The Kirovohrad newly opened photo exhibition “Road to mercy” is mostly dedicated to TB patients
26.06.2013
Today, the Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum welcomed an exhibition by Alina Yaroslavska “Road to mercy” dedicated to palliative care for incurable patients. Most photos depict TB patients at Kirovohrad Regional TB hospital. The exhibition shall run until July 20 at 60 Velyka Perspektyvna str., Kirovohrad. The admission is free.
The author Alina Yaroslavska comments below on her project.
“Road to Mercy” is the name of the exhibition opened in Kirovograd on June 26. This very day the international community supports victims of torture. And the people depicted are also victims of torture, the legal one, both physical and mental.
How does a person feel when taking only one pill instead of a complete treatment course and melting before the eyes?What thoughts are visiting your head when surrounded by the hospital walls and lost your hope?What do this people have but the communication with each other? Health workers are indifferent as the medicine has done everything it could. Patients are an economic burden for the state. And the society turns them away as it needs no sick people, especially TB...
For example, the patients of the TB hospital, MDR-TB service, are mostly ex-prisoners and representatives of socially unprotected population. And consequently they do not always behave as members of the royal family at hospital. But they are people...
These photos were taken in the Kirovohrad Regional TB Hospital.
Serhiy. TB patient since 1987. 3 months without treatment as doctors see no point in providing him with therapy due to multiple drug resistance. He is the only lying patient in the ward and the other three neighbors look after him. There is no hope of recovery in his eyes. He blames himself for this happening to him, and really wants to live. And eat. The present nutrition is too poor for long living.
Yurii.TB patient since 2008.Treatment was canceled two months ago. Looks like regular healthy person, but feels unusual knowing that there is no treatment that would help him.
Ihor. TB patient since 2007.Pulmonary TB, MDR-TB. 6 months without treatment. Pending with hope for the medical concilium decision. But the hope fades away proportionally to the time he waits for the decision.
Vitalii, 30. TB patient since 2010. Receives no treatment.Replies to "why?" question by shrugging.
Oleg. Takes second line therapy for over a year. Now at outpatient treatment. He is responsible and adherent to treatment regimen.However, doctors comment that his lungs condition improved only by 5% per year. He feels disappointed when talking about it, and says that the therapy is very difficult for the body.
Recently, a large number of people with MDR-TB emerged.Should we blame the patients around and criticize their level of adherence to treatment, knowing that in 2011, due to delays in procurement of medicines, our state contributed to the development of severe forms of TB among the population? Firstly contributed, and then ordered about a treatment as expensive, not for everyone, providing survival only for the strongest. Alas, the late ones are rare...
When people say that hospitals offer palliative care at special departments or, even worse, at specific palliative care beds in the profile departments, I feel sorry for people who get there. You will have no support as there are other patients with optimistic forecasts, and all the attention will be paid to them. And you can lie down, preferably in silence and advisably not causing problems or expressing wishes. In these hospitals people do not understand the philosophy of death. No one needs you there…
Would any of us like to experience the same?”
Reference:
Alina Yaroslavska is a photographer since 2011. She lives in Kirovohrad and works in public sector for 10 years; cares about social issues, and therefore linked her photo hobby with the main work.She is the ACSM-Coordinator of the Program "Stop TB in Ukraine" of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for "Development of Ukraine", director of the Kirovohrad regional charity organization "Vidkryte serdse". She loves to travel, to observe the life of people and convey their mood via the lens of camera.In March 2013, in Kirovohrad, the first exhibition by Alina named "The development of emotions" was conducted.
