Views of Russia which may surprise you!

You’ll never see these flowers in a

Russian Hospital !

 

Occupations...

Optician stores... that don’t adjust what they sell. We assumed the people who sold us glasses would adjust them, but they can’t... and don’t worry about it.  Typical of many people here who don’t want to expand their knowledge to gain more customers.

Pharmacies rarely have a pharmacist on site, just clerks.  A written prescriptions is only necessary for some psychological drugs.  What’s good is that there’s no charade of professionalism by placing a personalized label on a vial... pills are sold in the same package they are shipped in to the pharmacy from elsewhere in Russia, Germany, India, wherever.

Supermarket managers feel in an elevated position, but are not eager to talk to customers.  They don’t have a badge with a photo and have no customer desk to welcome you.   

Russians favor black more than most Americans.  It’s easier to keep your clothes looking clean when you have a car.  Now I see splashes of color more, including orange, which is surprisingly popular.

Apartment hallways are often drab, dirty, and poorly maintained.  I’ve never seen an inspection form posted in an elevator. Elevators are often vandalized and have graffiti.  Russians often don’t seem to care much about poor and unsafe building conditions outside of their own apartments.  Exterior appearance, what realtors call Curb Appeal, gets little attention.

Flowers are not welcome at hospitals (they’re considered unsanitary).  Are Cut Flowers Really Bad for Hospital Rooms? refutes this belief. Russians don’t send Get Well cards but telephone instead.

Russian cities don’t have good and bad neighborhoods... no ghettos as in America.

A thought... Russians mostly live in vertical villages, in apartments, Americans horizontally in houses.

Laundry soap is sold in small boxes, the size of a large paperback.  Large economy sizes don’t attract Russians.  Small sizes remain popular perhaps partly because many people carry groceries home from the store.

Smoking...

  60% of Russian men smoke, 20% of the women... but younger women smoke 10 times more than older women, so this is trending up.  In contrast, 20.5% of American men smoke, 15.8 of American women. smoking United States  (If you figure that Russia has 1/2 the population of the US, but their men smoke three times as much...  the result is more deaths from cigarettes in the Russian male population than in American men).

  You can buy smokes for 60 rubles, around $1.50.  Cigarette prices 2013 Bloomberg.com  A pack of 20 Marlboro cigarettes costs $1.74 in Russia, compared with $6.36 in the U.S.  Soon an increase will make an average pack price double to $3.00.

  The Russian government has banned smoking at work, at theatres, museums, beaches, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, markets,  government offices, apartment lobbies, schools, hospitals, clinics, all trains, buses, planes, within 10 meters of bus stops, and railroad stations. 

  Cigarettes cannot be displayed in stores, only a price list.  No cigarette advertising is allowed, no more sponsored events, TV and movies may no longer show smoking, unless artistically necessary.  The ban on smoking in restaurants, trains and hotels will be effective this June.  RIA NOVOSTI  The Russian prison system will have separate sections for smokers.

  I was surprised to see that unified steps to discourage smoking haven’t been possible in the US because smoking regulation is left to each of the 50 states, local towns and cities, territories, and tribal areas.  European countries are well ahead of Russia with smoking bans. 

Food...

Prepared food generally has fewer or no additives than that sold in America.  Russia has stricter rules about healthy food... Little or no GMO grain imports.  Medicated and bleached chicken,  and beef with hormones are frequently refused from the USA and elsewhere.

Most mayonnaise is sold in squeeze bags, not bottles or jars... ketchup, too.  Russian mayonnaise has sunflower oil.

Butter in Russia has no salt.  That’s good for lower blood pressure, but the missing iodization means higher levels of retardation.

Bread has no sodium propionate to retard spoilage.   An extra loaf lasts a long time if placed in the freezer. 

Cheese is more likely to get mold because of few or no preservatives.  You can keep it fresh by putting a piece of cloth soaked with vinegar in the holder.

Russian behavior...

Men shake hands, but usually look away while doing so.  My mother’s advice to ‘smile, look them in the eye, and use a firm  handshake’ doesn’t seem to apply.

Russians mind their own business.  They aren’t quick to call the police to complain as many do in America.  In America the police seem to be everywhere, but police in Russia are often absent, don’t swagger, don’t feel they are paramilitaries on terrorism alert.  However, they may not be available when you need them.  They respond to a crime, but usually have no interest in prevention, or detection.

It’s very hard to scare a Russian.  They are sympathetic about 9/11 but have seen much worse without panicking.

Comment or send an Email...

You can leave your comment by clicking the title above or the word comment next to my name and date below.  Or you may click Write Us in the right hand margin to send a private email.  I’ll be sure to respond.

 

Technorati Tags: Opticians,pharmacies,supermarkets,taxis,home repair,education,medical costs,transport,flowers,neighborhoods,packaging,smoking,mayonnaise,unsalted butter,sodium propionate,cheese,social customs,9/11.

Prescriptions Usually Not Required in Russia

Taking a blood thinner in Russia...

