International staff at the Institut Chiari de Barcelona - Part I

In today's post, we would like to introduce to you part of the international staff in charge of making an appointment at our Institut for patients travelling to Barcelona from all around the world as comfortable and comprehensible as possible. 

Please meet our contact persons for Japanese, Italian and Russian patients:

Yuka Takahashi was born not so many years ago in the Chiba Prefecture, very close to Tokyo. She graduated in Japanese philology and specialized later on in in teaching Japanese as a foreign language.

The ICSEB can be proud to count since 2012 with one of the best “receptionists” to be had. The concept of being a “receptionist” is a little different to how we perceive it in the Western world; for a Japanese it is something difficult to translate, there are many nuances to it.

It is only fair to admit that the first Japanese patient that we had the privilege to treat here at the ICSEB, came to us thanks to her.

Other than receiving Japanese patients, Yuka also translates all the documents that they provide and that are created in the aftermath of a consultation and accompanies her fellow 
countrymen and women in every step of the care process once they arrive to Barcelona.

She shares with us that she misses her food a great deal; that 
sometimes she feels irresistibly like having some real Japanese food, which is very hard to find in Barcelona.

The Japanese, even though the cliché might state otherwise, are also very passionate. Her two little dogs occupy the first place of her weaknesses, and she admits that it is when they run to meet her in the park that she feels absolutely happy.

Music is one of her interests we were not aware of – did you know she expert baritone horn player?

Yuka explains an expression that we had never heard before: kuuki ga yomenai, the literal translation would be “to not read the air”. For the Japanese harmony is very important, also respecting the elderly, behaving well educated with whom you are talking to, being able to listen. Of course it is unnecessary to say that Yuka Takahashi “reads the air” perfectly…

And yes, it is true: the Japanese do not touch each other!! Yuka however allows us, her colleagues from ICSEB, to give her a hug when she leaves for her holidays…

The Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB)’s Italian division had the privilege to be the first of the Institut’s international care units.

Those who are aware of the story tell us that everything started due to Italian patients first who took interest in the treatment that a Catalan neurosurgeon was applying in Barcelona.

It was in 2006 when Dr. Miguel B. Royo Salvador noticed ayoung clinical psychologist, Gioia Luè, who was then doing international studies in Barcelona.

Thanks to the incorporation of Gioia Luè, BSc, communicating with Italian patients and their relatives became much easier and smoother and soon enough followed international patient meetings in Rome, Palermo, Trieste, Oristano and Bari.

Elena de’Michieli Vitturi, Bachelor of Arts in Languages and Literature (“Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore", Milan) and marketing specialist, joined the project in February 2014 with the aim of adding more talent to an area that has not stopped growing since 2006.

The Italian division contributes greatly to the attention given to Italian- speaking patients, starting with the patients’ first contact with the ICSEB until the moment of discharge, thus strengthening interpersonal communication and the physician-patient relationship by offering their linguistic assistance.

It is also part of their duties to translate official medical reports, but let’s not forget the intense work they carry out in the management of relationships with different Italian representatives ad social entities.

All this thanks to a wise combination of passion and professionalism in the difficult world of transcultural medical mediation and with the determination to serve in the patients in the first place, as well as the ICSEB and society in a globalized word on a general basis. 

At the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB), we soon realised that we could not live with our back to the Russian Federation. This is why Olga Lobanova, a contact person who left an important mark at the ICSEB and who would be an entrance gate for this great nation, so near as distant at the same time, joined the team in 2008.

The years went by and Russian speaking patients from different countries arrived at the ICSEB; Olga’s tireless commitment and talent were of great assisstence to all of them, as we are all aware, the tasks of a contact person are not limited to translating documents, but goes far beyond this.

Olga was very enthusiastic about becoming an English teacher for children one day, and soon her dreams would come true; this is why in 2011 she passed on her post to Nina Arutiounouva, a contact person who in spite of her youth showed great linguistic abilities: she speaks perfectly Russian, French, English, Catalan and Spanish, and even if she is shy to admit it, she also does very well with Italian.

Nina has a discrete and observing personality. Entering her world is not easy, but once you start to get to know her you start to see a passionate person that will leave nobody indifferent.

Which are her two well kept secretes? The first is dancing; more specifically tango…who would have thought?

She does not stop talking about her other great passion, and we can only reveal that it has to do with cats…

Let us share another little secret: Nina tells us that for Russian patients the direction in which they enter the surgery room on the stretcher is very important. They should never leave the induction room with their feet up front!! Do not worry, Nina, who knows her fellow-countrymen well, has already informed the doctors.

That’s all, we leave you with Nina, knowing that you might never need her, but in case you did, you can be sure that you will be in good hands.