Cumbria clinicians make a difference in Cambodia

IN the late 1970s, around two million Cambodians were killed during four years of genocide.

READ MORE: Regime claimed lives of up to two million people

The Pol Pot regime wiped out an entire generation of doctors, nurses and other intellectuals - taking with it the education and knowledge they should have passed down to future generations.

It was several years ago now that Sue Smith, executive chief nurse of the organisation which runs Furness General Hospital, travelled to Southeast Asia and witnessed the ongoing effects of these atrocities first hand.

Inspired by what she saw, she set up Transform Healthcare Cambodia. Since 2011, she has seen four teams of UK clinicians visit the country to provide healthcare education, training and expertise to those working there.

Mrs Smith said: “The public hospitals have lots of patients and very few healthcare staff trying to do so many jobs and working so hard with very little.

“We use the knowledge and skills we have to help. We’re very clear that if we give them lots of money, that won’t last - but to go into a hospital or community and give them resources they can replenish, it’s a more long term, sustainable relationship.

“The speed of change and improvement is phenomenal, I’ve got to take my hat off to the healthcare professionals.”

In November, Mrs Smith will lead a fifth group of UK healthcare professionals to Cambodia’s Battambang Province. Just like FGH, Battambang Referral Hospital serves a sprawling, rural area with patients dotted in various locations, but with none of the income enjoyed by NHS organisations.

Mrs Smith said: “It’s very different. You’ve got to adjust the way you try to support people, to reset what we would expect in England and look at what’s available there and how far they can go.”

From taking out resources such as out-of-date but unused face masks - which would not be allowed for use in the UK - to using £30 to buy containers and create resuscitation kits for the Cambodian staff, everything Mrs Smith’s team does is about thinking outside the box.

All money raised by the charity is used to fund innovative medical solutions, and kit is bought in Cambodia to support its economy.

Mrs Smith said: “Their people are just so grateful - wherever you go, they know you’re there to help their country. It really makes you feel like you’re making a difference.

“You get to an age and a place in your career where you can give back in lots of ways and this is giving back in a way that feels really worthwhile.”

One person preparing to experience what the charity is all about is Kylie Travis, a nurse clinical analyst at FGH.

Joining a team of around 15 clinicians, she will be travelling with THC for the first time this November.

She said: “I’ve kept up to date with this project from the beginning and I’ve always wanted to go out with the teams, so this year I was determined to make it happen.”

Mrs Travis will spend 14 nights in Cambodia. After completing her voluntary work, she plans to see more of the country and learn about its history and culture.

There may even be time for some rest and relaxation.

But first, she will spend five days teaching at the hospital. Mrs Travis said: “I’m looking forward to experiencing something I have heard so much about because, even though I have been told so much about it, I still cannot imagine what it going to be like!

“I think, because I cannot imagine how different their hospitals and healthcare system is going to be, I feel slightly nervous about that. But I also feel I am going to get so much personally from the experience, in terms of how much we take for granted as a society. It will be such a huge honour to be a part of. I am really excited.” During November’s visit, an anaesthetist will help train Cambodian colleagues, a GP will give advice on respiratory management and a midwife will share working practices.

The team’s nurses, meanwhile, will be teaching staff to manage sepsis, after being contacted by the Sepsis Trust and working closely with the charity.

The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, which runs FGH, has been leading the way on sepsis. Blood poisoning has recently been highlighted as a critically important area of focus by the NHS nationally, and staff from UHMBT are fully prepared to share their knowledge overseas.

READ MORE: What is Transform Healthcare Cambodia

There will be five employees from the Morecambe Bay hospitals going out this November, while 10 flew out for last year’s winter visit.

They included FGH nurse endoscopist, Tracy Earle, who spent a week working with the core team and another two planning projects for the next group to fly out.

She is planning on going again in the future, once she can afford to, as all medical professionals involved in the project self-finance their own trips.

She said: “It is quite hard - physically, because it’s very very hot, but also emotionally. It’s difficult with the poverty and the lack of resources.

“I saw someone die for the want of something as simple as a small plastic tube for the airway, nothing expensive, nothing technical. It’s hard when we’re so well provided-for in this country and then you go out there and see something like that, you realise how lucky we are.

“You’ve just got to go with an open mind. It is an emotional rollercoaster, and there are some hard things to stomach, but it is very rewarding, very worthwhile and very much a life-changing experience.”

Qualified health professionals interested in becoming involved in the work of Transform Healthcare Cambodia can visit http://www.transformhealthcarecambodia.org.uk to find out more.