By Haley Sullivan, Nursing Team
Today was similar to yesterday in structure as half of our group worked through well child visits and the other half worked alongside Cambodian health care professionals, educating them on the topic of CPR. My group traveled to the Center of Hope SIhanouk Hospital, where we helped educate physicians and nurses through the American Heart Association stanndards.
It was a group of 16 from the hospital, who by the end became CPR and BLS certified as the American Heart Association is supported world wide. They learned the specific steps through various situations for infants, children, and adults. For example, in regards to CPR in adults, this included: seeing if the individual was responsive, calling for help, checking for breathing and pulses, followed by 30 chest compressions with 2 consecutive assisted breaths. They also learned hospital style resuscitation with an AED machine and ambu-bag. These individuals were very cooperative and a joy to work with. The training went very smoothly and it was great to have the experience of collaborating with healthcare professionals outside of the United States.
While these individuals were taking their certification tests, we as students were fortunate enough to receive a tour of the hospital from and American raised hospital employee named Kate. Kate received her nursing degree in Michigan before realizing she wanted to do something different and went into public health, working in hospitals throughout different parts of the world. She has been at this particular hospital for about a year now and was very insightful. We were informed that this is an NGO hospital that is run with the help of volunteers and grants. Amazingly, this 25 bed hospital sees around 300-400 patients every day, primarily outpatient. There are limited resources here so they compensate with what they have. Kate even told us that most IV medications don’t have pumps and often times patients will go home with their IV meds held above their heads on a moto. It was extremely interesting to witness healthcare and the ways in which things operate on the opposite side of the world here in Cambodia.
After taking it all in, when you take a step back, we realized just how lucky we are to have the healthcare and availability that exists in the United States. It is the little things that we as Americans often take for granted that have the power to truly open our eyes to see how fortunate we are. We have programs, schooling, and standards that allow us to place some level of trust in our healthcare system. However, this is not so in Cambodia. In comparison, Kate spoke to us about how anyone in Cambodia can open up pharmacies without proper licensing, causing a tremendous amount of problems and unfortunately, deaths throughout the Cambodian population. She told us that pharmacies are just one example of healthcare that impact patient outcomes and the troubles that many face in this country.
However, all in all, it was incredible hearing how far this hospital and healthcare in general has come when considering Cambodia’s history and resources/technology available. Today was a very productive and beneficial day for all involved. As our time here is coming to an end, it is amazing to see how far we have come as a group and the difference we have made in many Cambodian’s lives. Speaking for myself, it has been an extremely heartwarming and life changing experience that I will forever cherish.
Thanks for reading!