What is it like to be a volunteer on a medical placement? Erin (19) is a trainee paramedic from Australia who has been working at Pastrana Rural Health Unit near Tacloban for a couple of weeks. She is getting to put into practice skills gained at home plus learn plenty of new ones with the
Pastrana Rural Health Unit is a government run health clinic staffed by one doctor, Dr. Rolando Sulla, one dentist, Dr. Irma Lerios, and 11 nurses. Pastrana RHU caters to 29 Barangays in the area with a population total of over 17,000 people. Pastrana RHU is able to provide services due to the support of the
Seven Norwegian undergraduates used their Bachelor of Nursing internship to reach out to disadvantaged communities on the other side of the world by volunteering with VFV. The Høgskolen Betaniens students have spent a month volunteering at underfunded rural health clinics around Leyte. The group also used a Facebook campaign to fundraise 350,000 pesos. A portion
One of the great advantages of volunteering with VFV is the wealth of projects offered to suit each volunteer’s personal interests and talents, no matter what niche. Like Allyn Auslander, for instance, who –when she isn’t working at her rural health clinic projects – is busy filling out applications for post-graduate study in epidemiology. Do her experiences at VFV prove useful for her research interests? “Absolutely. I’ve only been here a few days and already seen so many unusual conditions: Schistosomiasis, Scabies, Tuberculosis, Leprosy. Yesterday, we even had a man come in who needed to be treated for a rabies bite”.
