Volunteer work in Cambodia
Manningham Private Hospital Clinical Services Manager, Vicki Wrigley recently spent a week in Cambodia at the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh, sharing her ophthalmic nursing skills in a very different environment.
Australian Health Humanitarian Aid (AHHA) agency is focused on assisting rural populations in Vietnam and Cambodia with free cataract surgery using modern cataract surgery techniques. Vicki’s two week tour supported a further 503 cataract operations, in many cases accompanied with surgery for pterygium.
Removing the eyepatch – what a view
Vicki’s 20 years’ experience as an ophthalmic nurse served her well in an environment quite different to Australia’s strongly regulated hospitals. Poor access to healthcare for this patient cohort results in advanced cataracts, which challenges the surgical technique. Together with limited hospital infrastructure, long hours and language barriers, providing a safe, sterile environment requires innovative approaches to sterilisation and surgical techniques, and demands much of the surgical team.
Patients waiting for surgery
Vicki reflects “Patients travelled many hours for their surgery, staying overnight on a crowded ward with a mat on the floor. In many cases their livelihood, and survival, depended on having surgery; wanting to have a purpose – be able to care for their grandchildren for example – was a recurrent theme. We worked very hard, but every day brought huge rewards – as we removed the eye patches after surgery, we were often blessed with a smile of pure joy, as a patient saw their family for the first time in many years”.
At the examination table
Funding for the trip was underpinned through Manningham Private Hospital’s participation in student nurse clinical placements for RMIT, and the aim is to make this funding available to Manningham Private staff for future humanitarian causes.
