For Immediate Release December 10, 2004

For More Information Contact: Rich Schneider, 317-278-4564 rcschnei@iupui.edu Natalia Rekhter, 317-274-1817 nrekhter@iupui.edu

Russian Health Team Wowed by Health Facilities, IUPUI; Efforts to Develop Exchange Program Move Forward

INDIANAPOLIS - Efforts by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at IUPUI to develop an exchange program involving Russian health care faculty and students took another step forward this week.

A husband and wife team from the Russian industrial town of Ivanovo, located about 200 miles northeast of Moscow, began a two-week stay in Indianapolis Monday, December 3, 2004 to view health care facilities and programs first-hand.

Natalia Rekhter, a Trustee Lecturer in the field of health care administration at SPEA, said the first task facing the couple was to deal with a bad case of cultural shock brought on by a visit to Riley Hospital.

Riley -- from its elevators, to toys for children, to the friendliness of the staff, to the state-of-the-art equipment and facilities - astonished the couple, Rekhter said. "They assumed Riley must be a privately-run, high profit hospital that only served wealthy patients. In Russia the old medical system is collapsing and new system has not yet been built. Even the wealthiest persons don't have care like that."

The IUPUI campus also impressed Dr. Oleg Kuligina, Dean of Invanovo Medical School and his wife, Dr. Marina Kuligina, Director of the Social Research Department, Federal Institute of the Maternal and Child Health.

According to Rekhter, the couple was impressed with IUPUI's facilities. "They said they felt like the characters of a futuristic movie who were sent to a different planet."

During their two week stay, they will also visit Methodist and Wishard Hospitals and other facilities, and meet with health care and insurance officials, including the president of the Indianapolis Health and Hospital Association. They will also meet with MHA students, dean of the IU School of Medicine, and the director of the Health Administration program at IU Bloomington.

The couple also discussed health care in Russia during a presentation to students in Rekhter's health administration class, providing students with a better understanding of how politically, culturally and economically different the outside world is.

The effort to launch an exchange program started last year when Russian officials Rekhter met with during a trip there expressed interest in creating an exchange program that would involve health care, public administration, environmental affairs and biomedical ethics issues.

The benefits of such an exchange program would be significant, said Rekhter.

Because the world is shrinking, health care delivery and management issues in Russia , the United States, and other countries are much the same, she continued. "There are some things, such as HIV, problems associated with tuberculosis, and the delivery of highly effective care, that the whole world is interested in."

"Through an exchange program based at IUPUI, we would be able to bring our expertise to them and they would expose our people to the way health care problems are being handled or treated in different countries, which could assist health care practitioners in America," she said.

Further, she noted, the program could sensitize IUPUI participants in the delivery of health care to people with varying backgrounds and cultures, a need that is growing in importance with an increase in people from around the world living in the U.S. "They want the same health care as we do, but they may want it delivered differently."

Finally, Rekhter added, the program would help boost the international flavor of the IUPUI campus, with student and faculty visitors from the Russian university, located about 200 miles from Moscow .

During a trip to Russia earlier this year, Rekhter met with Russian officials again to set expectations, goals, and desired outcomes for an exchange program.

The Kuliginas will return to Ivanovo, where they will share health care practices they learned here with other practitioners at home.

Rekhter is seeking additional funding to fully implement the exchange program. ###