#GRIFFITHGONEWILDLAOS
‘It was such a privilege to be the first to travel to these rural, often forgotten villages and provide healthcare to these beautiful people.’ Sarah from the Griffith University Laos Group A nursing group reflects on their community health placement in Laos. After commencing in Luang Prabang, the group travelled to remote villages in Laos to run mobile health clinics where they describe some very special cases as well as providing health education to adults and children.
Nursing
Griffith University
Laos
November 2019
Favourite part: Utilizing the group's fundraised monies to help a family provide cancer treatment needed for their young son
Author: Sarah Cayad
Where we went
Trip Itinerary
Brisbane, Australia
Luang Prabang, Laos
Seuang Valley, Laos
Travel Log
Week 1
Week 1 of our clinical placement… where do I begin?!
It was such an eye-opening experience for us all, starting at the beginning trying to get used to putting our toilet paper and wet wipes into nappy bags into the bin instead of down the toilet, to some of our group being first time users of squat toilets! It was all very new and interesting to say the least.
It all began at 8:00pm on Friday 15th November when Group A consisting of 14 eager nursing students met with their clinical facilitators James and Meg at Brissy airport to embark on our nursing placement in Laos.
Arriving in Luang Prabang, our A-mazing team met with some of our translators and hiked up the beautiful Mt. Phousi. It is a sacred site for the Lao people, enriched with a deep history and is filled with Buddha statues and shrines. Once atop, we had an incredible 360° view of Luang Prabang.
Within this first week, we travelled northeast to the Pak Xeng district, servicing four different villages – Ban Had Sam, Ban Nong Fadaed, Ban Buam Phaxeng, and Ban Had Pha Ot. It was awesome to get out there and make a difference! We were greeted with heart-warming welcomes each day, being presented with beautiful hand-picked flowers from the school children who would line up when our tuk tuks arrived to greet us.
It was also fantastic to see at Ban Nong Fadaed, that outside the school where we held the clinic, they had a clean water supply to wash their hands.
We saw just under 350 patients in our first week including a 7-year-old girl who complained of a toothache and when we looked inside her mouth, all her teeth had rotted or were severely decayed. Without intervention, she would surely incur an infection which could lead to sepsis. We were able to recommend her to see the dentist and have the treatment she very much needed.
It was also interesting for us to learn that within this district, the number one complaint is respiratory issues, which makes sense now that we have been there, as the amount of dust and dirt around that people are inhaling, as well as the constant burning and cooking occurring is overwhelming. With that being said, while doing observations, it was surprising that the majority of blood pressures taken were within normal ranges which is so different to back home where hypertension is seen more frequently.
All in all, our first week flew by at the clinics and it was nice to head back into Luang Prabang and unwind after such a busy first week to get some well-deserved R&R.
We were spoilt for choice back in the city as there is so much to do such as day trips to Kuangsi waterfalls, tours with the elephants at various elephant parks to more chilled out activities like cheap massages and walking through day & night markets wanting to buy absolutely everything!
The journey continues
Week 2
Week 2 was another incredible and hectic week. On Sunday morning, we hopped onto our tuk tuks to start the four and a half hour drive to the village of Ban Had Khien where we would homestay for the week. The drive was dusty and bumpy, and Travacalm and Stemetil became some of our groups best friend throughout these long trips, along with scarves bought from the night markets to shield our faces from the dirt. We had our music pumping to pass the time, and once we hit the dirt tracks, the countryside gave way to picture perfect views of green mountain ranges and clear sparkling valleys below. It was breathtaking!
Upon arriving into Ban Had Khien, we were once again greeted by beautifully wrapped flowers from the children of the village. The village chief welcomed us, and we then split into groups and were introduced to our homestay families. A few of the girls even had the privilege of staying at the house of the chief. Our sleeping arrangements were what we expected them to be, as were our toilets or ‘Hong Nam’s.’ That being said, they still took getting used to! Here, we really felt like locals, completely immersing ourselves into the Lao way of life, sleeping, eating and showering as they do. If we weren’t used to squat toilets at the beginning of the week, we sure were experts by the end.
We visited four villages; three of which have never been visited before which were Ban Sop Jo, Ban Had Keo and Ban Mouang Kham. It was such a privilege to be the first to travel to these rural, often forgotten villages and provide healthcare to these beautiful people.
At these villages, we were also honoured after our long day of clinics, to be part of Baci ceremonies that the villagers held for us. It is a blessing ceremony where twine is tied around our wrists and we are blessed by the villagers for our safe health and future successes. It is a beautiful ceremony and really shows the generosity of the Lao people here who have very little, yet offered us food, snacks, and Lao-Lao whiskey during these ceremonies.
