Volunteers Educate While Providing Care in Cambodia

While participating in medical operations in Cambodia, Project HOPE volunteers on Pacific Partnership 2012 went to Hun Sen Cheungkor Primary School in Sihanoukville to help educate local medical students and provide free health care to the local people.

Since roughly 400 patients were seen at the medical site, the care that was provided made a huge impact on the well-being of the local people.

Dr. Lynn Bemiller and Karen Rudderow were two of the Project HOPE medical volunteers at this location. Dr. Bemiller, a volunteer from San Diego, was not only a medical provider but also an educator to two Cambodian medical students.

“The cool thing about today was that we worked with medical students from Cambodia.  I had two students with me the whole day,” said Dr. Bemiller. “I was able to teach them physical diagnoses, show them interesting cases, and tell them about practice in America.”

“They were awesome students. The teaching is what HOPE is about. It’s about capacity building,” continued Dr. Bemiller. “Being able to teach these guys something that maybe makes their medical careers better is a wonderful feeling.”

Karen Rudderow, who is a nurse from Collingsworth, New Jersey, worked in discharge planning at the medical site and was able to see patients as they left.

“I handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste to the patients. Seeing their excitement to be getting something from us was great,” said Rudderow. “We taught them how to use floss, and later that day, we actually saw a few patients flossing on their own. It was wonderful to see.”