5 September 2014
Volunteer helps to fix broken bodies
Australian volunteer Melanie Glapa worked as an occupational therapist at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara.
“It’s been a real eye opener,” She says. “I’m used to working in an environment where there is so much experience, so many resources. There weren’t these luxuries in Honiara, so the hospital staff just had to make do.”
“The local staff are really motivated to help the patients at the hospital. They work under difficult conditions, but they still keep working hard.”
Many of the patients she worked with have suffered a stroke or have developmental delays. According to the World Health Organisation, stroke is the leading cause of death in the Solomon Islands.
“I was the only occupational therapist is the hospital so before I arrived, the majority of patients were sent home without any rehabilitation.”
“It was quite a learning curve though because I used techniques I haven’t used since university. But you have to adjust to local conditions and have a go at everything.”
“We’ve been able to reach a lot of people. I worked through more than a hundred clients in the past year. So it’s great to know I’ve helped so many people directly.”
“There was one patient who I’ll remember - he came in after a stroke down one side of his body and had no movement. After months of working with him, by the time he went him home, he could use his arm to feed and dress himself, as well as walk with a cane. Without occupational therapy to regain movement, he would have gone home and relied on his family to care for him.”
While working at the hospital, Melanie trained an occupational therapy student who she hopes will take on her role in the hospital.
“George Hage graduated with a diploma of community-based rehabilitation last year,” she says. “He’s learnt a lot of techniques over the last few months, but it’s a volunteer position. He’s hoping he can find support to study a degree in occupational therapy and then work at the hospital full time.”
Melanie, who recently finished her volunteer placement in Honiara, said the experience of volunteering in Solomon Islands was challenging but has encouraged her to take a bigger leap into development work.
“I learnt that development work can be painfully slow and you need to focus on the small achievements. But starting out as a volunteer has given me the perfect leg up. You have an instant social group to support you and help you through the experience.”