Cambodia – Page 2 – Sam and Martha's travel blog

When we first realised that we were actually going to do this trip I decided that I’d really like to visit some overseas Speech & Language Therapist (SLT) departments or volunteer my services somewhere along the way.

If you don’t know me then my ‘day job’ is as an Adult SLT working with people with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and other progressive neurological conditions, as a clinical educator for SLT students and as Adult SLT Team Lead in my local hospital trust.

I knew it was important to think carefully about the reasons for volunteering, the impact and the sustainability of the volunteer person/project. Will volunteering give me a warm glow but actually have little impact on the people for whom I’m volunteering? Will there be sustainability in my involvement that will lead to long term change well after I’ve finished? If not then really I shouldn’t do it.

I had followed with interest on Twitter a Specialist SLT from Manchester who volunteered for an American Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working in Cambodia called Speech Therapy Cambodia (STC). She and her colleagues had carried out some training there and the focus of the NGO’s work was adult dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) – just my area of expertise.

I contacted STC, explained I was planning a trip and I would be in their area in about October or November 2019 and offered to do anything (within reason!) that would make an impact. I was really pleased that we were able to come up with a plan for a two week period involving giving lectures on ‘MND and Dysphagia’ as part of the hospital’s continuing professional development (CPD) and contributing to clinical education/competency development.

I wrote my presentation whilst we were in Vancouver and Hong Kong, and skyped with Annie and Paula, the overseas SLTs employed by STC, for revisions to ensure it was pitched at the right level and culturally sensitive. I only did a four day week for the two weeks so I didn’t feel too guilty about leaving the kids and Mike to their own devices.

It was really interesting to learn about the aims of the charity – to train Cambodian healthcare professionals (at present Doctors, Nurses and Physiotherapists) in dysphagia management at the three public hospitals in Phnom Penh, with the ultimate aims of developing a University level Speech & Language Therapy course in Cambodia to train local staff and to develop the job structures within the health system.

I shadowed Annie and Paula in the hospitals, observing supervision of their dysphagia practitioners, had many interesting discussions on the topics of clinical education and competencies, and presented on MND and Dysphagia management at all three hospitals.

The STC Assistant Veasna provided the logistics for the sessions (challenging!) and I also worked with their amazing Cambodian translator Sophy (and had some lovely lunches with her too). She translated all my slides into Cambodian and provided on the spot translation during the lectures.

I really enjoyed my two weeks there. I was really nervous on my first day and before my first presentation – which I think was a good thing. I was out of my comfort zone but it all worked out well in the end! The warm glow is certainly there.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it for myself as well as part of taking a career break was to do things that I’ve been wanting to do but never usually have the time. I also benefited with some unanticipated CPD of my own as I got some practise in interpreting some specialist assessments (FEES) that we don’t have at my hospital.

Being able to contribute to professional CPD in the three public hospitals was my main impact focus before I went and that was successful with great engagement from a range of professionals. 85 attendees in total which logistically was a good number to reach there!

Equally important though turned out to be learning enough about the STC service to be able to contribute to planning ahead for clinical education and supervision, focusing priorities and really looking at practical ideas of sustainability and promoting the Cambodian service development.

I’m going to keep involved as part of a professional network being an ongoing resource for clinical or service queries and help develop competencies appropriate to the setting and level of skills being developed.

Many thanks to Speech Therapy Cambodia for the opportunity!