Creating a Child Friendly Hospital
Hospitals can be very scary places for kids. At AHC we understand the need not only to provide the best pediatric medical care possible, but the importance of delivering the care in a child friendly manner.

A variety of methods are in the hospital to help decrease the fear and anxiety of children and their families. Two “Play Therapists” are on staff to organize daily play and art activities in waiting areas and the bedside. An outdoor playground is available to use as are toys inside the hospital. Walls are decorated in bright colors with children’s drawings and examination rooms are furnished with child friendly equipment. The in-house video system runs health messages interspersed with Khmer cartoons. When available, small toys are given to the poorest children before they go home.

Undoubtedly, it is the attitude of our staff and volunteers that has contributed in making AHC the most child friendly hospital in Cambodia. Their continued commitment to providing compassionate care and a genuine desire to help Cambodia’s children is the reason why hundreds of families arrive at AHC each morning.

“I visited AHC last year and was very impressed with the child friendly environment and decided to volunteer as an artist to support the play therapy department. In my first week of volunteering I have worked closely with the play therapists in creating activities with both children and parents. The activities provide both tactile and visual stimulation for the children when ill in hospital. One activity, for example, has involved mother and children making fabric toys. The children then have a toy to take home after their stay in the hospital".
Dierdre Nelson, Ireland
AHC volunteer, May 2008

Another Success Story
It is estimated that for every 1,000 babies born in Cambodia, 66 die in their first year, more than a third of these deaths occur in the first month of life. Another 17 children out of 1,000 die before their fifth birthdays. All together, 1 in 12 Cambodian children die between birth and age 5.
Sun Chamrong was born two months premature and weighed only 800 grams (1.8 lbs). Her twin sister died shortly after birth. Delivered in a local government hospital where the doctor quickly realized that to save Chomrong’s life she would need care at a more advanced facility, she was transferred to AHC. She arrived at AHC not breathing, but the ER staff quickly went into action and successfully resuscitated her. After nearly three months in our hospital she now weighs 1.9 Kg (4.2 lbs) and is set to go home with her mother very soon.

A Long Trip to the Hospital
Eleven year old Thy Thearo and her family live in Oddar Meanchey Province. On the border of Thailand, Oddar Meanchey is situated in Northwest Cambodia.

One day this month, Thearo was climbing a tree to pick fruit when she accidentally fell 4 meters (13 ft.) to the ground, sustaining chest injuries as well as dislocating her shoulder. Seeking medical help, Thearo and her mother rode 3 hours on the back of a motorcycle to the nearest hospital. Not prepared to take care of her injuries, the staff there quickly arranged for her to make the journey to Siem Reap. She arrived at AHC after dark, having spent another 4 ½ hours on the rough and potholed roads from the hospital in Oddar Meanchey to AHC in Siem Reap.

“I didn’t think my daughter was going to survive,” said a Thearo's very happy mother the next day as she recuperated in AHC after surgery.

Avian Influenza
Avian influenza, or “bird flu”, is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds. However, on rare occasion, the virus has crossed the species barrier to infect humans and experts fear this could potentially lead to a global pandemic. Worldwide there have been more than 380 confirmed cases of avian influenza so far in humans resulting in more than 240 deaths. There have been 7 confirmed cases of human avian influenza in Cambodia. All have proved fatal.

AHC was recently awarded a grant by the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC) and United States International Development Agency (USAID) to strengthen the capacity of the hospital in the event of a future outbreak of avian influenza. The seven-month project aims to increase hospital awareness, prevention and preparedeness.

In addition to improving infection control measures within the hospital, AHC staff is also collaborating with the Siem Reap Provincial Health Department to provide education and training to health workers.

Nursing Journal Club
May 2008 saw the start of a real journal club for nurses. The nursing department had been conducting weekly journal clubs for the past year however these were just regular lectures. In the new format, the nurses will review and discuss recent medical studies relevant to nursing care. In this way, the nursing department can keep up to date with current standards of care and improve nursing practice at AHC. It is also hoped that through these regularly scheduled real-format journal clubs, the AHC nurses will not only learn how to read and evaluate medical studies but also learn how to do their own research projects in the future.

Thank you to all the nursing volunteers who called attention to the need for improving the nursing journal clubs at AHC.

Capacity Building and Health Education
Capacity Building and Health Education Programs (CBHEP) provide a preventative approach to health care by working with government-run Health Centers (HC) throughout Cambodia and their village communities.

Each HC goes through four one-year phases to complete their comprehensive program. While CBHEP helps HCs to build medical and management capacities, CBHEP also works directly with villagers to provide basic health education. CBHEP works with two health centers during each phase. In-service training of Phase two began in Chan Sar and Po Pel, both of which are about 40 km from Siem Reap. One of the phased-out HCs in Reul now offers a 24-hour service. In April, five of CBHEP staff participated a five-day Monitoring and Evaluation course by VBNK, a NGO in Phnom Penh.

Friends All Over The World
The work being done at AHC in Cambodia would not be possible if not for the support and encouragement of individuals from around the world and more and more often we are hearing back from those people that they have unexpectedly run into someone else who knows about us.

“I have to tell you a funny story: the other morning I was at my fancy gym wearing my Friends Without A Border tee-shirt and had a woman approach me who had visited the hospital and LOVES it and has been working for a year to find ways to be of support. Hopefully I’ll get her and her friends involved with the fundraiser here in Chicago this fall. So now I’m claiming the two extra Friends tee-shirts we have as my new work out clothes. Makes the fancy gym fees worth it!”
- Kathryn Lucatelli, Chicago

If you have an interesting photo of someone wearing an AHC T-shirt in your part of the world we would love to see it. You can email your photos to: narey@angkorhospital.org

Friends Center Opens
On June 8th, the Center for Friends Without A Border had its soft opening on AHC grounds. This center will serve a multitude of purposes for the hospital as well as tourists coming to Siem Reap and Angkor Hospital for Children. In an effort to inform tourists but perserve the privacy of patients, tourists can view several DVD presentations about AHC and Friends. The Friends Center will also serve as a cultural center in Siem Reap, including a gallery space to host exhibitions by two artists. For those looking to purchase gifts to bring home, a gift shop will be open with goods that support AHC.

Currently, two photographic exhibitions are on display at the center: Cambodian images by John McDermott and Khmer Children by Keibun Miyamoto. A recently published book titled 'Gift' with Keibun Miyamoto's images are available at the gift shop.

Recently, the Friends Center was awarded by the Boston Society of Architects for design in a health care facilitiy. The sustainable design was donated by a world renowned firm, Cook+Fox Architects in New York.

AHC's Friends Center will be 'green' to reduce energy costs and to reduce environmental impact. Rainwater will be captured and controlled through the use of cisterns, then treated and filtered for use in teh building's plumbing system and garden irrigation. A geothermal heat exchange system will be installed to reduce the energy needed for air conditioning; and the building's generator will use bio-diesel fuel. The construction of the Friends Center is expected to be completed by its grand opening in November.

A big thank you for the generosity of the Sterling Stamos Capital Management and supporters of this first green concept in Cambodia.