The end of an amazing experience...

Following an exciting and interesting first week at the hospital, the group looked forward to a weekend of leisure in Vinh Long. The Saturday saw the group take a tour along the Mekong Delta to the floating markets. We stopped at several sites to see the local people making traditional rice paper, snake wine and performed theatrical Vietnamese songs. The group disembarked onto smaller wooden row boats with a single woman paddling standing up. We sat in groups of four and travelled seamlessly through smaller channels. We saw beautiful greenery and witnessed local Mekong Delta residents going about their usual day. The Sunday was a time of relaxation and immersion into the local Vinh Long atmosphere.

Our final week at the hospital went past quickly. Our Vietnamese language skills had developed and basic communication with the local women and families was possible; even if they did find our pronunciation hilarious. The professional relationships between the staff and students further grew. This allowed for open transfer of practices, culture and knowledge. We gained valuable insight into the Vietnamese way, particularly their great family involvement from pregnancy to the postnatal period. We provided information on Australian obstetric practices which that staff found very interesting.

As the week neared the end, our group was humbled to be invited to share meals with the local staff. A generous invitation for a few of us to attend an Anniversary of Death at a doctor’s home was humbling and beyond expected. On attendance a lush spread of local food was presented before us. This had obviously taken several days to prepare and tasted divine. Another generous invitation to attend a local restaurant for pancakes arrived from another doctor. On our final day at the hospital, we dined together with several doctors and midwives and enjoyed the Vietnamese pancakes. We returned to the hospital and said our goodbyes. It was a bittersweet moment to part with the wonderful staff and families as we began our trip home to our own families. 

We travelled back to Ho Chi Minh City on the final Friday, ready to depart for Adelaide on the Saturday evening. We were fortunate enough to have some more leisure time. On the Friday evening we enjoyed a delicious farewell dinner and saw the views from the highest building in Ho Chi Minh City on the 52 nd floor. On Saturday morning most of the group went to the Cu Chi tunnels to learn of the Vietnamese War and its impact. Finally, we scattered to quickly buy gifts and bargains from the local markets before departure. 

Now back in Australia to our creature comforts, I reflect on the most amazing experience I have had as a student midwife. Words cannot describe these experiences well enough, especially those shared with the women, families, local practitioners and as a group. We thank Antipodeans for arranging this placement and extend a special thank you to Michelle, Chi and Tam.

Our Exciting First Week of midwifery in Vietnam!

After check in and a team photo we were finally boarding. The long, overnight haul had finally begun after weeks of planning, preparation and excitement. Two stopovers and rough nights' ‘sleep’ saw us to Ho Chi Minh City where we had the afternoon to settle in, a welcome dinner of local cuisine, and an early night. Monday morning was here, time to pack up, board the bus and move onto Vinh Long. 

We dumped our bags at the hotel, were fed an enormous lunch that could quite easily have fed us for days and made our way to the hospital for a tour. Waiting at the steps of hospital were the beaming smiles of staff and translators. As we made our way through the corridors, locals stared, waved, giggled and followed us. It was clear we were going to be welcomed, it was also clear this was not a place that foreigners frequented.

The staff proudly walked us through their hospital and sat us down in the meeting room for an official welcoming. If you’re a health professional student you know this kind of welcoming doesn’t happen at home (well it certainly doesn’t in Australia). We felt like royalty and were all thrilled to finally be here.

We later left the hospital and made our way through the local supermarket collecting some basic supplies. Once again the locals looked on intrigued that white Aussies were wandering through their supermarket. Tuesday was here, day 1 of placement! It was very different to home, there was no patient hand over, we had no idea of the daily routine and yet we all drifted off into our own areas and began to immerse ourselves in the women, babies and families. It was difficult, we looked at babies, smiled and felt unsure exactly where to begin. This didn’t last long... as we were collected and off on ward rounds, showering babies, hands deeps in welcoming new arrivals or practicing our ultrasound skills. 

Ward rounds were not like home, for one patient’s don’t get privacy like we are used to. Woman sharing birth rooms, or being examined surrounded by others was something we were just not used to but here in Vietnam it was completely the norm, they know no other way, and it was time we got used to it. The other thing we had to get used to was working through interpreters or communicating without one if they were busy in other room. I think we all left our first day feeling relieved, exhausted and excited for day 2 of placement. As the week went on we moved throughout the various areas of the maternity/obstetrics unit. We all faced different challenges and were given new opportunities that we know we wouldn’t get at home. 

 We had all collected donations of new and pre loved baby goodies to which we made into packs for the women. Their faces were often blank when we handed these out. In shock that they were given something and unsure of exactly what was inside. If you walked back to the room a half an hour later the baby was often dressed in your clothes and snuggly wrapped in the blanket you had gifted. A warm smile was exchanged and it was clear they were appreciative. After all these women were not used to receiving things from the hospital in fact it’s quite the opposite. The women themselves provide everything they need to birth at the hospital from disposable mess mats to food, so they hardly expect to be handed a collection of brightly coloured baby goods. 

As the week draws to a close I think we can all proudly say we all survived week one! Mainly because we all came with no expectations, embraced opportunities and, importantly, supported each other through challenges big and small, personal and professional. I feel like next week with be filled with new challenges as some have been overcome and new ones arise. We are all craving a home cooked meal (or at the very least vegemite on toast) and missing loved ones (both two and four legged)!

Vietnam Week One: An Adventure for the Senses

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Angela Hendry
Week one in Vietnam has been an adventure for the senses; the smells of new foods, the exotic tastes of different fruits, continuous blasting of horns in the streets, and the and overwhelming love we have felt for the people we have met, are just the start of what will become a memorable month in Ho Chi Minh, I'm sure.

This week involved the meeting of our new travelling family and becoming familiar with our surroundings and local attractions. We spent time visiting the War Remnants Museum and Reunification Hall, as well as enjoying many of the local delicacies (curried frogs and fish intestines just to name a few). The team is comprised of three professions; Nurses, Physiotherapists and Teachers. For all of us the week has been challenging and full of many situations which have required us to become flexible and patient with the unfamiliar approach to life. For the nursing and physio students, difficulty with government approval to work has resulted in the groups assisting at a near by pagoda. 

The pagoda is run by buddhist Monks who have created a home for over 200 orphaned children, 140 of which have a variety of disabilities. From birth defects to the lasting effects of agent orange used during the war, these children require constant care and support from the team. The nursing students have focused primarily on wound care and assisting with feeding, while the physio students have focused on helping children with mobility, strength and gross motor skills.

The education students have spent the majority of this week at MATA school for the blind. This placement has forced them to draw on all their previous experience as pre-service teachers as teaching to the blind is a new experience for all involved. The teaching team has created a networking system that allows them to effectively teach the diverse levels of speaking abilities with the centre. The improvement they have seen in the first week has been a huge relief for these students. The weekend came around fast with some travelling further North to Hoi An.

