Entries by theremedy

Volunteer Trip 2018

May 23, 2019 /1 Comment/in /by

After 4 hours in a bus, full of enthusiasm and treatment tables, we arrived at our destination in Kompong Thom, a province midway between the capital of Phnom Penh & Siem Reap.

Working with our local team of medical GP’s from our partner organisation One-2-One, our 7 volunteer therapists (6 myotherapists & an osteopath) would treat over 200 patients with various musculoskeletal conditions. These were patients that would not have been able to access our health services due to the lack of such services existing in the country or a lack of financial resources.

There were many touching moments & everyone had their own special memories from the treatment camp. 

One was with our youngest patient who was under 10. He was initially very hesitant and it wasn’t until his mother bribed him with 1000 Riels (25c) that he agreed to be treated for his chest discomfort. 

Another fond moment that was experienced was treating a patient and then the following day meeting her 81 year old mother and treating them too. She spent the whole morning walking in 38°C heat to get to our treatment camp.

It was amazing the lengths people would go to to attend our clinics and made our work that much more important knowing how far people would travel to see us. They showed such gratitude and warmth to our team and it was special to be able to assist them & help provide health education to improve their future outlooks.

An integral part of our trip was our locally trained therapist Sreypov Tan. A fundamental part of the volunteer trip was to provide her, and other therapists like her, with as much training as we could so that her skills could improve and she could continue to service the communities after our time in the provinces had ended. With further education & training to her and the greater community we can help improve their capacity & health for many years to come.

After a long, eventful, educational and emotional five days of treating a large number of patients and living the rural Cambodia lifestyle, we were on our way to Siem Reap to visit other partner organisations & explore the temples of Angkor Wat.

Phare Circus – Siem Reap

July 23, 2018 /1 Comment/in /by

Today, I got the opportunity to work behind the scenes with the performers of the Phare Circus. This Cambodian Circus is an innovative social enterprise. The profits generated from the shows, refreshment & merchandise all go to support the free education, professional arts training & social support programs of Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang.

These Cambodian performers received raucous cheer & a semi-standing ovation at the end of their show. You can’t see the size of the big top in the photos & the videos don’t do justice to the quality of the show or the size of the crowd. 

It filled me with such pride to see how these amazing guys & girls represent Cambodian culture. I’m absolutely grateful to Phare for hosting me & allowing me the privilege to work backstage with their performers. 

I look forward to my next visit and assisting the Phare community further.

HOHA India Scoping Mission 2018 – Hyderabad

July 16, 2018 /137 Comments/in /by

Next stop on the mission was Hyderabad, to meet with Brother Varghese Theckanath director of the Montfort Social Institute.

Montfort Social Institute (MSI) focuses on three important issues protection of human rights, sustainable development, and governance. They do a lot of community outreach & operate schools located in the slums of Hyderabad.

Brother Varghese made arrangements for us to do some treatment outreach in the slums to get an understanding of the needs of the community. This was one of the most mentally & emotionally challenging things I’ve ever experienced. The conditions they lived in & the physical conditions that they suffered from could easily have been addressed if access to physical medicine was more easily available.


Headquarters of CHAITRI



Brother Varghese himself had spent 12 years living in these slums and the things for which he has been able to do for these communities is endless. He’s assisted in lands rights issues, contributed to research in slums & created 28 schools in Hyderabad all in slums. Its admirable the amount of time & commitment he’s made to the people in these areas & it shows when you take a wander through with him. It feels like being around a celebrity as he has taught many of the people here.


The first school Brother Varghese built

We look forward to hearing more about Brother Varghese achievements & what we’re able to do to assist his continued mission in helping the people of the slums.

HOHA India Scoping Mission 2018 – Delhi

July 16, 2018 /114 Comments/in /by

The last leg of our journey was Delhi. Our first meeting was with the Assistant Executive Director for Caritas India Father Paul Moonjely. Here again was another example of a remarkable individual. They are currently focused on providing palliative & financial assistance for cancer sufferers with over 20,000 volunteers being trained to provide support & counselling as well as creating the “Lavender Army” a group made up of entirely children volunteers in schools.

Meeting with Father Paul Moonjely

Next it was off to the Vatican Embassy for  meeting with the Director of the Catholic Nurses Guild of India, Dr Stephen.

With each successive meeting we were able to obtain a clearer picture on the healthcare needs of people throughout India.

