Elena Lebedeva, a surgeon in a squad of specialized medical care teams for work in emergencies, is confident that women can be much more resilient than men.
Elena Anatolyevna works at the N. N. Sklifosovsky. The history of the capital, especially the modern one, was directly reflected in its work.
“My colleagues and I helped the victims of the shelling of the White House in October 1993,” she says. - People began to be brought in already in the second half of October 3 to the Sklifosovsky Institute. Everyone who was not on shift that day - surgeons, traumatologists - went to help.
A day later, they started shooting near Ostankin - everyone was again taken to Sklif.
“During the day we operated on 56 people with gunshot wounds,” continues Elena Lebedeva. - We have opened a large number of operating rooms. The most difficult cases were taken care of by our most experienced surgeons.
Elena Lebedeva was also on duty on the day when the explosion occurred at the Krylya rock festival near the Tushinskaya metro station. Then I had to face wounds caused by bolts and nails, which were stuffed with a bomb detonated by a suicide bomber.
“Each operation lasted 5-7 hours,” says the surgeon. - We finished operating at one operating table, immediately moved on to another, then several teams worked at once. Someone did a laparotomy - he worked on his stomach, someone worked with his hands, neurosurgeons - with his head, traumatologists - with his legs. This speeds up the work.
She recalls: the 90s were "famous" for injuries, victims.
A decade has passed, and the threats have not diminished. They just changed. Since last year, another struggle began for the life of each patient, but this time in the war against the virus - coronavirus infection.
- Our squad became, let's say, the pioneer of the treatment of COVID-19 in Moscow. On March 1, the whole team sent us to the opening of the hospital in Kommunarka. We organized the space in the intensive care units, in the emergency department, then for a month we received the first patients.
The teams then included toxicologists, traumatologists, specialists from the burn department. Less than three weeks later, a COVID-19 office was opened in Sklif.
“In the emergency squad, everyone must be prepared for various events,” admits Elena Lebedeva. - The more experience, the more calmly you perceive everything.
The surgeon also got used to shifts on holidays: his birthday, New Year, and sometimes March 8 meets at the post. Her family is sympathetic to the chosen profession.
“The main gift for me is the health of my family,” she adds.
They try to distract from thoughts about work by offering books on needlework: Elena Lebedeva loves to sew, knit and make crafts.