While most stayed closer to home to check out more of the local markets, restaurants, parks or even just taking the chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. While we can all agree that the past week has challenged us emotionally, mentally and physically; we have all started the new week with a positive and enthusiastic approach to making a difference at our respective placements.

What a journey for Notre Dame in Vietnam

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing
WRITTEN BY: Storm Rossman, Notre Dame University

Where to begin?! Looking back on the trip now that we’ve returned, I’m so amazed by how much we experienced, learnt and were able to do in such a short period of time.

Vietnam was a complete whirlwind. The 14 days were almost completely full every day from morning to night with only a few short breaks in between. There were so many emotions experienced by everyone. So many experiences shared. And so many laughs along the way.

We left Australia as a group; some of us knew each other as uni friends and others met at the beginning of this journey when we began the fundraising drive, but we returned home as a team. A team who were there for each other the whole way, who were confronted and delighted together, who supported each other, and who came to know each other so well (sometimes too well…). But overall- and most importantly- I think we grew together. We each took something from this experience, something that will continue to influence our lives in some form or another indefinitely. This experience is one that I do not think any of us will forget shortly.

As amazing as the trip was, it would not have been possible without the support from our two lecturers Kylie and Phil keeping us in line along the way and offering us their wisdom throughout. To the support team at Antipodeans who made everything possible and helped the trip run so smoothly, especially Fiona- thank you! As well as the support staff that cooked, drove and did everything to keep us on track in country, they were great and always eager to help. And of course, the in-country tour guides Thanh, Chieu, Thuy and Hoa who were amazing, so helpful and didn’t complain at all after we asked the same question to a patient for the hundredth time for the day.

We got to know each of the patients personally and they definitely made the tour interesting and provided lots of laughs along the way. Thank you to all these people, you are so wonderful and this trip happened because of you.

Also, to all the people who helped us with our fundraising efforts, the companies and friends who donated gifts, you have all helped us to have this utterly amazing experience and helped us to provide some care to the people who we were fortunate to encounter along the way. Thank you to everyone involved, I wouldn’t have changed anything or anyone; you are all amazing people, and this incredible experience is one that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

The beautiful landscapes, people and experience of Vietnam

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing
WRITTEN BY: Storm Rossman, Notre Dame University

We began our next stage of the trip with an insight into the beauty of the Vietnamese landscape during our five hour drive to Mai Chau. The mountainous terrain was absolutely spectacular and we all spent a decent portion of our trip trying to capture it on camera.

Mai Chau itself was just as amazing. We stayed in the home stay section of the town which was surrounded by mountains on every side. On the whole, our home stay was gorgeous and the family were lovely. Each day we would walk through the rice fields with farm animals and dogs accompanying us part of the trip to the hospital.

We spent most our time in Mai Chau working in the hospital. Both mornings we were there we observed the way the hospital was run and partook in patient assessments, when we weren’t being taken in to watch emergency c-sections. We were able to meet and talk with staff members, practice our skills and get a feel for the hospital and the differences from here to home. Our afternoons were spent sock-clad in the theatres. We observed a number of procedures including tumour removals, orthopaedic surgeries and hysterectomies and were lucky to be able to assist the nurse and surgeon somewhat. The hospital staff were great and really welcoming to us all and gave us an amazing opportunity to experience all we did.

Our next stop was freezing Hang Kia. We felt the temperature go down the closer we got, but it didn’t take away from the amazing scenery we saw both on the way, and within the village itself. We spent our first afternoon at the local elementary school teaching the kids how to brush their teeth and wash their hands. I for one thought that this would be just a refresher course for them, but was completely proven wrong for the most part and came to realise just how isolated they were out here. All the kids were so happy to receive their toothbrush, toothpaste and soap in their mug and were reluctant to let them go so we could get them to wash their hands with us. On our way back to our lovely home stay, we had little hands waving at us the whole time.

The next two days were spent in the clinics where we divided into three teams and were put to the test. Over the clinic days we saw 233 patients complaining of a variety of ailments (mostly colds) which we treated to the best of our ability with the resources we had. The days were long and sometimes repetitive but we were able to not only improve our knowledge, clinical skills and questioning ability. We were also able to help 233 people hopefully live even somewhat more comfortable lives.

Our next day was the trek (for the 6 students who went, or a stopover back at Mai Chau for those who didn’t). 18km, mostly downhill, approximately 6 hours. It turned out to be a nicely sunny and relatively warm day. Perfect hiking weather. The trek allowed up to get up close to the stunning scenery and see things we would have otherwise missed. It was absolutely gorgeous. Although there were a few slips along the way we all made it in one piece thanks to the guidance of our super tour guides – one of which was doing it in thongs…
Then we arrived at our last village; Van.

Van was amazing right from the beginning, the home stay family were incredibly welcoming, along with all the locals we passed while exploring or in transit. Our walk to the clinic took us past the rice fields and vege patches, which offered an awesome view along with all the farm animals strolling by. Our two full days in Van were spent in the clinic as well, where we saw 230 patients with similar complaints to Hang Kia although it was interesting to compare the two nonetheless and improve our skills even more. The clinic staff were incredibly welcoming and helpful and even held a farewell function on our last night where we were able to see some traditional Vietnamese dancing, sing some Australian songs for them plus were roped into doing some dancing with the bamboo poles, which was hilarious for everyone involved and a great send off and end to our village experience before we drove back to Hanoi the next morning.

Notre Dame students set foot in Vietnam

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing
WRITTEN BY: Storm Rossman, Notre Dame University

Approximately 35924 steps, 2 smooth flights, 1 cyclo tour and many bus rides later, we have left Hanoi. After meeting with our main tour guide Thánh, we were enthused about exploring this exciting country. On our drive back to the hotel we had our first exposure to the Vietnamese landscape, architecture, people and apparent lack of road rules.

We were given the afternoon to settle into our hotel before heading out to a local restaurant where we had our first meal in Vietnam. It comprised of a delicious meat and vege combo which we cooked on little hot plates and ate in fresh baguettes. Delicious.

Our next few days involved a combination of touristy and clinical experiences where we delved into the Vietnamese culture and history, to understand more about the country we have been immersed in.

Our Hanoi adventure began at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum where we observed the embalmed and perfectly preserved body of the first Vietnamese president to break the French’s political rule over the country. We then had a tour past the presidential palace where Ho Chi Minh was invited to stay upon elevation to parliament, but refused, electing to stay in more modest accommodation on the same property (which we also were able to see). After that, we journeyed to one of the oldest universities in Vietnam, where we delved into the principles that Confucius held desirable and the significance of school in Vietnamese culture.

Post lunch, we resumed our journey by attending the museum of Ethnology where we were thoroughly briefed on the people we are to spend the next week with. Along with this, we were introduced to around 50 other ethnic minority groups in Vietnam and some of the unique traditions and customs within them.

In the evening we fended for ourselves for dinner before attending the amazing and deliciously gorgeous Fanny’s ice cream parlour before setting out to do some shopping in the night markets.

