The students: Eve Wilson and Kate Smith, both 20 from Hartlepool; Joanna Ferguson, 29, from Dalton near Thirsk, Laura Ewins, 28 of Stockton-On-Tees and Mollie Hart, 20 from Moorsholm, Joining them was Graham Jones, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Care at Teesside University, and Graham’s daughter Sarah, who is studying for her Masters in Disaster Management & Sustainable Development at Northumbria University.
The students worked in Battambang province and the capital, Phnom Penh with the charity Transform Healthcare Cambodia. Transform Healthcare Cambodia was set up in 2011 by a team of NHS healthcare staff from the north east to help provide healthcare, education, training and clinical expertise to support Cambodian doctors, nurses and midwives in Battambang. During their time in Battambang, the nursing students visited the hospital’s operating theatres and emergency room and observed nursing care on the wards. They also visited the hospital’s maternity department, where they witnessed a new baby being born – a first for many of them – and met with Cambodian nursing students at the Battambang Nursing School.
The students also visited the capital city; Phnom Penh, where they worked in a children’s orphanage’: The Joy Daycare Centre and visited the killing fields and Tuol Sleng, a former school, which was used as the notorious S-21 Prison by the Khmer Rouge regime.
They also endured a 10 hour trip to work at the David Centre Orphanage, which is in a remote place called Anlong Veng, by the Cambodian border with Thailand. Eve Wilson said: “When I first heard about the opportunity to undertake an international placement in Cambodia, I thought it sounded amazing. I was interested in experiencing healthcare internationally and wanted to develop my own knowledge of nursing care delivered by healthcare professionals in a country like Cambodia.
Joanna Ferguson adds: “Graham, who is one of our lecturers at Teesside University, explained to us how Cambodia had suffered mass genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime during the 1970’s which left its entire healthcare system in ruins. Cambodia is still recovering from the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime which decimated the country in the late 70s. Between 1976 and 1979 an estimated 2 million Cambodian’s were killed by the Khmer Rouge. All educated people, including doctors and nurses were eliminated and Cambodia's entire healthcare system was destroyed. Universities and training had to start again from ‘ground zero'.
It is only relatively recently that Cambodia has produced a plan to develop its healthcare system. Joanna continues: “After hearing of the suffering the people endured, and how the charity was formed, I knew I wanted to do something to help, so when the opportunity to do an international placement came up, I knew I had to do it! I would absolutely recommend any other healthcare professionals get in touch with the charity and try and volunteer with them in Cambodia. It has been an incredible experience for us all”
To find out more about Transform Healthcare Cambodia, or, if you are a healthcare professional and would like to join a future trip to Battambang, please visit: www.transformhealthcarecambodia.org.uk or you can follow the charity on www.facebook.com/transformhealthcarecambodia or www.twitter.com/THCambodia