HOME

JULY 2004 SISTER CITY NEWSLETTER 

Edited and Produced by DeVerne Jacobsen and Carolyn Rice. If you would like to receive copies
of our quarterly newsletters, please contact a board member (see bottom of page)

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
     Nancy Hitchcock

When the 2004 Medical Delegation returned from Rubtsovsk in June, I felt they had completed
the circle of the Heart to Heart Project begun in 2001.
    Their stories and photos of the hospital equipment being used daily at Rubtsovsk Hospital #1
gave the many of us involved in the project great pleasure and pride in our community.
    Now there are beginnings of friendships between Rubtsovsk medical personnel and those in our city.
We look forward to nurturing these relationships in the months ahead. We have received word that
the Rubtsovsk Sister City Committee hopes to send a medical delegation to Grants Pass in October.
The Grants Pass nurses and doctors of the 2004 medical delegation are eager to help them have a
wonderful experience in our valley.
    If you are interested in helping with this planned visit, please call one of the board members
listed in this newsletter. If your organization is interested in a display or speaker about Rubtsovsk,
please let us know.
    Be sure to watch the KDRV-TV SPECIAL about Rubtsovsk scheduled for the July 27, 28 29
evening news and a Sunday special on August l. 
    One additional reminder: if you haven’t written to your Rubtsovsk friends recently, please do.
The mail system works well now. If you need help with mailing address information, call me at 479-9436.

ANNUAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 9

The Sister City Committee will hold its annual meeting for members and their guests on September 9
at 6 p.m. at Ruth and Ted Pepple’s home at 1210 S.E. Rogue Drive. As is traditional, the event will be
a picnic style potluck. Those attending are asked to bring a salad, a main dish or dessert to share.
Drinks, paper plates and tableware will be provided. Members will vote on prospective board members
and have an opportunity to talk with the delegates who went to Rubtsovsk and Moscow in June.
For more information about the meeting, phone Ruth Pepple at: 479-3786.
 

“HEART TO HEART” PRESENTATION AT NATIONAL CONVENTION

Mollie Means, board member and Grants Pass’ delegate to this year’s Sister City International
Convention in July in Fort Worth, Texas, was asked to make a presentation describing “Heart to Heart”
to the delegation assembly. She plans to report on the convention at the August 12 Sister City
board meeting.
 

ROTARIANS TO HEAR ABOUT MEDICAL DELEGATION

Kitty Waud will give a presentation about her experience as a medical delegate to Grants Pass’ Sister City
in Russia for Grants Pass Rotary on August 25.

PAGE TWO

MEDICAL DELEGATION VISITS RUBTSOVSK

The final goal for the “Heart to Heart" Project was to send a delegation of nurses and doctors from
Grants Pass to Rubtsovsk. Thanks to the work of many people, and the assistance of Three Rivers
Community Hospital, that goal has been achieved.

    The six person medical delegation which left Grants Pass on May 30 included Nancy Miller, clinical
nursing instructor at Rogue Community College; Rita Turek, RN and on-call nurse for the Critical Care
Unit at Three Rivers Community Hospital; Kitty Waud, Hospital Supervisor and RN at Three Rivers
Community Hospital, Tom Turek, retired family physician and currently Medical Director of the
Oregon Health Plan, Ron Brown, reporter and anchor at KDRV TV, and Cindy Patterson of the
Sister City Committee of Grants Pass. They returned on June 13, pleased with the results of the
project and enthusiastic about their new contacts and friends. They agree it was an experience
that has changed their lives.

In Rubtsovsk the members of the delegation were hosted by Russian families and took part
in a busy schedule of activities, tours of hospitals and conferences with medical personnel,
arranged for by the Rubtsovsk Sister City Committee.

According to Rita and Tom Turek, their experience couldn’t possibly have turned out better.
They connected with many people in the medical community, and their hosts, Dr. Bragin and
his wife, are a doctor and nurse couple like themselves. Rita and Tom laughed and said they
had so much in common that they almost felt like they were twins who had been separated at birth.

When asked what she thought were the highlights of the trip for her, Nancy Miller said that
although the whole experience was wonderful, she couldn’t have imagined how incredible it would be
to see the very pieces of equipment she had worked with in Grants Pass now being used by
doctors and nurses in Rubtsovsk.

They parted from their Russian friends and families with promises to keep in touch, which they
have, through telephone and e-mail. Having shared with Russian nurses and doctors on a personal
and professional level in Rubtsovsk, they are now eager to have them to come to Grants Pass.
Instead of being the end of the “Heart to Heart” project, the medical delegation to Rubtsovsk
furthered the good work the project continues to do.

KITTY WAUD’S STORY

When there was an opening on the planned medical delegation, Kitty Waud jumped at the chance
to go. She is an RN and supervisor at Three Rivers Community Hospital, 

“I loved Russia, the music, the beautiful country and the wonderful people. I never in my wildest
dreams imagined I could visit Russia. It was truly a wonderful blessing. It really goes to show
that people are in other countries are just friends we haven't met yet. Governments may conflict,
but the ‘people’ are just like you & me. I always felt safe and cared for. I had so much fun teaching
my ‘family’ Liverpool rummy. I had not laughed so hard in a long time. We all laughed as we stumbled
in our translation of various things.

“I will never forget my amazement when at 9:30 p.m. I stood in the middle of this huge lake in the
middle of Siberia and it was still light. I kept telling myself ‘I am in Russia!’

“Those who planned our activities every day spent so much time making sure we saw as much
as we could. I really appreciate their efforts.