The next morning we resumed our journey with a tour on the infamous cyclos around Hanoi. We were able to have a better look into the city before heading to the Hoa Loi prison, ironically called the 'Hanoi Hilton' by prisoners. We learnt more about the prison’s conditions, history and Vietnamese political prisoners along with American prisoners of war, including air force pilot John McCain. Then we were on to our first clinical experience in Bach Mai hospital, one of the biggest hospitals in Vietnam. We were kindly greeted and shown around the emergency, emergency ICU and poisons centre by the local doctors and given a taster into what to expect in the way of health care compared to Australia. The doctors and nurses we were fortunate enough to meet gave an amazing impression of their perseverance to do all they can for their patients with the resources they have. I for one am excited to see more people like them and work alongside them for the remainder of the trip.

We rounded off our final night in Hanoi before heading to Mai Chau by having a group dinner in a local restaurant before an early night for the 6 hour bus ride in the morning!

What I learnt by volunteering in Vietnam - Notre Dame University Group 2013

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Notre Dame Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Isabel Cullen, Notre Dame University

We’ve been back in Australia for a week now and it almost seems like it was all a dream! Life has returned to normal, well as normal as anyone’s life can be, mine for one does not fit into most people’s definition of normal, but it has continued on in its own unique way with the next adventure. Today is the first day of our next prac, but we are all in different places, our group separated and we’re all now on our own preparing to face what today will bring.

This time I am in Kalgoorlie, warming myself up to my new home away from home. I am once again away from the city and although it is different to Perth, it is still Australia and, therefore, hugely different to Vietnam. Our experience in Vietnam was very unique and a rare opportunity for anybody. To see the side of Vietnam away from the prying eyes of tourists and to be welcomed by the locals with such joy and gratitude really is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We’ve witnessed the way the Vietnamese people actually live and now better understand how their lives flow and how their country functions, rather than simply what they put on show for the tourists. It’s hard to know everything we’ve learnt as the information is still processing and often you don’t realise what you’ve learnt until you apply it again. The most important aspect of our trip was not the assistance we provided to the local people. Yes, that was a big part of it, but the main point of our trip was the learning experience for us. That’s what makes the biggest difference and that’s what this next prac is all about.

Getting back and applying the skills and knowledge we have gained from such an exceptional opportunity. We have had the chance to provide health care to people in remote areas of a developing country. Through this we developed our health assessment skills intensely and, therefore, also grew in confidence. But we didn’t only learn physical skills. We also learnt how to work through one, and sometimes two, interpreters. We learnt patience and we developed further our empathy and ability to care. We learnt how to problem solve and critically assess a situation to provide the best care we had available as we came to terms with our lack of resources.

We learnt to accept people’s own healthcare decisions, despite our better judgement; and we learnt to let go when we realised there was nothing more we could do and all we could really provide was some tiger balm and a smile. Showing you care goes a long way, sometimes all people need is someone to listen to them and acknowledge that they are a person living and struggling in this world. Doing this can make someone’s day a little bit better and you never know the impact that could have on their life.

That and reinforcing basic health education is what I feel made the biggest difference to the local people. The challenge for us as nursing students now is to take all we have learnt and apply it to everything we do back home because in the long run it is going to make us better nurses. We were thrown into a situation where we were forced to apply our skills and now have stronger skills sets as a result of it. We must strive to not forget them and to constantly apply it to our nursing. Everybody is worth our time and our care and we must remember this as we return to the hustle and bustle of our busy hospitals. And I’m sure we all will ☺

How this trip will affect our careers, well I don’t know exactly, but it can only be positive. This is something that sets us apart from the others and with the competitiveness of getting a grad program or a job these days we need every edge we can get. But we have not only grown as nurses, and regardless of where our careers may take us, we have all grown as people and this is probably the biggest difference to us personally. We are all individuals and all had a unique experience, but we all grew within ourselves in our own way and to a different degree.

We all came back with a slightly different perspective and learning from this is what makes the whole trip worthwhile. For those who hadn’t travelled before, there’s the understanding that the world is much bigger than Perth and that we are very lucky to be born into the lives we have. For myself, this trip reinforced that the world is full of beautiful people and that we aren’t that different at the end of the day. As our lives progress and we continue on our own journeys we can all look back on this experience and smile ☺

The journey continues for Notre Dame nursing students

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Notre Dame Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Isabel Cullen, Notre Dame University

So the journey continues on...

Step one: leaving the city! First Stop: Mai Chau! We had a 4 hour bus ride to get there and I think we were all very excited to get out and see the countryside. Stopping at a scenic view of the surrounding mountains I took it upon myself to buy one of every type of food being sold at the side of the road. So I ended up thoroughly enjoying a corn on the cob, sticky rice cooked in bamboo and my new favourite snack food- sugar cane, all for just $2 or $3!! The sugar cane was lots of fun as it is literally lumps of sugar cane you chew on and out comes juicy sugary goodness and then you spit out the cane part! Lots of fun! Arriving in Mai Chau I found it really
peaceful and it was a nice change from the chaos of Hanoi! We were staying in this amazing homestay which was a bamboo house on stilts and we all slept upstairs on the floor under a big communal mozzie net, the fun was just starting! Arriving there we had some time to get sorted and then we headed to Mai Chau Hospital to meet the director.

He was very friendly and welcoming and we were all looking forward to the next day. Walking to the hospital we got a great view of the local surroundings. Mai Chau is this lovely little town surrounded by farmland and all these adorable bamboo stilt houses, and lots of
markets selling traditional items, I finally felt like I was in Vietnam!
 
The next day we got up bright and early and headed to the hospitalagain. The day was mostly about starting to get used to working with our interpreters as well as practicing our health assessment skills.Splitting up into a few groups we visited different wards and began toput our skills into practice. My favourite thing about the day was beginning to chat with the people. I really enjoy getting to know people and beginning to understand their culture. I also learnt a few sentences from our amazing interpreters. Let me introduce them.firstly we have Thung: our head guide and the mechanics of the trip.Then we have Lan, Tang and Tuan. They taught me how to say "Ten toi laIsabel" (My name is Isabel. *Obviously spelt wrong, I have no idea how to spell in Vietnamese!) and "Ban ten la zii?" (What is your name?)And so I just started practicing it on all the Vietnamese people I met, so about 20 poor people had me come up to them and attempt to introduce myself.

But everyone was very friendly and smiled and laughed :) We also all got the amazing honour of observing the director perform surgery. Having never seen surgery at all I was in absolute awe. A few students had done their surgical rotations already and they had this great opportunity to compare the two systems. We finished off the day with the notorious 1200 steps! This is a rickety stone staircase in the side of the mountain with 1200 steps leading to a cave at the top. So we all attempted it (except our teachers... and Adam...) singing along to The Sound of Music as we climbed! Oh it was tiring, but the view made it so worth it! Stunning mountains and looking down into the valley of Mai Chau. The next day was pretty similar and we were all attempting to use ISOBAR under Kylie's instruction, we definitely got better as the day progressed. To finish off we had a farewell chat with the director and passed on some gifts we had purchased in Australia. And again to finish the day a few brave souls did the stairs, this time more for the exercise, and a few crazy members of our group decided to do situps at each level!

