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Published: November 15th 2006
We have almost finished our first week of clinic at the National institute of Paediatrics in Hanoi. We are based in the rehabilitation department at the hospital which includes 'exercise rooms', a group play room, an electro room, a casting room and an orthotics room. The exercise rooms are 2 tiny rooms each with a mat in them. the electro room contains 4 pieces of equipment, but apparently only one ancient looking ultrasound machine works. We certainly haven't seen anything used yet! Seems to be much like electro at St V's!! The staff includes 6 physios as well as a couple of OT's and speech therapists. The OT's and speechies were all trained as physios but learnt to be OT's and speechies on the job as there is no training schools in hanoi.
The first morning we arrived our main supervisor Dr ha proceeded to tell us how busy they are seeing 100 kids between them each day. THis is what really happens.... We see kids between 9 and 11 for group play and individual sessions. At 11am, the whole hospital (i think the whole city) shuts down for nap time. From 2pm-4:00pm the staff see more kids at the
hospital while we work with Autistic kids at a 'Hope Centre' nearby. Thats it. 4 hours of work and 3 hours for lunch and sleep. Much better deal than i had in Shep, thats for sure.
The mornings are spent with primarily cerebral palsy kids. I also had one with spina bifida, and several others I'm not so sure about as the physios dont speak much english and couldn't explain. The CP kids are all very cute, but we are unsure about some of the treatment techniques used. It is all very passive, just stretching and massage for the tone, and not a great deal of mobility is encouraged. They have group play from 9:30 till 10 and this is when we found out how this city develops!! One game was standing in a circle pretending to drive different types of vehicles and beeping the horn!! Very amusing!! Another involved a boy with a fruit shop and a girl with pretend money... and she had to barter for the fruit!! Unbelieveable!! One of the most shocking things we have seen was with one kid with athetoid CP (excessive movements). Whilst sitting in a circle they tied his hands together
Play time!!
This is 'group play' with the cerebral palsy kids. This particular game involves crawling through the tunnels!!while the other kids were clapping as his movements become more excessive when he gets excited. I cant imagine this would happen in Australia.
The afternoons at the Hope Centre with the Autistic kids is just a whole different story! Whilst Autism is not related with movement disorders and thus not associated with physios, it seems Dr Ha is keen for volunteers, thus wanting our help in the afternoons. My class for the first 2 days was just out of control! I got stuck with the older kids (around 5-10 year olds). We usually arrive as everyone is waking up and feed the kids a glass of milk. (only 2 or 3 can feed themselves). I then spend almost 2 hours trying to stop them climbing out of the window! The teacher tries to read to them, but they usually only sit for 2 seconds before they start running around the room screaming! Plus, they all seem incontinent. At least each kid had their pants changed once or twice!!
Today I sat in with Angs class instead. It was more like a normal school classroom. The kids could drink their own milk which is a bonus, and we spend the time helping them write and play with each other (Autistic kids usually have problems with social interaction). Much more enjoyable!
We are off to Sapa for 4 days on the overnight train tomorrow (about 8 hours away) Cant wait to get away from the pollution and get some fresh air!!
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Thea
non-member comment
Sounds awesome mate!!
Hey mate!! Your experience just sounds amazing, I'm loving reading each entry! I can understand why they say that you come back a different person, with a different view on things. Glad to hear you're enjoying your time, and thank god it's not hard work like Shep!! Keep up the entries, I love them. Please say hi to everyone else for me, have a great weekend!! xxxx