What Medical Mission Nursing In Cambodia Is Like

[Kung-fu Hillbilly]

Image: nurse.org

By Mariam Yazdi
27 July 2019

This is how I went on a medical mission to Cambodia and what it was like.

"As people caught word of our presence, they arrived in droves. The classroom would fill with the sounds of English and Khmer (the Cambodian language) as translators, patients, and nurses took leaps across the language barrier."

"The girls laughed in delight, sewing their pads and learning about their cycles. They were even more elated when they realized reusable pads meant they didn’t have to buy the overpriced menstrual products sold at pharmacies."

"Back pain and body aches were common as the majority of the Cambodian population are farmers with laborious daily work."

# Infected dog bites from the overpopulated stray canines on the streets needed courses in antibiotics.
# Many gynecological issues needed treatment and education.
# Children with abscesses on their feet from walking without proper shoes had to get their little toes I/D’d, then were given a course of antibiotics and pain medicine.
# Many people were dehydrated.
#Many people showed symptoms of tapeworm infection from bad drinking water.
#One or two patients needed more advanced care and were provided transportation to the hospital.
#Pregnancy tests, condoms, and vitamins were passed out liberally.

"When I finally got sick, my course was less severe than I had been anticipating, but it still made for a miserable day in a hot, humid, dusty classroom and an equally miserable night in a guesthouse where the electricity would go out every few hours. I laid in bed in the dark with no electricity and no air conditioning and thinking, “This is literally and figuratively the darkest moment of the trip.”

Full https://nurse.org/articles/medical-miss ... -cambodia/