Entries by theremedy

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.