Involvement Volunteers International Sorry for the very delayed response! I did have an amazing time on the trip. I actually don’t have any pictures of volunteering (didn’t want to take any for patient confidentiality). The only photos I have are the ones that are already on the fb page.
Highlights of the trip:
I really enjoyed participating in Culture Week the week before I started volunteering. It’s a great facility and all the other volunteers staying there were great!
Team, food and accommodation:
The team at the Physio Hospital were ok – there were no designated supervisors/guides assigned to me, however one of the physios really helped me out and orientated me. The other physios were quite standoffish and the language barrier made things difficult. Food was great at the Green Lion, it was mostly traditional food (which I loved) with some Western food once a week. Loved staying at the Green Lion, met lots of people who I have stayed in touch with.
Improvements:
I would probably recommend this volunteering experience for physio students rather than qualified physios. I found a lot of it was observational or doing basic exercises because of the language barrier. They didn’t really have enough staff for someone to remain close by to translate for you. I did treat a couple of stroke patients independently which was the most rewarding, and got the Nepalese physios to give advice and education when required. I was expecting more of a hospital setting as well, however it was an outpatient rehab clinic. They only had 3 inpatients maximum and they were often 2-3 weeks post-stroke or a couple of months post TBI, so no acute injuries.
All that said, I absolutely loved Nepal and the culture and would go back in a heartbeat!
Kind regards,
Katherine
