Mentally handicapped - Emily Maul 8b (2009)

Mentally Handicapped in Irkutsk : 

Mentally Handicapped in Irkutsk Emily Maul 8b

New words : 

New words Mentally ill-psihički bolesne A ward-odjelu Mental hospital-psihička bolnica Freedom-sloboda Fence-ograda Villager-seljak Inovation-inovacija Mental disorder-mentalni poremečaj To swap-zamjeniti To keep going-zadržavati se A chouch potatoe-osoba koja sjedi i ništa ne radi Kneeting-pletenje Sowing-šivanje Puppies-psići (štenci) Hittens-mačići Newcomers-novozaposlene

Slide 3: 

Bakanay,Irkutsk Region Mentally ill patients swap hospital wards for country living Svetlana Kurakina reports on Russia Close up

Slide 4: 

Julia and Aleksander are just like other happy couples. They enjoy holding hands and they say they never fight. The diffirence is they are patients at a psihyatric clinic but this is a very special one. “We like it here. It’s a sense of freedom here. We go to church and pray. Sometimes we go for a walk to forest”.

Slide 5: 

Lost in Siberian woods Bakanay feels nothing like a hospital. Here you won’t find any fences or quards. It looks like an ordinary village with it’s own gardens and catle. And those who live here are not even called patients. They are simple villagers.

Slide 6: 

The village is a part of regional pshyatric centre based some 30 kilometers away. The inovation,also popular in Europe,was started in the Soviet Union in 1950-ties. Patients with mental disorders swapped their hospital wards for life and work in the countryside. There used to be several villages like these accross the former USSR but while most didn’t survive the fall of the Soviet Union,Bakany keeps going now home to 32 patients.

Slide 7: 

Ivan Patuskhov,doctor said: “They are always busy doing diffirent things. They simple don’t have time to do the couch potatoes !”

Slide 8: 

Here they live of the land and learn to rely on themself. They garden,chop wood,rise catle. They even build their own chappel. Here they can also do what they like most.

Slide 9: 

For 54 year old Olga it’s kneeting-her collection of kittens,puppies and folktale characters and it grows every day. Olga has been in Bakanay for past eight years. She hasn’t got hope for full recovery,her puppies,and kittens have become a part of the treatiment.

Slide 10: 

It’s not hard at all,better than sawing. I used to saw before but you get tired quickly but from kneeting you don’t. Few here have tried to run away. Many stayed even they recover well enough to leave full time medical care. Some like Julia say they don’t want to be anywhere else. Other like Aleksander have no other family or home to go to.

Slide 11: 

Neadezhda Panezdala,head nurse “For newcomers walking here is hard but as we begin to understand their problems it’s important to remember deep in your heart they are people just like us!” Bakanay gives hope to those whose illness left them hopeless.Outsiders in the outside wored-here they find a home where they can get on with their lives.

Slide 12: 

“Is it a controversial project pushing away mental ill patients into secret villages? Shoud we be concerned about it?” Svetlana:”Well answer has to be no. First,villages like these are very popular in Europe,particullary in Scandinavion countries. What we have to realize what it is,Bakanay is not just looking these people away from world. The doctors there want for their patients to have totally different experiences from those they used to in hospitals.

Slide 13: 

Bakanay doesn’t look or feel like a hospital. Patients are not locked up in wards. They are always busy. They have their hobbies. They are getting on with their lives and it’s very positive experience for them.

Slide 14: 

Bakanay is an amazing project but it’s right in the heart of Irkutsk region a beautiful zone and what better place to have situated it.

Questions : 

Questions Where is Bakanay situated in? What kind of project is Bakanay? What kind of place is Bakanay? What are diffirences between Bakanay and hospitals? What do you think about this kind of treatment for mentally ill patients?