Donna Ramsden is an operating room nurse at Vancouver General Hospital. In 2008 with the help of CW Asia Fund, she was able to visit a remote heal care program in Myanmar run by the Metta Development Foundation. This is her report back.
The Kachin people have very limited access to medical care, both due to the lack of facilities & the extreme poverty of the people. There is a government hospital in Myitkynia, the capital of Kachin State, to provide medical care to the surrounding area but there is no provisions for the people living in the country side.
The Metta project involved providing workshops on First Aid, basic nursing and neonatal care to young men and women who would travel into the surrounding areas to deliver health care people in the remotest villages. Metta funded the backpacks filled with medical supplies, the salaries for the two nurse instructors and for the participants.
I was very impressed with the enthusiasm of the participants, their sense of humour and with the questions they asked. Initially quite shy, they quickly opened up as we discussed issues such as basic hygiene and wound care. I had arrived armed with the text, “Where There Is No Doctor”, in English and Kachin and attempted to answer their questions with the aid of the intrepretor.
The two retired nurse instructors had travelled several days on foot to deliver the workshops and the supplies. They would return within a month to meet again with the participants to replenish supplies and to discuss any problems.
I can only imagine the relief the villagers must feel on seeing these young people arrive in their village
– Donna Ramsden
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