Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Our trip is created!
Well, our trip to Thailand is now a reality. Thirteen University of Florida medical students have joined our team to venture across the globe. With Dr Ferguson at the lead, we will travel to Chiang Rai, Thailand, where we will provide basic health care needs and immunizations to the children of the Golden Triangle. Dr. Ferguson, who is Director of Emergency Critical Care at UF, first traveled to Thailand to assist in emergency relief after it was devastated by a tsunami in 2004. On this trip, there was need in the north region of the country, and he traveled to an orphanage in Chiang Rai filled with children without access to healthcare. Since then, he has returned to the orphanage each year with other volunteer nurses and doctors.
This year, we have begun Project Thailand, where medical students are joining the cause and will be able to take history and physicals of ~100 children each day (as a team). This will be an invaluable learning experience for us as medical students. Our goal this year is to bring continuity to the orphanage's access to healthcare. Last year, each child's medical history was recorded on a 3x5 card and filed. The orphanage is converting these files into electronic records so that we can create a medical SOAP note (fancy doctor word for medical record including history, physical exam, and what the assessment and plan will be) for each patient electronically. This way, other volunteers and healthcare providers that visit the orphanage will be able to see what has been done and what needs to be done for the children. Another goal is to teach the older children how to do basic health measurements, such as weight and blood pressure so that they can be recorded throughout the year.
We are traveling to Thailand over UF's spring break with a few extra days since flying there requires ~24 hours. Our entire trip length is March 5-15, 2009. The plan is to spend 4 days at the orphanage before heading back to Bangkok. In the city, students will have the option of shadowing emergency medicine residents in the ER. This will also be our destination to buy souvenirs and trinkets to sell at home for next year's fundraising. It will be a quick, hard-working, whirlwind of a trip, but will be completely worth it. Please follow our blog to read up to date activities from our adventures!
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