“During Covid, we wore a white bulky suit, which the health workers nicknamed “Casper,” says the interlocutor. “And in 2022, almost without a break, they replaced it with helmets and body armor. This is the 5th protection class and 8 kg of additional weight, but we have learned to work in them. We also encountered such diagnoses as “mine-explosive injury”, “mixed bleeding”, “traumatic amputation of limbs”. Previously, we only read about this in medical textbooks. I had to study military medicine. To do this, in March 2023, we went to Donetsk for an internship. And now, unfortunately, there is so much practice that we ourselves can accept doctors for internships.”
The disaster medicine emergency response team is always where it is most difficult and dangerous. So on December 30, 2023, in Belgorod, they were driving from another call and at the time of the shelling they stopped on a new bridge. Seeing the burning center of the city, they turned around and decided to rush to the rescue.
“I called the senior doctor and reported where the fire was happening,” recalls Larisa Vasilyevna. – We went to the stadium. Paramedic Sergei Emelianenko ran in one direction, and the driver and I Alexey Vyskrebentsev – to another. Alexey worked as a second paramedic: he applied tourniquets as well as I did, applied pressure bandages to wounds, and helped with all manipulations. I couldn’t have done it without him. The driver and I were very lucky; we could say to him: “Lyosh, I need a resuscitation bag, or a child’s bag, or an infusion bag.” He will not ask what it is and where it is. He knows exactly and will quickly bring it if necessary.”
Photo: Arina Besedina
