In October 2018, 12 enthusiastic nurses from all over Australia started an amazing journey in Kathmandu, Nepal. We landed at festival time and witnessed an exuberant display of Diwali light decorations. The team got together to share their hopes, fears and dreams of being in a foreign country as well as volunteering.
Our first placement was at Western Regional Hospital where the team worked alongside staff in Emergency, Pediatric, Medical, Surgical and De-addiction wards. Kanchan and Jaya did an amazing job at translating so we could understand as well share our knowledge with the staff and patients at the hospital. Hospital staff were very interested to know about patient privacy and what we did back home. The team was able to share ways in which patient privacy and confidentiality can be maintained whilst delivering care. We donated dressings, gloves and sanitizers that was brought with us from Australia.
Besides the placements we provided health education to a group of sex workers on safe sex and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
We continued our journey to our first village Jogitar approximately 70 km from Kathmandu. We continued our health education with a special focus on young adolescent girls to educate the importance of menstrual hygiene due to the traditional taboo associated with it. We also initiated the village clean-up program where we spent half a day removing the plastic waste and went door to door educating the importance of proper waste disposal.
Our last and final destination was Chandeni Mandan where we conducted health education for a women’s group and the local school, surrounding dental hygiene. We also organised and were part of two mini medical camps for an aged care facility and a juvenile detention center. We also organized and delivered two massive medical camps alongside doctors where in excess of 500 Nepali people were provided with much needed medical care.
Heartfelt thanks to the beautiful and lovely people of Nepal who welcomed us with open arms in to their country.
Thank you Amelia, Bridget, Carolyn, Danielle, Hannah, Jenny, Kelsey, Laura, Madeline, Natalie, Shannon and Tess for making Nurse in Action October 2018 a huge success! I am privileged to have been part of the team and will always cherish the time we spent together. It was heartwarming to witness first-hand the profound impact and change we have made in the lives of the locals.
Delna Plathottam, Team Leader
