2008 Mission Trip to Cambodia
After returning from Siem Reap on Sunday, we geared up for another busy week at the hospital. Since I am in the physiotherapy department, I will share a bit from my experience. We see both outpatient and inpatient. Inpatient has been mostly strokes, severe broken bones, and brain injuries. Outpatient has been moto bike fractures and dislocations. Unlike the US, many of these fractures and dislocations are never properly healed, leading to deformity and prohibiting return to prior function. I have been teaching the 2 physiotherapist more than I expected (making me very thankful for my neuroanatomy and orthopedic classes).


I will share an exceptional story that happened today. There is a 19 year old paraplegic who has been confined to his bed for 12 years. His hips and knees are bent at a 90 degree angle (contractures). He has scoliosis so severly that he has problems sitting. He has 3 pressure ulcers so big and deep that several inches of bone is exposed. He also has no family to take care of him. Today, we went to see him. We did some bed mobility, range of motion, sitting balance. At the end, I was doing some arm exercises (PNF), and he thought it was a wonderful game. He was working so hard, but smiling and laughing the whole time. The other physical therapist translated for me, and told me that the boy really enjoyed the treatment and having someone spend that much time with him. It was a very fun, rewarding experience.
The group is also preparing for our weekend trip to the village where we will be doing nutritional assessments on a school with 400 students. We have a supply of general antibiotics and vitamins for the entire community. We met with the Cambodian man who will be guiding us to the village. He gave us some helpful hints about what to bring, and warned us that people from neighboring villages have heard that we are coming and will be traveling to see us. There is no health care in the area and no health care professional has ever visited. We were rather overwhelmed by the news, but can only promise to treat everyone we have time for and would benefit from our care. We have been reading and researching about health problems in the area. Your thoughts/prayers would be appreciated in preparation for this weekend.
And the last thing to write about, our afternoon trip to the Killing Fields. The Killing Field is the place where the Khmer Rouge would take people who were too weak to do manual labor or they suspected of crimes against the government. (Please see my last entry for a brief history of the Khmer Rouge.) The people were forced to dig their own graves, and then brutally killed. In 1980, they discovered piles of thousands of dead bodies in the field. It was powerful to see the tower of skulls, piles of clothing, and deep holes where the bodies were disposed.
Overall, we have been staying super busy by learning a ton about the Cambodian culture and teaching small things to help the hospital run more efficiently and provide a higher level of care. Be sure to check out the next blog for a nursing student’s perspective of the hospital….