July 17 2015, 17:02

My father-in-law is a wheelchair-bound first-degree disabled, legless, 70-year-old who has had a heart attack, stroke, and pancreatic surgery.

Since he has a whole array of illnesses and not everything can be treated anymore, he constantly needs painkillers, specific ones at that. Plus, he suffers from “phantom” pains, which no one can relieve – even though it’s all in his head, pills help.

To buy the necessary painkillers, a prescription from a doctor is needed every month. How does a wheelchair-bound person get it? First, register on the public services. That was the easiest part.

So, to get the prescription, it is necessary to transport the patient to the clinic so that the doctor can examine him. The journey from home to the clinic is 30 minutes on foot, with a wheelchair, overcoming endless curbs. There’s a ramp at the clinic, but then – it gets interesting. The elevator is too narrow for the wheelchair. And the freight elevator doesn’t work. Because the female elevator operator is on vacation. When asked what to do – they just shrugged. In general – nobody cares. The security guards said that they couldn’t help because it’s not within their remit. “People manage somehow!” and they sent us to the head of the clinic. Over the phone, he instructed to unlock the padlock on the freight elevator. With the words “if we get stuck, so be it”, the guard pressed the button.

We initially made an appointment with a surgeon – there was a reason where he was specifically needed. But combining the visit with getting a prescription failed. It turned out on-site that phantom pains are not within the surgeon’s competence, and the necessary prescription could be issued by a neurologist or a therapist. And for that, new tickets are needed which cannot be taken immediately. The nearest appointment with a neurologist – is in a week, with a therapist – in four days.

The surgeon, out of the goodness of his heart, tried to help. But it wasn’t within his competence to prescribe not sedalgin, which reliably helps, but pentalgin with some letter. But within an hour he couldn’t manage. Again, computer programs didn’t allow something, plus patients were storming the office. The nice guy, he ran around colleagues for help but got nowhere. In the end, he directed us to a special lady assigned to assist with processing referrals, discharges, spa books, and other bureaucracy. The lady ran to the same offices again. Eventually, she managed to issue a prescription for sedalgin. They stamped it, took the wheelchair down. Over two hours in total, of which an hour and a half was spent on the prescription.

In the evening, we tried to buy medicine with this prescription at a pharmacy. The pharmacist said that the prescription listed only three components, but it should have had five. She claimed if she accepted this prescription, she could be sued. Go back to the clinic and get a proper prescription.

July 07 2015, 10:10

Expanding: Looking for a project manager for eCommerce projects at TEAMIDEA. We create the best solutions in eCommerce—online stores, mobile apps, mobile versions, interactive kiosks on SAP hybris—the world’s #1 eCommerce platform. All the launched online stores in Russia on “Hybris” are ours. And so it has been for two years.

About the manager. Ideally—with experience in web development, ideally—with experience in eCommerce, ideally—with a solid technical background.

Contact me on Facebook or at aliev@teamidea.ru. Ready to hire good candidates quickly.

I would appreciate a reshare & like.

July 05 2015, 08:08

How foreigners learn Russian! It all started with my question about why no comma was needed here: “One can only assess its quality by seeing it personally”. Turns out there are as many as seven exceptional rules, which I learned about for the first time today. In several examples, I would have placed a comma. And I thought I knew Russian…

http://writercenter.ru/blog/grammar/deeprichastnye-oboroty-kotorye-ne-obosobljajutsja.html