And onto the next place! Hang Kia here we come! An hour and a half later we arrived in a tiny remote village surrounded by misty
mountains! It was just breathtaking. First thing we did was go to the Primary School for our first education session on handwashing and teethbrushing! We were all really excited about seeing the kids and it was so much fun! Setting up bowls in the courtyard we split up into 4 groups, each having about 15 kids to teach. We explained how important it was and then gave a demonstration and then the kids had a turn. All these little grubby kids jumping for joy to wash their hands and show us they could do it was just amazing! And they were so happy to get their free soap, brush, paste and cup it was wonderful.

I really felt that maybe we had begun to make a difference. After all, every year a Notre Dame group comes and teaches the kids the same thing, it's got to stick eventually! the people of Hang Kia are very poor and belong to the H'mong minority in Vietnam and speak H'mong, no Vietnamese.The H'mong people all wear their traditional skirts and it really brings a little bit of extra colour to what is a very cold little village. We spent the next 2 days doing free health clinics for these beautiful people with the assistance of our interpreters and H'mong translators as well! Working with 2 interpreters is like playing a game of Chinese Whispers, where you don't really know if the full message has gotten
through, but we persevered all the same. The clinic days were where everything really started. This was the main purpose of our trip and all the medications we had with us were thanks to all the fundraising we did back in Perth! All together I think we saw about 200 patients over the two days, which was very pleasing. It was definately a learning experience to do health assessments in such a different environment. It's a balancing act between not having the equipment to be as thorough as we would at home and that understanding that even if we can diagnose them, we may not be able to help with everything, but we can help with the little things. As Kylie said before we left: "We're not going to save the world, but we can make someone's day a little bit better." And at the end of the that's what counts. The message I really took away from our Hang Kia experience was
'From little things; big things grow" :) Hang Kia is so tranquil, there's pretty much nothing to do except enjoy nature and each other's company! Whilst in Hang Kia we got the news of the typhoon that had hit the Phillipines and was heading to Vietnam. Although, we knew we were out of harm's way, we were concerned for the family's of our guides back in Hanoi and we also received the backlash of some of the weather. Thankfully everyone's family's were ok as the typhoon downgraded to a tropical storm as it went through Hanoi, however we were to expect a week of heavy rain. With the weather forecast we had to cancel our trek to Van! Oh no! We all understood that safety came first, but I was still so disappointed!! And onto our final destination: Van!

We had to drive back through Mai Chau to get there as we couldn't do the trek and so it was another day of traveling. Arriving in Van I really liked it. It was very farmy and reminded me of a farm back home with lots of pigs and chickens oh and buffalos too.. We were back in another stilt house and it was finally warm enough to shower! Oh I
forgot to mention that nobody showered for 3 days in Hang Kia as it was freezing cold and there was no hot water!

We did 3 days of clinics in Van and they were soo busy! People came from here, there and everywhere to receive health care and medication from us! It was really astounding and people knew who we were as a group as Notre Dame visits every year and everyone gets so excited! The health assessments got more complex in Van and we were pushed to
the next level of problem solving and critical thinking as we had to figure out our diagnoses. It was the kind of challenge that really pushes you to learn and I really feel we've all come out of this as better students and one day soon we will be better nurses because of it. This is not the kind of challenge and experience you can get at home, you need to get out there and push yourself to the limits, as we all did time and time again! In Van the days got quite draining, but that's part of the challenge, of course the rooster and dogs waking us up at 2am didn't help with energy levels, but at least we were all thoroughly well fed by our wonderful cooks (we often got pancakes for breakfast!). The thing I really noticed in Van, and hang Kia as well, was the amount of lifestyle related injuries/health conditions. Nearly everyone we've seen has been a farmer and always will be a farmer. But the amount of nerve injuries and back pain that we've seen really brings that into reality. At home we have the luxury of being able to
change professions, but for most people here they don't have that luxury. It really makes you realise how lucky we are and being in that place of priviledge we can hopefully help others. My favourie part of Van and probably the trip was going to visit a young girl at home to bring her a year's supple of a nutrition/protein supplement. She had some form of muscle degeneration and her and her family were so appreciative of our support, it really made me feel like we had made a
difference to someone's life!

After our 3 days of clinics we prepared for our farewell festivities. Firstly we enjoyed a dinner with the homestay family where people (not me, I'm vegetarian) tried crickets and pig on a spit as well as intestines and blood and bone. And Thung organised a suprise birthday cake for Darren (Happy 39th!) which we all greedily dug into. Kylie had told us a few days earlier that we had to prepare a performance for the local people! Ahhh! So we put our heads together and came up with jumbled versions of "We are Australian" "Happy Little Vegemites" "I still call Australia home" and for the grand finale "Give me a home among the gumtrees" all with actions included!!! A few members of our group could sing, but most of us could sqwawk and tried to make up for it with our kangaroo imitations! But everyone had a jolly old time and had a great laugh! We also had the honour of watching some local traditional dances and songs before singing together "Vietnam, Hoh Chi Minh!" After that we joined in with the locals in what I'm going to call the "Bamboo Dance." A dangerous dance where you jump over bamboo poles and try to dodge getting hit in the ankles! Lots of fun!

And then back to Hanoi. We got back last night and enjoyed a farewell dinner with our tour guides. After that a few of us thought we'd have one last Fanny's Icecream and got lost again!!! After another hour long search we finally found it and indulged! Mmmmm :) Today was a beautiful way to finish off the trip. We went to Halong
Bay! It is amazing, absolutely stunning and one of the modern 7 natural wonders of the world. We spent the day well driving for most
of it (4hours each way!) and then lying on the top deck of a Junk Boat enjoying the view! What a way to spend the day!

Tomorrow morning we fly home. I think most people are ready to go home and we've really got the most out of this trip. I'd just like to thank all the people who made this
possible, but especially our Vietnam team including Phuong, Thung, Lan, Tang, Tuan and our cooks. Without them we could not have provided the health care that we did and they had such amazing patience with us they deserve a round of applause. Of course there's everyone at home including Fiona and Antipodeans as well as Kylie, Darren and the Notre Dame crew. But for now we're concentrating on getting home safely and
then I'll update you all on the end of our journey!

Notre Dame nursing students arrive in Vietnam

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Notre Dame Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Isabel Cullen, Notre Dame University

We've finally made it!

After 6 months of preparation we've finally started what will probably be the most amazing clinical placement we do as students!
Firstly, I'll introduce us; there's Rachel, Rhiannon, Jacinta, Adam, Manuja, Georgia, Hannah, Tenyka, Renee, me (Isabel) and our supervisors/lecturers Kylie and Darren.
We left Perth 3 days ago, catching our flight at 2.30am we all attempted to get some sleep on the flights, with limited success (except maybe for kylie who managed to get 3 seats to herself!) and some of the worst plane food I have eaten (my lunch looked like vomit), but that's all in the fun of the journey isn't it!

