal, she was about to answer: "I'm already home."
"I really love summer here, I enjoy sunsets… My sister lives in Nizhny Novgorod, which is known for beautiful sunsets, but they are more scenic here. And, of course, the northern lights. It was only last year that I saw one so bright and beautiful - I was returning home rather late from work - it was shimmering ... my colleague and I were happy like kids," the doctor laughed. "One day, I wanted to have a dog, that was another spontaneous decision ... in fact, they're really the best friends of people. My dog loves the first snow. She is so happy, curbing into it - this happiness is beyond words."
Mates often ask Svetlana about how she works at hospital, and whenever vacancies appear, she notifies them. But people mostly do not dare to go to the North: too far, too cold, problems with transport, and sometimes with food. Svetlana, however, is adamant: this "journey" is positively worth it.