The choir we were privileged to hear was incredible. They sang without music and with so much
feeling, pride & soul. The students who played for us were truly talented; I loved their instruments.
The food was always prepared like an art form and was great!

“The family I stayed with was a young family. Tanya is 26, her husband Alosha is 31, and
they have a 6-year-old, Katnya. Tanya works at Hospital 3 as a bookkeeper. Alosha is a security
guard, in between jobs at present. They live on the tenth floor of an apartment building on the
side of town that, at the time I was there, had no hot water. I was most thankful that the lift
(elevator) they had worked all the time! As you may know, stairs and me are not on friendly terms!

 “The  hospital staff was all very  professional, and though we rely a great deal on technology,
they rely on their knowledge and experience. I think nurses have the same passion to help people
wherever they are in the world. The nurses appreciated our gift of ballpoint pens, and would have
liked to have more, and the MD’s asked for sutures. These seem like small requests, but, like I said,
I think technology isn’t the only answer to better care. The people we met shared with us what
they had and appreciated our gifts in exchange.”

   Above: 2004 Medical Delegation: Cindy Patterson, Nancy Miller, Rubtsovsk host,
   Kitty Waud, Tom Turek, Rita Turek, and Ron Brown

  
   Below: Natalya Strekalova and Tanya Oskolkova, Rubtsovsk interpreters
   with Kitty Waud of Grants Pass

 

RON BROWN’S STORY

Ron Brown, long-time Sister City member and newsman for TV station KDRV, had not been to
Russia in many years. Here is his account of the recent trip.

“This was my third visit to Rubtsovsk, and it was something of a homecoming. The worst part
of the trip is that it just takes so long to get there: about 11-12 hours flying time from Seattle to
Moscow, several hours in the airport there, another 4-5 hours flying to Novosibirsk. Then a 7-8 hour
drive to Rubtsovsk.

“My goals were to document the visit of the delegation, to report on how the medical equipment
is being used, and to get a feel for how similar, or not, the medical systems in our two sister cities
are. The result will be a half hour special report to air at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, August first, with a
three-part series the week of July 26th.

“The trip also gave us a chance to feel the hospitality  of  our  hosts. I  stayed  with Sergei
and Larisa Isotov. It was my third visit with them, and they are like a brother and sister to me.
Larisa speaks no English, but we communicate just fine with sign language and snippets of
Russian and English mixed together. Sergei, who has been to the states several times, mostly
as a rafter, is pretty good with his English.

 “We got a chance to chat over breakfast several times and talk about families, life and a
little philosophy. Sharing pictures of our families also brought a few smiles and tears. On the way
to one of our tours, we stopped by his mother's old apartment, now occupied by his sister. He
brought out an old photo album with pictures of his parents from before the ‘Great Patriotic
War,’ his dad in his army uniform and Sergei as a boy.

 “Sergei parks his Lada (Russian Fiat) car a few blocks from his apartment on the north side
of Rubtsovsk, and walks back and forth. I went with him one day and learned a lot about his
day-to-day life. He directs power production from the Altai Tractor Factory, and helps ensure
that hot water makes it to the city's apartments. Near his ‘box’ (garage) some friends are using
their space to repair and paint cars for a living or sideline.

“In a board-covered pit under his car he stores vegetables from the family ‘dacha,’ or garden
house, outside town. His in-laws live downstairs from his apartment, and spend most of their
summers at the dacha, chasing every weed that dares sprout up, and making sure no one sneaks
in at night to steal the fruits and vegetable so lovingly raised there.

“No trip to Rubtsovsk would be complete without a ‘banya,’ the Siberian version of a sauna!
On our last Sunday there, some of us gathered at the dacha of Doctor Bragin, who hosted Tom
and Rita Turek. Dr. Bragin prepared an excellent barbecue of skewered beef and salmon steaks,
seasoned with dill and other fresh herbs from his substantial garden. And the next night we
gathered at Genna Bokov's family’s apartment for a reunion party with Cindy Patterson and others
whose connections to the Sister City project go back to its first days. Lots of good food, stories
and live music from the guitars brought more smiles and tears of remembrance and friendship.

“It was hard to leave, but by the time we got back to Moscow, I think we were ready to
come home. Three days in Moscow were a good diversion and a chance to see a much more urban
Russia. In Moscow, our hotel rooms were on the 16-17-18th floors and gave us a good view
of the city, with its river winding through it, the massive Stalinist government buildings,
and gold-domed Orthodox churches.

 “This trip will always bring back memories of the reunions and the new friends. It's just too bad
that it's such a long trip back and forth.”

SISTER CITY COMMITTEE TO COLLECT BOOKS TO SEND TO RUBTSOVSK LIBRARY

The medical delegation visited the Rubtsovsk library and learned that it could use more
English-language books. Sister City plans to ship donated books via USPS. Sending a 50-pound box
costs $75. Paperback books, especially books for young readers, both fiction and non-fiction,
are especially desirable. Books on psychology, geography and books about the United States
are popular with Russian readers. Classics in paperbacks are always good. The books in the English
section get a lot of use, especially from English language students. You may bring your books
to the annual meeting potluck.

 Searching your bookshelves for suitable items to donate would be a way to show your support
for Sister City. Those who want to sponsor the shipment of a box can donate $75, specifying that
the donation be used for shipping books. Cash donations as well as books would be welcome. Checks
may be made out to:
Grants Pass Sister City Committee and sent to: Grants Pass Sister City Committee, P.O. Box 411,
Grants Pass, OR 97528.

BOARD MEMBERS