We arrived in Hanoi all in one piece excited for the adventure we were about to embark on and to get out of the airport, but that didn't quite happen... We were missing 13 bags of our luggage! Well done Malaysian Airlines! 12 of those were the soaps, toothpastes, etc all the donations and the other was Renee's backpack, oh no! So we waited, and we spoke to lost & found, and we waited some more, but they didn't even know where the bags were, the assumption was that they were probably in KL.. So we left it to them and headed out into Vietnam, we'd finally arrived! Met our guide Thaung at the airport and headed to our hotel and wow is it fancy! Very flash with a bathtub and everything! Not quite what we were expecting, but the roughing-it starts tomorrow!

My first impression of Vietnam is that you're definitely in South-East Asia, it's got that same vibe and atmosphere as Thailand and Bali, but with a Vietnamese twist! There's that beautiful all-surrounding chaos, that for some reason seems functional and you know that most-likely the scooter wont hit you as you're crossing the road so you stop worrying about it as everything moves around you. I've found it cleaner than I expected and not as smelly as it could be, mostly fumes, but nothing too nasty, but it is nearly winter so you never know what it's like in summer! Also the weather has been perfect! Can't always see the sun through the pollution, but it's definitely there! I also love the fact that the Vietnamese actually wear those straw hats!

Our first evening we all went out to dinner together, had some delicious food for less than $5 each, and I have discovered that juices/smoothies here are heavenly!!! After dinner we decided to go for dessert at Fanny's, the famous ice-cream shop! Off we went, excited, with Kylie leading the way. An hour later we still hadn't found it and it really started to seem we were walking around in circles, but we were determined now and all had a thirst for ice-cream! Eventually we stumbled upon it and delved into it's deliciousness. I thought I'd try something different so ordered 1 scoop of 'soursop' flavour (apparently it's a fruit...), 1 of 'young rice' and 1 banana... Interesting combination, but very yummy!

Our next day Jacinta and I got up early (6am) to do Tai Chi at the lake. Realistically we got up at 6.30 and missed it, but had a great walk around the lake and saw some really interesting things. One of our favourites was a spiral of people massaging the person in front of them! We wanted to join in, but they were just finishing up so we joined in what was a group of women dancing/doing aerobics. We did two dances which included a lot of hitting different parts of your body and then turned to head off, buuuuut then I heard the familiar tune of the Macarena and we just had to stay for one more dance! I can now say I have done the Macarena, in a public square in Hanoi, Vietnam style (which includes a whole lot of shaking legs and spinning as well!) it was great!

Our day then went on to include the Museum of Ethnology and a Lam Anh Traser which is like a cycle rickshaw with but they cycle from the back. Lunch was at KOTO (Know One Teach One) which is an organisation that employs and trains street kids. We had the afternoon off and everyone chilled out and wandered around, a few of us getting a massage with some pretty intense neck cracking!!

This morning we visited the Prison and then after lunch Bach Mai Hospital. Now things are really starting, after all it is a nursing prac, not a holiday... Bach Mai Hospital was very interesting and a definite eye opener. It really made us realise the amazing quality of health care we have in Australia and those basic principles that make up nursing. Sometimes it takes seeing a situation where the basics are not there to really realise how important they are. But it's also important for us to remember that this is their culture and it is not our job to tell them they are doing it wrong. All we can do is lead by example and maybe show them another way of doing things, just because something is different does not make it bad and we can all learn from each other.

We've been in Hanoi now for 3 days and tomorrow we head to Mai Chau (I can't remember how to spell it) tomorrow. I can't wait to get out there and start doing things and really learning. We're constantly learning anyway, as you do being in a new culture, though I'm not sure how well my Vietnamese is going... So far I can only say hello (sin chau- obviously i've spelt that wrong...) and thank you which is kind of like 'come on!' But all you can do is try!

We've really only just started, and barely at that. The next 2 weeks will really be what this trip is all about and I can't wait!!
Oh P.S. Renee got her luggage back and all the other bags, yay!

Ha Long Bay caps off a trip of a lifetime

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare: Paramedic & Nursing Students
WRITTEN BY: Laura Bainger, Flinders University

We left you at the end of our second week, having just treated over 500 patients in 7 days! Safe to say we were all exhausted when we got back to Hanoi, and the western mattresses were welcomed with open arms. We got to have a couple of days back in Hanoi, which included a Vietnamese cooking class. Our chef took us off to some markets, and showed us around all of the exotic ingredients - so many different herb, spices, fruits, veggies and seafood being gutted literally on the street! There was a lot to see. We got to make THE BEST spring rolls I have ever had (our Mum's would have been very proud of us!), made a marinade to cook cat fish in the traditional Hanoi style with dill and cashew nuts, and finished up with a sweet potato pudding. It was a great experience. We are all pros with a pair of chopsticks now!

The rest of our time in Hanoi was fairly relaxing, we treated ourselves to manicures, pedicures and massages, picked op some tailor made dresses, and hunted through the mirid of art work shops...getting our cases packed after this will be a challenge!

The next day we set off for the one and only Ha Long Bay! This is one of the seven wonders of the world. Ha Long Bay is a 4 hour bus ride east of Hanoi. Imagine the ocean, with enormous jungle covered limestone cliffs jutting out of the water in every direction you can see. There were hundreds of 'junk boats' which all looked pretty rustic from the outside but were like a plush hotel on the inside, all for the tourists. It was absolutely stunning. We had two nights on one of these boats and were very well looked after by the crew. One of the best parts of Ha Long Bay was the kayaking we got to do. There were a couple of lagoons that could only be accessed in a kayak. In one of them we paddled through a kind of cave, and on the other side were encircled by huge cliffs. The second day we went paddling it absolutely poured, and there was lighting and thunder all around us...for those out in the kayaks, it was one of the best moments of the trip. Such a beautiful place.

The food on the boat was great, some of the best seafood we have ever had, the king prawns were to die for! For those who were not totally satisfied, there were hawkers in boats that paddled around selling Oreos, vodka, Pringles and all the mars bars you could need. The best part was we could literally open the cabin window and make the purchase! We had a couple of great afternoons jumping off the boat, and at night we spent a bit of time on the top deck looking at all of the other boats, the full moon and the continuous lightning display. It was a pretty magical few days.

Back in Hanoi we had a final night dinner with out translators and guides, which finished with a session at a karaoke bar! It was really sad to say goodbye to our guides and our translators. We all felt so lucky to have met such friendly and giving people on this journey, and they will all be missed. It has been an absolutely amazing journey, far exceeding the expectations that I had from when I first heard about this trip many months ago. We have had exposure to things that we never would have seen in Australia, and were forced to step up and improve our clinical assessment and decision making. We have made some amazing friends, seen some awesome sights, and have been embraced by a culture entirely different from our own.

