The work that I love
A wise man said: “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”. I could not agree more, and I am eternally grateful for my dear colleagues and for our amazing patients who make this statement true for me.
I would like to say that my “love story” began in 2011, but in fact it happened many years earlier. When I was in the 8th grade at school, I suddenly felt an irresistible desire to enter a medical university and become a doctor. I collected a lot of books and textbooks on biology and chemistry and began to make my way into the depths of these sciences. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that I didn’t have chemistry with chemistry to such a degree that I finally decided to let go of my dream of medicine. Who would have told me then that the Faculty of Foreign Languages would give me the opportunity to approach medicine so closely and the knowledge of languages would become my guide towards my youthful dream...
I became a patient coordinator in 2011, having been fascinated by the possibilities of IVF during my interviews for this position. And in 2019, the small international department turned into a strong independent fertility clinic. Autonomy gave us more independence, and hence the opportunity to build everything the way we think is right for the result and comfortable for patients and employees from all the aspects.
It's not really a job in the usual sense of this word. I find absolutely amazing the diversity of personalities, minds and cultures. And my work process is exactly about communication with nice and interesting people from different countries and the opportunity to help them.
I love and, as it seems, can understand people, I am tolerant and I always try to see the situation from the patient’s angle. I know how to create warm and trusting relationships, I really like to help people, to show sincere concern. I think that these are the qualities that are manifested in each person of our team. And people from different countries come to us precisely because they are sure that here they will receive good care.
Whatever experience of fertility treatment a patient may have, it can always be anxious and scary to start a new stage of treatment and trust a new team of specialists. I accompany patients, first of all, by providing all the necessary information: I give details about our programs, stages of treatment, the contract procedure, I organize meetings with specialists and help with preparation of the medical information necessary for a consultation with the doctor.
Attentive listening is probably what I do best and what I think is the core of a coordinator's job as it shows interest and care. Only after hearing all the needs and fears of the patient, understanding what exactly the person needs, I will be able to offer a comfortable support during the course of treatment. When a new patient contacts me, I try to listen, understand, show that I really want to help. It's very easy to take a genuine interest in our patients: they are all fantastic, interesting, intelligent, open-minded, dedicated and truly family oriented. I really appreciate these qualities, and helping these wonderful people, listening to them and taking care of them comes all natural — it does not feel like work. I really like it!
The O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic
I admire our doctors and embryologists: their professionalism, dedication, inquisitive mind, desire to find the essence of the problem and the solution. This is what makes them great professionals and the reason our patients trust them, appreciate their advice, and, of course, this how life miracles become possible!
The family, it seems to me, is the highest value, the closest and dearest thing a person has. I think being able to help other people find that kind of happiness is priceless. It is difficult to imagine a more significant result of work than the creation of a new life! How nice it is to receive photos of beautiful babies from our former patients, now happy parents, or to take part in warm family gatherings in different cities around the world. It seems impossible to imagine another profession that brings so much happiness to both sides of the process.
My personal interests
I try to find balance between my parenthood, work and home life... The ability to combine all this gives me a resource, because changing activities allows me not to burn out in one area. I gain energy from each of them while taking pleasure in each of these activities.
I am a happy person because I truly enjoy almost everything that I do. I enjoy my work and, all 8 hours of my working day may fly without me noticing them. At the same time, I like to play and walk with my child, and it seems to me that if I were not so passionate about work, then motherhood alone would be enough to give meaning to my life during a long period of time. I am also a little pedantic when it comes to keeping order at home and get sincere pleasure from household chores.
Of course, there are many things that I would be happy to do if there were, for example, 72 hours in a day: I would learn another language, take up dancing which I quitted at school, enroll in the drawing classes, spend as much time as possible in nature … It’s nice to think about it, but it’s also nice to know that I am filled with joy during these precious 24 hours that I have every day…
My education
2011 — St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, qualification — translation, specialty — linguist, translator (English and German).
