There are more than 315 different types of psychologically ill
people living in the Vartenis “Home-“Tun Internat”(Convalescent Home).
To be more exact, nearly fifty of them are single elders. Many of the
sick patients are women diagnosed with epilepsy, schizophrenia and
oligophrenia.
General Doctor of the “Tun Internat” Meruzhan Hakobyan says that 60% of
the sicknesses are acquired and caused by stress. Many of the patients
staying here are people who have suffered from the earthquake in 1988
and have not been able to undergo all the social/economic difficulties
during the transition period of the country. There are patients who
have had lots of stress due to the long-awaited joy. The residents of
the “Tun Internat”(Convalescent Home) receive social and medical
services. In 2004, they have received 297,000,000 drams from the state
budget. Last year, the daily expenditures of one patient were estimated
to be 2,700 dram. This year it has reduced to 2,400 dram because there
has been an increase in the number of patients, but the general amount
has remained the same. Nutrition, clothes, furnishings, heating and all
remaining expenses and salaries for the staff are all included in the
general amount. The benevolent organizations are also helping the “Tun
Internat”. The hospital has been gasified with the help of the Belgian
“Doctors without Limits” organization, “Verchin Oreri Srbere”(The
Saints of the Last Days) has helped with providing clothes, and the
“Amkor” organization gives cheese to the hospital sometimes. The “Tun
Internat”also has an auxiliary economy-approximately 100 heads of
cattle and 200 sheep, even honeybees (90 in number). “This gives us an
opportunity to increase the nutrition for the patient to fight against
colds or any other diseases,” says director Samvel Khachatryan.
However, not all patients are satisfied with the nutrition. “What do we
eat? Fruits, they give pastries once in a while. They only use the meat
to make dolma, and very rarely they give a lot of rice. The oil is less
in the meals”. These are the complaints made mainly by the women. Men
usually keep the complaints to themselves. They only complain about the
shortage of cigarettes, although women here smoke more than the men.
The hospital allows the women to have contact with the men. Mr.
Khachatryan believes that the patients feel more comfortable like that.
Of course, all the women use protection. Alik and Gohar met and got
married at the hospital. They have a boy whose name is Sedrak who lives
in the children’s home in Gavar. He comes to visit his parents once in
a while. The residents of the “Tun Internat” mainly suffer from the
longing to be outside. Their relatives visit them not too often and the
patients barely go home at all. Many of them are parents but their
mental illnesses have not weakened the emotional feelings belonging to
parents. Many also understand that they are sick and try to explain
when and how that happened.
A life story
Vergine tells about herself: “I am an only child. I was a good student
in school and I had a lot of friends. I loved football and I have
always worn men’s wear. After graduating from school, I got accepted
into the Cybernetics faculty of the Polytechnic Institute and I was a
good student there also. We had a very beautiful professor. I kept on
wanting to see her, even kiss her. During breaks I used to look for
her, I would leave class to see her; I would open her door and just
stare. It was at that time when I realized what love meant. She kept on
avoiding me. I have never liked men. I was always going for women. What
could I do? I knew that I could not get married with a woman. But I did
not want to be with a man either. They told me I was sick and they
brought me here. Now, I don’t like men. I still remember that woman.”
Bella is a creative woman. She writes her own poems and she has written
letters even to Brezhnev and Karen Demirchyan. She has written about
the injustices of the world, she thought that the elite would not know
about that. Of course, that was a long time ago. She has gone to Moscow
just to meet Brezhnev and she did. Upon returning, some people have
beaten Bella. Bella knows all our political figures. She loves to play
the piano. She is different from the other patients and she does not
consider herself ill. Every time, when she comes to Yerevan, she stops
by the Writers’ Union to see what is going on. She does not like most
of the work produced-she writes better. Writers steal and publish her
poems. Bella does not tell too much about her life. She says: “There
are so many people who do not want what’s best for me. Why should they
know about me?” She has a house in Yerevan and her sister lives there.
She visits her sister once in a while.
In general, the patients talk “easily”, especially with a stranger.
Each one has a story to tell and each one wants for you to know about
it. They present their lives very lively and tragically. One may say
how beautiful she has been when she was younger, or that they were
forced to come here. They always blame someone for their illness-the
mother-in-law, the bride, the wife who betrayed the husband or the
lover who had promised to get married but didn’t. The hospital has
helped save some patients from hanging themselves or getting run down
by a train. I am asking that you call the relatives so they can come
and take them home. “We will go crazy here.” The patients spend their
days telling stories, watching television-they love to watch the
Brazilian soap operas and find similarities between themselves and the
heroes. They draw and sew stockings. Hasmik, whose nickname at “home”
is curly haired, prepares dolls out of string and materials. Her dolls
have been presented in an exhibition.
Over 260 workers serve the residents of the Vartenis “Tun Internat”.
There are psychologists, doctors, guards, supervisors, sanitary workers
and the owner. They supervise the patients day and night. Every time
the patients see the owner, they make requests or remind him of the
requests. The owner always says: “It is not always easy to fulfill the
requests.” When we entered the room where there were workers on duty,
there were also patients drinking coffee and chatting. The worker
on-duty named Knkush says that they treat each patient “equally”. “It
is true, we can not have contact with everyone, but we have gotten used
to accepting them as relatives. They are very sensitive.” “It is very
difficult to work under these conditions, but we need to.” “The
patients are not always calm. Sometimes they get nervous breakdowns and
no matter how usual it may seem it always affects us. Perhaps these
complaints are just. The average salary at the hospital is about 20,000
drams. The working conditions are worse than the usual. It would be
nice if the government could give some kind of status for the workers
or at least raise the salary a little. Owner of the “Tun Internat”
recalled upon the poor conditions of similar hospitals in France. “In
France, the daily expenses for each patient were composed of about 300
euros. Of course, the relatives make the expenses. The patients are
free to walk around the territory, go home and return whenever they
feel the need. That is one method. I believe that one day we will also
have those conditions and our workers will receive the same $3000
dollar salary that the French get.”