COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Nicole Powers & Sam Scheffer
Xin chào, Greetings from Hanoi, Vietnam. We are a group of 10 females from Universities all around Australia, studying a variety of health related professions from Nursing to Biomedical Science and Occupational Therapy. Prior to our departure the volunteer group had mixed emotions, from nerves to excitement, to uncertainties of what was to lie ahead. Arriving on our first day we were confronted with the overbearing heat and the hustle and bustle of Vietnamese life. The taxi ride from the Airport to the old quarter was quite a culture shock, although exciting at the same time!
On our first day, the group of volunteers walked around the markets, some getting the hang of bartering quicker than others, with each of us comparing our skills. Crossing the road was another mission, we soon realised that we would have to get the hang of this soon if we wanted to see more than just one street of Hanoi! Later that night we met up for a traditional Vietnamese dinner with our in country partner Phuong, and acquainted ourselves with our fellow travellers. The food was delicious, with fresh ingredients and a mixture of flavours.
The following day, the international volunteers we ventured around Hanoi with our friendly guide Tuan. We visited sites such as the Ho Chi Min complex, the Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son Temple, and the Museum of Ethnology. We also watched a famous traditional Vietnamese water puppet show and took part in a one hour cyclo tour through the narrow, chaotic streets. The water puppet show was beautiful and particularly interesting, as each of the group members attempted to understand the story line. The cyclo tour really gave us all an insight into the little hidden treasures the streets of Hanoi hold. Following our busy day we were treated with traditional Phở soup, a delicious popular Vietnamese noodle soup made from rice flour and served with either beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà).
On day three, we arrived at our new home and workplace for the next month, Thanh Nhan Hospital. The new accommodation was located in an area a little out of the centre of Hanoi, however we were in fact the only Westerners in sight. We began our day with a small tour of the hospital and met the lovely doctors and nurses we would be working with. Our tour to different departments of the hospital was quite confronting, witnessing 2-3 patients to a bed and post birth placenta just ‘casually’ sitting on the floor in the birthing suite (this we found quite amusing).
Days four and five were mostly observational, as the international volunteers worked hard to gain the trust of the staff we were working within each department. We all found the language barrier a great challenge and often found ourselves attempting to use our Vietnamese phrase book, with laughter occurring frequently during these times from both the volunteer group members and the patients and staff. These two days we learnt the vast differences between our healthcare systems, exchanging information with doctors and medical students, and coming to understand just how fortunate we all are.
We discovered different attitudes to practice, with family members taking on a large role in patient care, which we found quite touching. We were faced with a lack of infection control, a lack of pain relief, as well as limited choice for patients. We were informed that 2-3 patients die each day in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), emphasising the high mortality rate in Vietnam. The doctors explained to us that due to the high acuity of critically ill patients in both ICU and Emergency, the volunteer group would be undertaking CPR frequently, although sad this was a once in a life opportunity for us all.
Day five and six we were able to practice our clinical skills, partaking in patient assessments, medication administration, wound care, attending numerous exciting surgeries and witnessing natural births (more on this in our next blog!). Our accommodation came to feel more like home despite the rock hard beds, and our inability to dry our clothes due to the humidity, with many makeshift clothes lines being made (a good effort by Sam). We have grown to feel like family, with our various personalities providing endless entertainment, some more than others (Julia and Sam in particular).
Many of us have become good friends with the doctors, some of which have taken us out for dinner to traditional Vietnamese roadside restaurants and sight seeing. This was a very exciting time for the volunteer group as we tasted strange but appetising foods, at times guessing what we could possibly be eating. The kindness of these doctors was reiterated when they insisted to pay for our meals and taxis, later discovering how little they earn.
We are sailing off to Halong Bay this weekend for group bonding and relaxation, a well deserved break from the very challenging week. Stay tuned, more exciting stories to come!
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