Irina Florin's story sounds almost like the American dream. A baby girl, born in the village of Gigen - the oldest Roman city on the territory of Bulgaria - on a frosty Sunday in February. Her mother and grandmother walk two kilometers on the icy road to reach the maternity hospital. Her mother, Tsvetanka, is a literature and history teacher at the local school, but also teaches Russian, French, drawing and music. Her father, a sailor who traveled for many years to all European cities along the Danube, is the son of a Romanian and a Bulgarian. That's why Irina is a quarter girl - with a quarter of Latin blood and with the surname Florin. Her grandfather was a very good violinist.
In the 10th grade, Irina won republican Olympiads in biology and chemistry and the right to enroll in the Pleven Medical Academy without candidate student exams. However, she lives in the apartment of Margarita Pehlivanova - an actress from the Youth Theater and then Stefan Voronov's wife, and every Friday she travels to Sofia to watch theater performances on weekends. When he comes to apply, he doesn't know where the Conservatory is. However, he enters the first year and from here he starts on the thorny road to success.
Mrs. Florin, in what he alth do we find you?
- Now in excellent he alth. I went through a severe virus, as did 80% of Bulgarians in the last two months. In general, I'm a he althy person, I don't get sick, but apparently I also have "breakthroughs" in immunity - a matter of stress, of some other situations, and whoop, the virus catches you.
You mentioned that you had to take an antibiotic…
- The x-ray revealed that there was a slight problem in the lower end of one lung. The doctors decided it was better to be safe, so I had to take an antibiotic, even though they weren't sure it was viral pneumonia.
What else did you use to aid your treatment?
- I stopped for 10 days at home, something I can't remember since it hasn't happened to me. The first 5-6 days I felt quite exhausted and most of the time I lay down. Nasal rinses and gargling with sea s alt helped me a lot, I drank about 3 liters of tea with honey a day - mursalsky, ginger, thyme. Probiotic I still take it. My son, of course, made it easier, he is a young man, with more resistance.
Regarding the herbs - I take them for almost every condition. I have enough information on how to take them, which helps for what. A person, if he wants to maintain relatively good immunity, can read on the Internet and be in good he alth with folk medicine.
During your illness, what is your impression of our hospital care?
- My personal doctor from the 14th polyclinic, Dr. Polizova, took care of me. This polyclinic is extremely pleasant, clean. In general, I have a lot of impressions about our hospitals, because I have many doctor friends - surgeons, orthopedists, cardiologists, and gynecologists. I often have to take my friends, their parents or relatives, acquaintances, strangers to one of them. The situation in them, in most cases, is quite desperate - if you don't have doctors nearby, you're just gone. I don't talk about he alth care because it's a bottomless pit. I wonder how with such big budgets
not enough funds can be allocated to sick people
Do you know where your he alth insurance is going?
- No, I don't know, but I pay them. When I need some urgent examination, I don't look for the He alth Insurance Fund - I just pay myself. For the last two years, I happened to ask for a referral from the jeep - she said that she had run out, to go next month. I have no words for the clinical paths either - there is no such thing in the world. Friends of mine have had their elderly parents undergo several major, complicated surgeries, and they were unnecessary.
Which doctors do you trust?
- To the super responsive doctors from "Pirogov"! There are many, I will forget to mention someone, I don't want them to be angry with me. I am grateful to them for never refusing to help - not only to me, but to many strangers and my friends. There is an outstanding neurosurgeon - Dr. Marin Genchev, who currently works in Germany, but returns to our country to help the Bulgarians,
who have problems with the spine, cervical vertebrae
In Germany he performs unique operations, with implants, he is a teacher, now he will work in Bulgaria for 20 days, 10 - in Germany.
You help many sick Bulgarians…
- 6-7 years ago, it was Dr. Genchev who cut out the tumor in the head of a boy completely unknown to me, he was given only 2 months to live. He was still working at the Military Hospital then - the boy is alive and well now. Yes, I like to help - in any way I can. No matter who I have sent to a doctor, no one has refused an examination or even an operation. After that, I have a hard time thanking people, I get embarrassed by their words.
Our doctors are unique, but they work in very miserable conditions. My friend, Dr. Boneva, is currently studying a second speci alty, cardiology, at Aleksandrovsk Hospital. Already 10 years after graduating from medicine, she continues to study. Her basic salary is less than BGN 700, with her second speci alty she will get another BGN 50-80. She pays for her studies with her salary, there is no free specialization in our country. Gives 15 night shifts per month, during the rest of the time it is a day shift. These people work in inhuman conditions, for this miserable money, they beat them whether they are in a hospital or at an address, and a saleswoman in the mall takes more…
Have you ever been sick?
- Until I was 14 years old, I grew up with my grandparents, in the village - in a very he althy environment, food, air, water, sun - you name it. We ate foods that have not been available in Bulgaria for 20 years - now everything is GMO. There is no milk in the cheese or in the yogurt, our products are full of hormones, the meat is stuffed with substances to keep it pink and looking fresh. It is precisely because of my childhood years that I enjoy very good he alth, and from time to time a virus "catchs" me.
Do you do sports?
- Of course, I do yoga everyday at home. I walk in the park, we climb Vitosha with friends, I go to the sea at least twice in the summer, but in Greece. I try to eat some relatively good food, I buy meat, goat cheese, fruits, vegetables from friends. No fizzy drinks at home -
asking to eliminate poisons
What stresses you out in everyday life, in your life?
- It stresses me out that the state doesn't care about the elderly. If the young do not "raise" them, if they do not deprive themselves of their needs, their parents will not live. Bulgaria is the most absurd, the poorest country in Europe - with the lowest pensions, the lowest salaries, but with the most expensive food, electricity, heating, water, telephones.
I am saddened by poor people, I also have difficulties sometimes, but I am fighting. But when people are old, when there is no hope in front of them, when they are cold, they cannot buy food and medicine, what happens to them?! Why doesn't the state build homes to shelter them and help them?! Young and talented people flee abroad, the elderly, poor and sick - die like chickens. There have never been such ruined people in Bulgaria, they have no teeth in their mouths, they cannot be treated. Our country is totally erased from the world map…