After surgery five years ago, my cardiologists prescribed Coumodin to help me avoid a stroke.  In Russia we call Coumodin... Warfarin.  Many professionals say this drug is underutilized throughout the world, and this seems particularly true in Russia. 

A delicate balance...

To take Warfarin properly you have to be sensible and motivated.  It's fine to avoid blood clots, but if your blood gets too thin, you can invite hemoraging.  Besides watching for untoward bleeding, it's necessary to visit a clinic often to check the clotting rate.

An excellent British organization...

Anticoagulation Europe at http://www.anticoagulanteurope.org/ gives a good overview of the value of Warfarin and its dangers.

Our pharmacies are like no other !

The pharmacy sells 'prescription' drugs, along with  related items. Everything is behind glass, so the customer can see what is available without asking.  People line up at a window, much like that at a train station.  I used to bring Larissa's notes, but now I enunciate slowly.

Laissez faire pharmacies...

The clerk is supposed to ask for a prescription for a narcotic or psychogenic drug.  Pharmacy clerks were trained in technical schools before the end of the Soviet Union.  Now just about anybody can fill this position.

No visit-to-visit records and no relationship...

You are just another face at the window.  The concept of customer loyalty and keeping customers is foreign to most Russian business, and for that matter, even the Church.

The store keeps no prescriptions and doesn't maintain individual records.  They have no interest in contraindications.  No registered pharmacist is present.  

As with most things in Russia, you are on your own. 

Packaged with no hocus pocus... 

Drugs come in cards of 10 to 20 bubble wrapped pills, packaged in small cardboard boxes, with manufacturer dosing information enclosed. 

Consumers do not have to go through the farce of pretending drugs are still compounded... meaning you do not have to wait for a pharmacist to count pills from a large bottle, put them in a small bottle, and place an instruction sticker on the side.
 
The comparative price of prescriptions...

Larissa purchased Warfarin in December from Azerkee Pharmacy, which has a branch near us in Komandanska.  It is packaged in a small plastic bottle.  As of December 2009  our cost was $5.97 (at 29.39 rubles/dollar) for 100 2.5 mg pills

The mail order from Canada to the USA, even at their 50 to 70% discount, has a net price of at least $36.71 on the Internet... an amazing difference!

A conscientious patient...

Every month or so, I am off to the clinic to see how warfarin is treating my blood.  A factor of 1.0 means no drug effect, 2.0 means your blood takes twice the normal time to coagulate, 3.0 signifies your blood is getting close to the consistency of water.

Warfarin has dangers and side effects.  Many ingredients in prescriptions come from China.  It 2008 around 100 people died in the USA from tainted Heperin, an unrelated type of blood thinner.  The FDA only inspects foreign drug firms every 13 years, so I am wary of everything I take now.

A typical blood clinic visit in SPB...

I catch a machutka, taxi van, along Parachutna to the clinic.  On entering I am gifted with baheely, plastic elasticized covers, for my shoes. 

I check my coat. in Russia, no one leaves a  tip... and stroll to the blood draw room entrance, where there may be a small group of people on chairs outside. 

At this moment it is very important to study faces and clothes so you know who was there before you... otherwise an unassuming old lady will steal your place.  I talk with the people and something about my accent gets people smiling... quite an accomplishment in Russia. 

A Helpful Nurse...

The nurse at the Heart Clinic in Udelnaya knows me well.  She asks after my wife, and I tell her she has zoloteeya ruchky... golden skilled hands.  She takes the venous blood draw... a procedure that can really hurt done by an insensitive or clumsy technician.  I feel nothing.


She is an example of the friendly helpful people in St Petersburg who make the day more pleasant than it could have been.

Blood level testing in Pena impossible...

We spend June, July, and August in Zalozye, near Pena, Tverskaya Oblast.  It's lovely there but a sparsely populated vacation spot also brings a problem or two.  What to do about my Warfarin testing?

Larissa's cousins kept the farm after the kalhoz... collective farm... was abolished in 1991.  Their daughter is a lead doctor at both the clinic and hospital in nearby Pena.   She has arranged hospitalization for me... and brought me hot food at night. 

We asked by cell phone about getting my Warfarin level checked.  She found the technician qualified to do a Warfarin check.  However, after taking the hour-long trip to Pena over some rough roads... an expensive trip... we found this nurse was on vacation.  An unheralded vacation is typical of how things sometimes operate.   We did some shopping, visiting, and travelled back to our village.

We try again...

We checked again as to when the uniquely qualified technician would definitely be back, and scheduled another trip. We arrived to be told by this uninspired nurse that Yes, she could do the test, but No, she did not have the supplies with which to do it. 

That no one else was trained to do the levels test, and that supplies were not ready are considered good excuses in much of Russia.

I spent all of summer 2009 in the dark about my blood levels.  Russians are fatalistic about such things.  My luck was good and I survived without trouble till our return to St Petersburg.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russians complain about the recent large increases in drug prices. How are the drug prices where you live?  What do you think of Russian pharmacies?

We Love Comments.  Just click on the small date way below and a comment window should appear.