In March we were very fortunate to host 39 volunteers who generously
donated their time to help out the hospital. These volunteers arrived from
around the world, including the USA, Canada, England, Japan, Austalia and
Italy.
The following is an excerpt of a report written by Dr. Andre Anzurat, a Canadian
neurologist who along with his wife, Sheila, volunteered in March:
“Sheila
and I have just completed a three-week volunteer stay at AHC. We feel privileged
to have had this exceptional and exciting experience. Words do not begin to
describe the warmth and good nature of the Cambodian people. They were so
happy that we had come and everywhere we walked in the hospital we were greeted
by smiles.
A particular highlight of my time here was to do the clinic at one of
the floating villages on Tonlé Sap Lake (the largest lake in Asia).
Arriving at the hospital at 5:50 in the morning, the team (a pediatric resident
from Brown University, the nurses, the dental team, the nurse translators,
Sheila and myself) crowded into the van and headed off to the landing area.
We were 12 people and boarded the boat, which drove us, for the best part
of 45 minutes, across the lake to the clinic, on a floating raft. The whole
experience was truly an eye opener. The mothers and grandmothers, surrounded
by children, paddle up to the clinic in their boats. The clinic is just one
room with small veranda space, back and front. The front area was where some
of the siblings waited for their mothers and I was amazed that none fell into
the water.
My daily routine in the hospital consisted of morning ward rounds, seeing
the new and sick patents, starting at 7:30 a.m. The rest of the morning I
would join the doctors in their cubicles seeing outpatients, which on an average
day is between 300 to 400. Some families live hours, or even days away from
the hospital and if they were not seen on the day of arrival they would patiently
spend the night in the OPD waiting area, where mosquito nets would be put
up for them in the evening, and they would wait to be seen the following day.
My first few days here I was wondering if I was having any impact. I
gave my talk on the central nervous system and my demonstration on how to
perform a neurological examination. Within two hours of our having discussed
some abnormal reflex someone came to tell me there was a patient in the emergency
room with just that. It was really something to teach and at the same time
to be able to demonstrate what I was teaching on a patient. It was not something
that was very usual and it was exciting to see how enthusiastic the young
doctors were when they saw what they had heard about earlier in the day.
I learnt so much from working with the doctors at AHC and saw diseases
I had only read about. They were eager to discuss those areas where they felt
that I had expertise to share with them. They are open and eager and they
treat each other, and the visiting volunteers with great respect. It was an
absolute pleasure to work in an atmosphere where colleagues, patients and
parents were treated with kindness, consideration and thoughtfulness."
- Dr. Andre Anzurat
Construction of New Visitors Center
Drawn by the magnificence of the Angkor Wat Temple complex, more than one
million tourists now visit the town of Siem Reap each year. Construction began
this month on AHC’s new Visitors Center, planned to provide these tourists
with information on the work being done at AHC and ways in which they can
support the hospital. The 2600 sq. foot facility, designed by renowned NY
City architect Richard Cooke, will house an information center, a small auditorium,
as well as a gift shop. The opening of our Visitors Center is scheduled for
November, 2007. Funding for the Visitors Center has generously been donated
by the Sterling-Stamos Capital Management.