Flinders University students confront challenges in Vietnamese healthcare

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare: Paramedic & Nursing Students
WRITTEN BY: Laura Bainger, Flinders University

Hello again! We left you on our last night in Hanoi before we embarked on the main part of our trip - to the Mai Chau Valley, about 4 hours west of Hanoi. It is a very poor region of Vietnam, but the town that we are in (Mai Chau) is absolutely stunning. Imagine enormous jungle covered mountains towering over an expansive flat, covered in irrigated rice fields reflecting the mountains perfectly in them. Housing is basic - many wooded houses on stilts with shutters on the windows (and usually a cheeky satellite dish on the roof). It is so peaceful and just gobsmackingly beautiful!

We have had a few additions to our group! We have a couple of Vietnamese med students, an Emergency Doctor from Hanoi and two guides. They are a really great bunch of people who are great translators and are super keen to help us have the best experience possible.

We visited the hospital in Mai Chau. In rural areas it is very hard for them to retain doctors and they get paid a lot less than their urban counterparts. The hospital was even more basic than the one in Hanoi. We got to spend a few hours there and got to see and open appendectomy (the power went out just as they did the last suture), a natural birth, a nursing student who had some seriously old-school traction on a broken leg which included a pin through his foot (only on panadol), many underweight and malnourished anaemic kids and much more. They had a intensive care unit, and very small room with 12 beds crammed into it. Pain relief, oxygen and adequate heart monitoring was very sparse, it's so hard to convey the disparity between Australia and here.

After 2 nights in Mai Chau, we headed up to the small mountain village of Pa Co. This was where our work really began. The small medical clinic there had a doctor and a few nurses, 4 assessment rooms and a couple of admin rooms. They usually get about 300 patients a month...in the three days we were there we saw 250. Our group of 15 nursing and paramedic students split up into an couple of groups. One group was on the trial desk (remember the organised chaos reference?), a couple of groups assessed and another did health promotion. Assessing was a little like being a GP with very very limited resources. At our disposal we had a few blood pressure cuffs, a thermometer, scales and a height chart. Talking to the patients was really hard work, the chain of translation being English to Vietnamese to h'Mong and back again (ie through 2 translators). The common complaints were back pain, neck pain and headaches, due to the fact that the women are the farmers and carry ludicrous weights on their backs; stomach upsets and diarrhoea, worms in kids and a lot of rotten teeth.

We still can't get over the fact that 99% of patients had had their symptoms for over 12-18 months, and even longer, some up to 20 years. On the second afternoon we were faced with a very sick patient. It was a 3 year old girl who had a kidney infection, a chest infection, a fever, and a A LOT of fluid in her belly. We gave the mum money to get her back to the Mai Chau hospital. The next morning we saw an 18 month old baby who had a congenital heart defect and was only 5kg. She was scheduled in to have surgery in 2 months...that was the soonest she could get in. The worst thing was that we could only send her home. The care here is so basic. A few girls got to feel 2 women with abdominal aortic aneurisms (AAA). If a paramedic came across that in Adelaide you would be in an emergency department before they would know what had happened! Knowing that there is so little that can be done for these people who can't afford to get to a hospital is really difficult and totally foreign concept for us. All of the patients that we treated were treated for free, and we donated a lot of medicines including antibiotics. Every patient received a jar of tiger balm, a sheet of panadol and multivitamins. The health promotion consisted of showing kids and adults how to brush their teeth (we gave out free tooth brushes and toothpaste), and also showed kids how to wash their hands properly (and gave them free soap).

We may not have been able to solve everyone's problems but hopefully the people there will be more trusting of western medicine and won't put up with diarrhoea, headaches and stomach pains for so long.
 
Our homestay was at a local family. The bedding was, well, rough. Imagine a bed sized coffee table, covered with a bamboo mat and a 'mattress' about 1cm thick...safe to say a lot of us had bruised hips after the first night! But the family were very nice. Amenities consisted of a ceramic squat toilet and a shower. Basic but sufficient. One afternoon the house grandmother was chopping wood! The women work very hard, physically their bodies are tried and tested day in and day out. On the final day we got to purchase some homemade crafts, mostly bags from the house mother (I don't want to spoil any surprises that might be in our suitcases!). Over all Pa Co was an incredibly rewarding experience. We got so much hands on experience, saw things we will possibly never see again in our careers, and gained a whole new appreciation for the Australian Health Care System.

After returning to Mai Chau for a night and being taken on an absolutely amazing and forever memorable bike ride around the rice paddies and surrounding villages by our guide Dan, and a trip to the local markets, we set up another clinic at a smaller village an hour towards Hanoi from Mai Chau - Noong Luong. It ran very similarly to the clinic we did in Pa Co, but the biggest difference was the people. In Noong Luong the main tribe is White Thai and they are slightly more westernised, and appeared far more eager to see us and engage with us during consults. At the start of each session Dan would hand out around 30 numbers which meant being mobbed by women all grabbing at him to get one. To us that came across as rude and extremely intrusive to Dan, but obviously it was just a cultural difference that we had to get used to! People here had slightly better health, but we did see A LOT of tonsillitis, so much so that we wondered how some of these kids were breathing...we also (attempted) to assess a woman who was in severe psychosis - speaking in her own language, shouting compliments aggressively at people, bursting out in song and then hiding in the corner of the room. I personally have never seen anyone like that in my life. Even if we had been able to treat her, there is very very little care for mental health patients in Vietnam, which doesn't help the population realise that people who act like that aren't possessed like they did in Noong Luong.

On our final night there we were treated to a traditional dance at a local hall, where lots of mums and kids joined us. A few women dressed up in traditional clothing and did a few dances, and even some of the younger girls got up and had a go! It was gorgeous.

We have formed great friendships within the group, and even the people more inclined to whinge have done so in good spirits! There have been a few moments of homesickness and wishing there was some of mums food on the dinner table instead of rice but everyone has been very supportive of each other. We are already planning pub meals together when we get back!

From here we will head back to Hanoi for a few days to recuperate and then hello Halong Bay - just a cheeky few nights on a junk boat in one of the 7 wonders of the world!

News from rural Vietnam: Flinders University Paramedic & Nursing Students

 

 

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare: Paramedic & Nursing Students
WRITTEN BY: Laura Bainger, Flinders University

So, we have been in Vietnam for about a week now, and I'll do my best to cover everything that we have packed in so far...please excuse any medical jargon!

Before even making it to Hanoi we had an overnight stop over in KL, and managed a cheeky trio into the city to some markets to buy some counterfit goods. So far we have had several days in Hanoi and a night in the rural village of Mai Chau. Hanoi is a very busy city, we stayed in the French Quarter in a nice hotel, and got to spend a few days exploring the city. The streets are chaotic, I think I can speak on behalf of most of the group when I say our mothers would have a pink fit if they saw the way we have to cross the street! The roads are busy with motorbikes and scooters, punctuated by a few cars...and no such thing as a crosswalk! The only thing to do is take a deep breath and glide.

