[chapter five]
Caring for Russia's health
The Maternity Institute
Just before reaching the Maternity Institute, one hot August afternoon while in Moscow, I stopped for a drink at what we would call a "soft drink stand," one of many located all over that city. This "drink stand" was just a block from the Maternity Institute, my destination, and as little as I cared for Russian drinks my thirst had to be satisfied. One of the national soft drinks called "kavas" I had tasted several times before, but could not get myself accustomed to liking it. This time with nothing that looked better than "kavas" for sale, I downed a drink, grimacing for five minutes afterwards. I made up my mind this time for all times-no more "kavas." To give an idea of its taste would be beyond my skill in description. All that can be said is that it is a cross between cider and poor homemade root beer.
Just inside the main entrance of the Maternity Institute is a long marble stairway leading up to a row of exhibition rooms. Here an elaborate exhibition, illustrated by means of pictures and molded forms representing the different parts of the body, can be seen. Illustrations on the care of the infants,effects of venereal diseases, and child birth are included in the display. Little was omitted.
In the summer time the children are cared for in an open air court. Those having a venereal disease are cared for in one division, those having other ailments are placed in others. The normal infants have their division, too. The large building which surrounds this court, besides containing exhibition rooms, has many chambers, large and small, where the infants are cared for when it is necessary for them to remain indoors, plus a clean and well equipped laboratory and operating room.
For every twenty-eight infants three doctors are provided. One doctor who was in charge of the venereal division seemed quite pleased to have visitors and took great pains to explain everything in detail which my interpreter translated. The "doc" was quite enthusiastic about this work and did not want anyone to leave until everything was touched upon. The doctor pointed out that those affected with syphilis were showing great improvement under treatment with results which surpassed expectations. No infant having a disease of this kind is allowed to leave the institution for two years and in some cases longer, depending upon their reaction to treatment.
Prospective mothers are not forced to come here except of their own free will, but they do come because the medical care is efficient and almost free. Many stories have been circulated both in Americaand in Europe that the State takes possession of the child. This is as much a fabrication as the other stories for the mother is not in any way forced to leave the child here after birth. However, she can if she so desires, giving it the benefit of goodmedical treatment. During the Czarists' regime this Institute was used for homeless children. Now it is a modern hospital for workers' infants under expert supervision, and with educational features.
The School of Forestry
The name, School of Forestry, was misleading to me. I found it to be an institution for consumptive children instead of a school connected with scientific forestry. But there was, I found, plenty of justification for it. There are thirteen of these institutions located in the Moscow district. The one I visited was situated just on the outskirts of the city. It resembled a mountain resort, the sort we have in our Rockies, with the main buildings constructed out of rough timber. All of the buildings of the institution are located in the center of a large woods of pine and spruce trees.
The head of this "school" was a small wiry doctor whom I found to be most cordial. He ushered ourparty into his office and seemed quite pleased to tell us about the place. Most of our conversation, translated through the usual interpreter, covered the following inquiries and answers : Q. "What checks are made on the School?" Ans. "The Department of Health checks these schools regularly." Q. "Are there any private hospitals or institutions in the Soviet Union?" Ans. "There are no private institutions in the U. S. S. R. for treating the ill." Q. "Are the children forced to come here?" Ans. "No.They come here by recommendation."
At the time of my visit there were 225 children in the institution, the ages varying from seven to fourteen. All workers' children are given the preference. The remnants of the old bourgeoisie are second in choice. Seventeen dispensaries in Moscow examine and determine whether the child be sent to one of these schools.
The youngsters are educated here as well as treated. During the regular school season throughout the winter they attend class, but in the summer no regular classes are held. The first thing they are taught when they come here is to adhere to a strict program of health rules. Every two weeks their weight is taken and when they are released from the institution, after a given period, they are examined again. While they are here the parents are allowed to visit them, but only once a month, and then only upon presentation of a certificate that the parents are not ill and would not infect their children.
In addition to the regular schedule those physically able to do some kind of social work-everyone in the Soviet Union is urged, not forced, to do some kind of social work-such as police service over the other children and clean up jobs. The little "doc" says there are three specific things the School of Forestry aims to accomplish: First, to help each child regain his health; second, to continue with their education; third, to teach them to do some social work.
To one of the buildings a large neat open air dining room is attached. One of the nurses was cutting the bread which was to be served for the noon meal and offered me a piece after I watched her slice a loaf or two. I was glad she did for it was near lunch time. It was the typical black kind which so many people dislike, but this was freshly baked and tasty.
Inside the main building there were bedrooms. Most all rooms in this and other buildings of the institution were of log cabin construction-that is the walls were bare logs and the floors made of uncovered boards. The doctor informed me that this was more healthy than a furnished room. The floors looked like they had just been 'scrubbed, in fact everything throughout the place was clean. The rooms contained from two to four beds. They, too,appeared comfortable and furnished with a sufficient amount of blankets. One thing which attracted my attention was a chart showing the behavior of the boys and girls. After each name was a space where either a star or a black square would be placed each day. The star represented the good child and the black square the disbehaving one. In this same building was a dental room which on certain days was used by a dentist sent here from one of the Moscow clinics. The equipment was not of the modern typebut yet adequate enough to suit the requirements.
In another building the children having deformities were housed. They, too, had free access to the entire forest grounds, but they usually remained in their own quarters. The reason for this was so that they would not be teased by the other youngsters. These boys and girls welcomed our patty heartily and "got a big kick" out of having visitors. From a few observations there appeared to be good results in treating these youths for deformities. When we left every child came to bid us goodbye. What a happy looking group they were in spite of their ailments!
Equipment vs. Idea
In nearly every dental clinic or hospital which I visited except the institutions which I have mentioned in this chapter, disregarding the dental room in the School of Forestry, I found the equipment and - methods inferior to ours. Foot drills, for instance, are used in the dental clinics. This kind of equipment has even been discarded a long time ago in our colleges, which usually, unless they are fortunately endowed, are the last places to install new apparatus because of their limited funds.
Instruments and treatments which the Russians call the best are far from being up to what we would call a par. I have mentioned the antiquated equipment. As for the physicians-in Russian the same as in any country there are good and bad doctors. However, the lack of well trained doctors is not always the case, as I have already pointed out the efficiency of the professional personnel in some of the institutions, and will later tell of the service rendered an American in a hotel at Kiev, but is due to the educational schedule. Their time spent in studying compared to what the American student is required to put in is less and I believe it does not give them the proper amount of training. The elimination of the subjects which so many American students consider unnecessary could possibly be one reason for this reduction.
A dentist, who had practiced for over twenty years, told me that, with one year of college work,he expected to be a doctor of medicine. Whether in his twenty years of dental practice he had studied the other ailments of his patients and whether the Soviet Union would take this into consideration, one guess is as good as another. The chances are, with their prejudices toward anything that was in the nature of social service work for the masses, they would. But there is still no doubt in my mind there will be better hospitals and clinics with doctors more completely trained in the future.
Everywhere there seemed to be the utmost effort spent for improvements in this field as well as in the industrial field-a sort of a pioneering to establish socialism in a place where capitalism failed to develop and to satisfy. It reminds me of our pioneer days when we did not have doctors and everyone depended upon a few home remedies, proved efficacious by experience, in the care of themselves and their neighbors. Russia, today, is in such a stage, a socialist industrial pioneer period-and consequently is as satisfied, for the time being at least, with a medical and dentical aid as new to the peasants as the rifle was to the American Indians.