June 28th, 2019 by Steven Duncan

Meet Dr. Zhanna from Kyrgyzstan (I am a solid foot taller than her at least). Every week we take a train outside the city and visit elderly patients living in retirement homes. Many of them are bedbound and require full-time care by nursing staff. Dr. Zhanna helps encourage her patients to move around and stretch so they can retain their strength. We mainly manage chronic conditions like hypertension but each visit includes checking on patients who have fallen acutely ill and are being treated with antibiotics for pneumonia or urinary tract infections.

Some of the patients have conditions that could benefit from medical intervention (like the woman pictured, whose skin lesion should be biopsied and removed in my opinion) but their next of kin don’t want to spend the money. We do all that we can for them, but it can be difficult to navigate. Dr. Zhanna told me that when the family declines to pay for any care, she sometimes buys them medications herself. I’m inspired by her generosity and have been getting good practice listening to lots of senior hearts.