Functional chaos is a pretty good description of this country. The architecture is really unique, all of the buildings are maybe 4m wide and 3-5 stories high with wooden shutters on all of the windows (a remainder from the French presence several decades ago), And fed by scary amounts of electrical cables. At night time when the humidity eases off slightly, the streets come alive, with lots of local people coming out and eating at small eateries on the sidewalks (the traditional Vietnamese restaurants are usually the fronts of people's homes so tiny tables are out outside!).

One day we drove a couple of hours out to an orphanage outside of Hanoi. It was set up 29 years ago for street kids from Hanoi. We spent a little bit of time there with some gorgeous kids which was great. In Hanoi we visited the Confucius Temple which has been really well looked after. We also had a good look around an Ethnological museum and learnt about Vietnam's 54 different hill tribes.

The highlight of Hanoi was probably visiting one of their state run hospitals. This was an education. The tour started with having a chat with a neurosurgeon. The hospital has around 500 Beds but often there are up to 800 patients - bed sharing is the norm. The hospital has all of the major departments that could be found in the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but there is no privacy, nor mattresses available for patients. The paramedic students gawked at the ambulances - which has a stretcher and maybe an oxygen cylinder. We saw one come in, and there was an elderly man who had come from a smaller hospital who had been coughing up blood. To get him out of the ambulance he was carried by the family (stretcher didn't conveniently fold out like in Adelaide), and then did the same thing to get him to the hospital bed.

The equipment in the ED was outdated but looked after with great care - the defibrillator had the old school paddles instead of disposable sticky pads, the ECG machine has suction caps on the ends of the leads, again instead of disposable ones, the airway equipment was very old and the drug cupboard was unlocked! When we walked around the wards with some doctors we came across a lot of people who had brain bleeds - mostly due to scooter accidents. Helmets are the law but they are not well made. Even the most critical patients didn't have ECGs, oxygen and just basic things which we take for granted. I don't think any of us will whinge about the Australian health care system when we get home. But the doctors that we came across were passionate about what they were doing, and were more than happy to show us around and talk to patients (despite the fact that they were treating patients on the way because they were so busy).

Today we head off to the Mai Chau Valley, 3 hours west of Hanoi (north Vietnam), a very poor region of Vietnam, where we will visit another hospital and also help out at some health clinics...stay tuned for the next update!

Fond farewells and Mai Chau

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Nicole Powers & Sam Scheffer

Weeks three and four the volunteers anticipated new wards, weekend adventures, birthday parties, and a sad farewell to our newly found Vietnamese friends.

After our second week many of the volunteers were eager to explore the beautiful mountainous region of Mai Châu. Mai Châu is located approximately 135km from Hanoi in the Hoa Binh province and is home largely to the ethnic population, the Ban Lac people. Mai Châu is famous for it’s Thai bamboo stilt houses (built 10-12 feet of the ground) and homestays, which the volunteers had the pleasure of staying in.

The trip started with a group bonding session which consisted of a “toilet break with nature” as the tour guide liked to name it, due to the unfortunate closure of the usual half way stopping point. As we reached the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere (and we mean nowhere), our friendly tour guide informed us that it was all time to get out to stretch our legs. We looked around and could see nothing for kilometers, except for three small huts (with no walls) and about 5 traditional Ban Lac women selling sticky rice with salt and peanuts.

Although delighted at the taste of these treats many of us were still curious as to where the bathrooms were. Our tour guide directed us behind a tall dirt mound on the side of the road. We exchanged glances with each other and with the curious cow huddled beside us, giggling as we realised the dirt mound was our toilet. Temika and Nicole went first, insiting they didn’t want to go alone, soon discovering this was infact “natures toilet”, learning others had also visited this exact spot.

Temika got a little more than she bargained for as she turned around whilst Nicole was preparing to squat, she also struggled a little more than others announcing on her return to the rest of the group “ I f*****g pissed on my pants” (we laughed for the rest of the bus trip). Sam S on the other hand decided that it was a good idea to avoid Temika’s misfortune, taking off her shoes, socks, and pants as she stood in the hole, later discovering that this hole was infact the main disposal area.

We arrived at our destination, a beautiful little village with numerous stilt houses, each with their own personalities and charms. We were greeted by our homestay mother, and directed to our sleeping quarters in the stilt house where we would be staying for the next two nights. The beds were small matresses on the floor aligned next to each other, surrounded by an extremley large mosquitoe net. This setup allowed us to huddle together, as we watched DVD’s on a 6inch DVD player, the first slumber party many of us had been a part of for years.

The following day was action packed. This included a visit to the local hospital (this was so clean and impressive), a two hour bike ride through the rice fields and the picturesque neighbouring villages, and a Bear Grylls style caving adventure, where we climbed through small holes and got extremley muddy (we even wore bike helmets). That night we were treated with a tradiational Vietnamese feast, rice wine, and a traditional dancing performance which we were able to partake in, showing our limited coordination. Day two in Mai Châu we went high into the cold fog laced mountains to visit the local clinic and explore the overcrowded markets prior to our return home, admiring the roasted rats, pigs in cages, and other wordly creatures.

We arrived home (the hospital) to a surprise 21st birthday party for Sam S arranged by Penelope, Sam C, Jordy, and Jules. The table was filled with cakes, lollies, chips and other westernised food we had missed. We later went out for dinner wearing party hats and clubbing until the early hours of the morning, a birthday Sam S would never forget.

Week three began with a change of scenery as we switched wards and developed new skills and relationships with different doctors and nurses. Many of the volunteers were thrown into the deep end, as those who had been on the same wards previously paved the path for the next volunteers. As trust had already been gained by the volunteers from the previous two weeks this enabled new skills to be undertaken. Some volunteers were able to cannulate, take blood, interpret ECG’s, and even suggest to the doctors alternative treatment paths learnt in Australia, which they were happy to embrace.

At the end of week three many of the volunteers had chosen to jetset off to Hội An, an ancient town with an amazing charm on the South Central coast of Vietnam. The volunteers time spent in Hội An consisted of bartering for lanterns, relaxation, bike riding to the beach, fishing in traditional boats, and getting clothes made at the tailors. Sarah excelled at this, returning with 6 dresses!

During our final week at the hospital we made the special effort to experience a variety of wards. Our highlight of this week was our visit to the paediatric ward where we gave out gifts such as stickers, balloons, yoyo’s, colouring in books, and played with the children. We embraced this moment as we witnessed some of the parents with tears in their eyes, and the children with the biggest smiles we had ever seen (it was like Christmas time), a truly inspirational experience that would stay with us for life.

Sadly, after week four our journey had come to an end and it was time to say our goodbyes. As a group we each organised fruit, flowers, and Australian souvineers (Kangaroos and Koalas) for our fellow medical staff, who had so kindly taken us under their wing and shown us the Vietnamese way. The most heart wrenching part of our trip was our farewell to the medical students, who had somewhat become our family over the past four weeks. We were farewelled with handmade bracelets and paintings made by the medical students themeselves, as well as kind words and many tears.