 

We appreciate the time & hospitality that everyone extended to us. From the sisters at the FPCC to the people in the slums & their hospitality, we’re grateful for the time & lessons they were able to share with us. 

To the amazing individuals we met Sister Elsa, Mr Roy, Brother Varghese, Father Paul & Dr Stephen, we appreciate the time you spent with us & hope that we are able to more formally assist with your missions in the near future.

HOHA India Scoping Mission 2018 – Kerala

July 9, 2018 /929 Comments/in /by

Recently I was asked by Hands On Health Australia (hoha.org.au) to travel to India and assist them in a feasibility study of some possible projects in India. The purpose was to determine if we were able to provide further assistance to marginalized groups, what that assistance would look like and how would we be able to make it sustainable.



The first part of our journey started in Kerala where we were met at the airport by the lovely Sister Elsa Thomas. She’s an absolutely remarkable woman, who is a practicing doctor in gynaecology at a nearby hospital, works tirelessly in her spare time to assist the Fatima Palliative Care Centre in her spare time whilst also selflessly donating her entire earnings to support the neighboring Canoissian Daughters of Charity convent. Not often you meet such selfless individuals.

The Fatima Palliative Care Centre (FPCC) located on the coast side area of Thumba was the focus of our project. It’s the only dedicated palliative care unit of its kind in Kerala, a region of over 33 million people. We were here to identify the needs of the patients, facility and the nearby community.

Sister Elsa managed to get us a meeting with the director of Bethany Navajeevan College of Physiotherapy, who also asked us to give a presentation to a “small” group of students.


Sister Elsa on the left

During our time, Sister Rosemary & Sister Elsa managed to get us meetings with several different health coordinators as well as showing us some of the sights & sounds around town. We’re absolutely grateful for the time we spent there & look forward to what we’re able to do to assist the FPCC & the sisters in their mission.


Blind Massage Training

June 18, 2018 /4 Comments/in , /by

Today we started the first day of anatomy training for Nika’s Seeing Eyes Massage Therapy Center.

With the assistance of Nika & Sreypov, we began training with anatomy, indications for treatment & treatment techniques of the rhomboid muscles.

I’ve never had the opportunity to provide lessons to the visually impaired but I feel that I learned more from them during our time together than they learned from me. 

It was truly humbling to be with people who were so keen to learn but also to just observe how they had creatively found ways to learn around their impairment. Its really amazing to see & they should all be extremely happy with how they went.

I’m very grateful to Nika & her team for allowing me to share in that experience with them & I look forward to our ongoing training sessions.

Meeting with Nika

June 13, 2018 /4 Comments/in , /by

We recently spoke with & organised a face to face meeting with Nika.

Nika is the proprietor of Nika’s Seeing Hands Massage Therapy Center. She has a team of 9 (soon to be 10) visually impaired therapists, working in a professional setting & receiving fair wages.

Nika has had nearly 4 1/2 years of training and 23 years of clinical experience. 

The purpose of our meeting was to meet with Nika & discover how the visually impaired received training & help provide possible solutions to the problems that they were facing.

Following this meeting, we all determined that providing her therapists with further technical training would be beneficial for her therapists, the patients that they serve & improve the level of quality for the wider blind massage community.

We excitedly look forward to working with Nika on this training program.

Website has gone live!

May 28, 2018 /23,902 Comments/in /by

After a few months of planning & long work hours, our website has been launched!

Here we’re able to share all our news on both volunteer opportunities & the community projects we’re running.

Read all about who we are, what we’re doing, how your can get involved and share it with your friends!

Meeting with One-2-One

May 3, 2018 /24,700 Comments/in , /by

We recently got to meet with One-2-One National Director Mr Huy Ly & his team of Khmer doctors. 

One-2-One is a non-profit organization that has medical, nursing, dental and maternal Health Clinics situated in the slums of Phnom Penh.

The objective of this meeting was to explore the opportunity for our physical health care volunteers to accompany One-2-One doctors on rural treatment missions.

Following our meeting & discovering that both parties have similar visions & values, we are glad to announce that in partnership with One-2-One, our volunteers will be able to provide physical health treatments to disadvantaged communities in rural Kompong Thom province.

We are excited to able to share this opportunity with our volunteers & contribute to improving continued access to health services for Khmer people.