Volunteering

Volunteering in Thailand has been a positive and negative experience. I think there might be shady dealings going on on Thailand's end as far as where the money is allocated, but not for certain...still trying to figure that one out. So initially I was setup to teach English a half day at a temple school and the other half of the day I would work in the area of public health. I decided to change that schedule unless the kids wanted to learn, "I be, He be, She be, You be, We be" kind of English. All day in the area of public health for the first 1.5 weeks consisted of observing nurses at the health center caring for patients in the morning and going on community visits with them in the afternoon. In the afternoon we went to local temples and schools to screen adults for hypertension and diabetes. I participated by taking blood pressures and conversing with any English speaking person! It was a great time. Also the head nurse, Noi, and I spoke about educating the community in regards to food preparations for the monks. Since the monks receive alms from the community they have no choice in the preparation (i.e. fried or steamed) of food and cannot be health conscious when eating. Noi and I brainstormed about what should belong in the leaflet. The leaflet was not created by the time I left and I will check back in with Noi to learn of it's progress. Noina (a community volunteer) drove me around on the back of her motorcycle from health center to communities daily. Mid-week of my second week Noina introduced me to a 64y/o woman who is one year post stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side. She lives with her brother's family and has a full-time aide to care for her. She has an extensive medical history which complicated my plan of rehab for her, but regardless we were able to make some magic happen! (Noina was our translator...again it's amazing what can be appropriately communicated with a little from both languages.) I performed all the basics from passive range of motion(ROM), active-assistedROM, swallowing, seating and positioning. We advanced quickly to standing, transfers and walking (about 3 meters). She was ecstatic about being able to walk, even with the help of two people. She and her family also displayed great enthusiasm regarding movement in her left arm. Everyone took the rehab seriously and without complaints. I rehabbed this woman every morning for the duration of my program and loved every minute of it!! If my tear ducts weren't so slow (post my eye-surgery) the tears would be flowing. I was able to make a small difference in the life of one Thai family and for all that I financially invested into this program it was worth it!