Head Nurse of the inpatient department at EMC and ECSTO on Orlovskoy Periulok, Rаksаnа Bаtsmаnоvа and nurse from the ECSTO's department of rehabilitation, Irina Voznesenskaya are involved yearly with work at the Baikonur space station - the world's largest orbital space station in Kazakhstan, where they are cooperating with NASA astronauts. The nurses are providing medical escorts for foreign astronauts at the launches and landings of the spacecraft.
NASA has only 4 nurses working in Russia, and 2 of them work at the European Medical Center. The list of nurses does not change. Only the best specialists, most experienced specialists work with the astronauts and must undergo special training, particularly in American Heart Association and advanced resuscitation (BLS) and ITLS (International Trauma Life Support) for dealing with trauma in the field. The work also requires excellent knowledge of English.
"We meet the the capsule with the astronauts, provide rehabilitation, and if necessary, carry out medical procedures. Then the astronauts are handed over to the American and European physicians. We are the first people the astronauts see upon landing," explains Raksana Batsmanova.
"In addition to our basic responsibilities as medical escorts, we are interpretors, and also have a bit of a role as diplomats. Why is this necessary? In case of an emergency. If an astronaut needs hospitalization, he would be taken to the local military hospital. We would be required to escort him, take part in discussions with hospital personnel, interpret physician comments, provide psychological support," says Irina Vosnesenskaya.
The European Medical Center and ECSTO clinic are proud of their employees working on international space projects, and of their cordial friendship with Russian cosmonauts. This friendship is not a coincidence. The ECSTO clinic is headed by Prof. Andrey Korolev, a Professor in the Department of Traumatology at the People's Friendship University of Russia, and grandson of Sergei Korolev, Soviet scientist, designer and main organizer of the production of space-rocket technology and missile weapons in the USSR: the founder of practical space science.