“The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.”

Halong Bay, and another busy week at Hanoi Hospital

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Nicole Powers & Sam Scheffer

After a challenging first week had by all of the volunteers, a well deserved break was in order. It took a long and bumpy bus ride to get to the beautiful island of Halong Bay, where we spent the weekend on an overnight boat relaxing and sailing around the islands. We sipped freshly made cocktails made by our funky barman who entertained us with his westernised gangnam style moves, and enjoyed fresh seafood.

The group paired up to kayak around the islands taking every opportunity to capture the beauty of Halong Bay. Jordan and Sam S, two of the other volunteers amused the rest of the group with their uncoordinated strokes, refusing to go the whole distance as they had spent most of their energy travelling in circles. At night we played card games to entertain the time in between testing every cocktail on board.

Sam C felt it was safer to wear the fluorescent life jacket the entire trip, giving us all a laugh at meal times. We speak on behalf of everyone when we say the people volunteering ate like kings the whole trip with roughly 8 different plates to choose from to accompany rice. The presentation of each meal was extremely detailed, turning tomatoes into swans and various vegetables into flowers making dinner a glamorous site.

Week two in the hospital flew by for most, with many girls finding themselves getting in on the action more and assisting the doctors and nurses.

Sarah, Penelope and Sam C witnessed more babies being born and got to work in the prenatal clinic, measuring and examining pregnant women who come in for their routine checkups with their doctor.

Elena, Nicole and Julia learnt new injection and wound dressing techniques in the surgical and trauma ward this week, enabling them to help with general surgical patients. They have also learnt the art of how to communicate with patients to a degree simply by utilising body language.

Temika and Kelly (who are studying Occupational Therapy and Biomedical Science) undertook night duty in the Intensive Care Unit. Here they were confronted with many emotional challenges, with one of the greatest being a 19 year old patient who had fallen off a ladder and was now a quadriplegic. They found it difficult when they learnt the lack of independence he would be faced with for the rest of his life. On a lighter note, the girls volunteering have also been spending much of their time practising massage techniques on patients and on each other in the physiotherapy department, scoring many free massages from the doctors, which we are all very envious of.

Jordan and Sam S have found their mark in emergency, attending to wound dressings, taking blood, and even assisting in CPR. Listening carefully to the doctors commands, the girls assisted with airway management but unfortunately witnessed their first death. It was an experience they will never forget as they were able to compare the cultural differences between Australia and Vietnam in terms of grieving. Later in the week they witnessed a patient who had been in motor vehicle accident. The girls were also able to apply knowledge previously learnt in Australia to the situation, ensuring that the patient’s airway would be maintained.


We are making the most of our nights off, taking every opportunity to explore Hanoi. The medical students introduced some of the volunteer group to their university, eagerly wanting to know how it differs from Australian universities. They showed us their library, foreign language rooms, lecture theatres, and then took us to try some traditional corn and fried banana.

All in all our week 2 has been quite eventful. We are eagerly awaiting our trip to Mai Chau this weekend, as well as new experiences on different wards in week 3 and 4.

Exploring villages of Vietnam - Notre Dame's last blog

COUNTRY: Vietnam
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Notre Dame University

We arrived at the airport on Friday night, everybody eager to get going after months of fundraising and preparation and even as we boarded our flight the group was a buzz with the kind of excitement that shouldn't be allowed at the ungodly hour of 0230. After a 7 hour flight and 2 hour stop-over in Singapore we were landing in Hanoi and the full realization that we were embarking on our nursing trip to Vietnam had finally set in.

From the airport we visited the Hanoi Museum of Ethnology where we had the opportunity to learn about the 56 ethnic minorities that make up 13% of the Vietnamese population, some of whom we would be working with during our 2 week placement, before heading to the hotel where we would be staying in Hanoi's old quarter. During our short stay in Hanoi of just a couple of days we have visited an orphanage, a temple and the largest hospital in northern Vietnam, Bach Mai, where we were able to experience the Vietnamese health care system in contrast with knowledge and experiences in Australia. Now we are set to leave Hanoi in the morning, departing for Mai Chau where we will begin our placement.

After leaving Hanoi behind what feels like months ago we have spent our two short weeks in Vietnam travelling to the villages of Mai Chau, Hang Kia and Van in the mountains to the west of the city. It was when we first left the old capital, on the 4 hour bus ride that would take us to our first homestay in Mai Chau, where we got our first glimpse of the incredible natural beauty this amazing country has to offer.

While in Mai Chau we spent 2 days observing and assessing patients in the district hospital and what struck me most was the dedication and ingenuity of its staff and how well they managed to do with such limited resources, as well as the diversity of the surgeries being performed by the same surgeons under an array of different specialties.

Not wanting to leave Mai Chau but eager to continue our journey we travelled to the smaller and more remote village of Hang Kia where we met some interesting characters and began our first 2 days of clinics where we would perform health assessment on locals presenting with a range of conditions, from aches and pain to coughs and fever, and dispense some of the medications we had fundraised for.

During our last day in Hang Kia, before we left for Van, we went to the local primary school where we did some health education and disease prevention with the children by teaching them to wash their hands and brush their teeth and also provided them with soaps, toothbrushes and toothpastes which we had had donated to us. The walk to Van wound along a narrow path through the hills which separated the two towns in neighbouring valleys and provided us with spectacular scenery and an idea of the kind of roads the local people used to move around in their day to day lives.

In Van we did much of what we did in Hang Kia, providing primary care and handing out medications at the local clinic and health education for children in the local primary school. By the end of our 3 days in Van there was a general consensus amongst us of longing to return to Hanoi for the last few days of our trip. And, after a visit to the local kindergarten in the morning and nearly half a day’s travel, we were back at our hotel in the old quarter late in the afternoon. But there was one amazing experience left for us, something we had chosen to do on our last day in the country we had all fallen in love with during our stay.

The next day and it was up at 6:00 for the 5 hour bus ride east to Halong Bay, one of the most breathtaking landscapes I have ever laid eyes on and a true natural wonder of the world where we spent a few hours on a boat sightseeing around just a handful of its 1 969 islands, stopping to explore the famous Sung Sot or “Surprising” Cave.

Back in Hanoi for our final night in Vietnam I think we all tried to appreciate and make the most of this fascinating and colourful city we wished we had more time to get to know.

On the morning of our departing day, on our way to the airport, we made our final stop to visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to see the leader’s embalmed body. This was certainly one of the most interesting and perhaps even a little intimidating experiences of the trip for me as we were ushered by armed guards through the tiny viewing room which on a busy day can see 25 000 people pass through it but definitely a must see for the full Hanoi experience. Afterward we got back on the bus, to the airport, where we would board a flight back home to Australia.

We would all miss Vietnam and leaving the country behind we were all sad to see the trip pass us by so quickly but what we took away was invaluable experiences which will continue to have an impact on us the kind of nurses we will become.

Hello Hanoi! UniBreak Health Placements

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!