We saw an array of different cases this week, and one that stands out was a mother who brought in her baby because she said he had a runny nose. It was clear that after an assessment was done that this wasn’t a simple cold, but that he had severe pneumonia, and he wasn’t suckling because he was unable to breathe. His mother had no idea, and if we hadn’t had been there to send him to the children’s hospital urgently, he was likely to die within the next few days.
Thursday’s clinic was held at Ban Had Khien, our homestay village. It was wonderful for us to have a clinic here and give back to this village who had graciously taken us into their lives.
We also held a sex education session to the local children at their high school, with the ages of those attending ranging from 11-17 years. These were interesting sessions to say the least, with many questions from both the boys and girls regarding sexual health.
Sex education is not delved into in these communities like it is back in Australia, and for many of these students, it was the first time they could ask questions and receive answers to some of their enquiries. Consent was a big topic in boys’ sexual education as was safe sex, with our group showing them how to use a condom by demonstrating this on a broomstick handle, which was no doubt met with lots of laughter from the boys. The girls on the other hand spoke a lot about menstrual cycles, reiterating to them that having your period is not a disease and is normal for females. They were handed beautiful Days for Girls packs which contained things such as underwear and cotton liners. Their faces dropped though when told that their periods would last them many years to around 40-50 years old!
The impact we made
Week 3
I can’t believe that it’s our final week in Laos! It’s a strange feeling as it felt like we have been here forever, but at the same time the trip is going really quickly as well.
Monday brought us a free day at Ban Had Khien where we had the opportunity to learn to weave with the local women, cook Lao dishes that we then ate for lunch, and bamboo raft down the Nam Seuang river. It was a fun day to spend with our A-mazing team.
Our final two clinics at Ban Had Teun and Ban Had Yen seemed to fly by, and we were all exhausted by this stage. It’s been a long three weeks of popping hydralytes, doxy, probiotics, panadols, and cold & flu medications; our immune systems were on overdrive to try keep us well.
At our final clinics, we had a great time giving out the last of our toothbrushes and sunnies to the children and men of the villages during our morning health promotion sessions. We had now become experts in running these sessions for children’s, men’s, and women’s health in the morning, and it always put a smile on our faces to see the men love their new sunnies so much that they would wear them all day, even when they would come into assessment.
Our homestay village farewelled us on Wednesday afternoon with one last Baci ceremony for us before we set off back to Luang Prabang first thing on Thursday morning. It was sad to say a final goodbye to our beautiful homestay families and to the village who so graciously let us in.
On the way back to Luang Prabang, we stopped in Pak Xeng for a closing ceremony and heard our final report of our clinics in Laos. Overall, our A-mazing group of sisters visited 10 villages and 1 high school, saw 966 patients and sent 6 families to the hospital for urgent treatment. Our top three major complaints throughout our time here was muscular and neck pain, stomach aches, and respiratory issues. Such an incredible achievement for us all to hear our doctor BauHur read out the report to the Minister of Health of Pak Xeng and we truly felt proud for being able to give our help to these people in need.
On Friday morning, we made one last trip as a group to visit the Lao Friends Hospital for Children. What an emotional morning this was. We were lucky enough to see three of the families that we had sent during our clinic days. Two of the children who were in need of surgery were locked in to having their procedure in the afternoon. One case that stood out though was a father of an 8-year-old boy who we believe has recurrent cancer, and in need of further investigations. His father was overwhelmed with fear and anxiety as he told our translator Vong that they could not afford the treatments the doctors had explained to him. Our team put our hands up at once to let him know that with our fundraised money, we are willing to help his family, and get his son whatever treatment is needed. The look of gratitude on his face when we told him was priceless and there sure were a few tears shed this morning.
We all had a mellow rest of the day and did some last minute shopping at the night markets that night before saying our final goodbye to Laos on Saturday morning. It truly was a blessed trip, and we are full of a new found sense of gratitude for the lives that we live. This trip to Laos was an incredible experience, and each and every one of us has been enriched by our time here. We couldn’t have done it without our incredible facilitators James and Meg who were with us every step of the way, our three translators Souk, Vong, and Latda who made our trip a lot of fun, our healthcare team consisting of our doctor BauHur, pharmacist Aeck, our healthcare workers Thong and Va who patiently helped the villagers with us, our two drivers who always made sure we got to where we needed to be safely, and our liason Chipseng who ensured we had a smooth run of our time here.
Laos, you will be forever in our hearts.
“On the way back to Luang Prabang, we stopped in Pak Xeng for a closing ceremony and heard our final report of our clinics in Laos. Overall, our A-mazing group of sisters visited 10 villages and 1 high school, saw 966 patients and sent 6 families to the hospital for urgent treatment.”
- Sarah Cayad, Bachelor of Nursing,
Griffith University