Vietnam Day Three: Danang Hopsitals
We were working tourists today! Scott got picked up by the hospital about 9:00 am and went to the cancer hospital along with a trauma surgeon from back home. His name is Shad and he lives right by us in Camas! The leader of our group, Tri, also went with them to help translate their pre-surgery meeting with the hospital CEO. Then he went to meet with all the junior doctors where they presented about 7 or 8 patients to him. Scott then went and examined all the patients, one right after another. They were all lined up and came to him while he stayed in the same room with no dictating or paperwork to do in between patients. Then he was able to perform a big surgery on one of those patients. It was vulvar Paget's disease, one of the worse he has ever seen. This surgery took about three hours and then he was able to go back to the resort.
We just missed each other by about an hour. Just before he arrived back at the hotel, Layton and I left to go to the Women and Children's Hospital along with Tri's wife, Mimi. She was a huge help since she did crafts with the kids here last year and she is Vietnamese! We sure needed her translating skills! The hospital is fairly new but still quite behind in comparison to hospitals in the states. The biggest difference we experienced today was the lack of air conditioning. It was stifling in the hospital with all the heat and humidity but no breeze. I barely made it the two hours we were there working. But these sick kids (most of them have cancer) are there long term and never get any relief. Scott was grateful they did have AC in the operating rooms at least at his hospital. There is no room at the hospital big enough to bring all the kids out together at the same time, so the staff carried out several tables and chairs to the foyer area in between the elevators. We started off with only a few children and parents. The kids always have at least one parent that is there with them full time. The hospital has no food services so the parents are responsible for feeding the kids during their stay, and at night they just sleep in the hospital bed with their kids. But after a few minutes we filled up that foyer! Today was a little extra chaotic due to the hospital throwing three different Galas tonight. They usually can provide us with several staff members but today we didn't have any help. Today we did paper spinners with the kids. They decorated both sides of the cardboard circles with markers, crayons and jeweled stickers, then threaded through the string, tied it off and let Layton teach them how to make their designs come to life! Then we broke out some of the games we brought to donate to the hospital. The kids loved them! Due to the language barrier most of them didn't know what to do with some of the games but they still had fun playing with all the game pieces. Layton got beat at Memory by a boy about 6 years old, showed a couple of magic tricks with some cards, and helped the other kids play Simon, Connect Four, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Perfection, put together puzzles and more! The kids really seemed to enjoy the attention, the distraction, and the entertainment. After we got the crafts somewhat cleaned up, we passed out our little gift bags to the kids. The gift bags contained some pop rocks candy, some Hershey chocolates, tootsie rolls, a popper toy (that only occasionally worked - I'm wondering if the humidity makes it harder for the toy to get suction to the table before popping up) and a Silly Bandz bracelet. Layton came away feeling very pleased with how it went. It was crazy hot and pretty chaotic and crowded but I think it was a success! We will do the same thing all over again tomorrow but just with a different craft. For dinner tonight the hospital put on a gala for us and other doctors. They fed us dinner in a banquet hall and then karaoke was the main event. The Vietnamese love their karaoke! And just like at home, some singers are all business and some singers are all party! None of us made it up on stage to sing but Layton did get up to join in with the big finale group on stage to clap and then did the conga line around the room with all the Vietnamese Doctors! He also got his picture taken with the girl that we met at the hospital today and was emceeing the event tonight. He did think she was hot after all! Tomorrow will follow pretty much the same schedule but we should still be able to find some time to enjoy the pool and beach at this beautiful resort.
We just missed each other by about an hour. Just before he arrived back at the hotel, Layton and I left to go to the Women and Children's Hospital along with Tri's wife, Mimi. She was a huge help since she did crafts with the kids here last year and she is Vietnamese! We sure needed her translating skills! The hospital is fairly new but still quite behind in comparison to hospitals in the states. The biggest difference we experienced today was the lack of air conditioning. It was stifling in the hospital with all the heat and humidity but no breeze. I barely made it the two hours we were there working. But these sick kids (most of them have cancer) are there long term and never get any relief. Scott was grateful they did have AC in the operating rooms at least at his hospital. There is no room at the hospital big enough to bring all the kids out together at the same time, so the staff carried out several tables and chairs to the foyer area in between the elevators. We started off with only a few children and parents. The kids always have at least one parent that is there with them full time. The hospital has no food services so the parents are responsible for feeding the kids during their stay, and at night they just sleep in the hospital bed with their kids. But after a few minutes we filled up that foyer! Today was a little extra chaotic due to the hospital throwing three different Galas tonight. They usually can provide us with several staff members but today we didn't have any help. Today we did paper spinners with the kids. They decorated both sides of the cardboard circles with markers, crayons and jeweled stickers, then threaded through the string, tied it off and let Layton teach them how to make their designs come to life! Then we broke out some of the games we brought to donate to the hospital. The kids loved them! Due to the language barrier most of them didn't know what to do with some of the games but they still had fun playing with all the game pieces. Layton got beat at Memory by a boy about 6 years old, showed a couple of magic tricks with some cards, and helped the other kids play Simon, Connect Four, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Perfection, put together puzzles and more! The kids really seemed to enjoy the attention, the distraction, and the entertainment. After we got the crafts somewhat cleaned up, we passed out our little gift bags to the kids. The gift bags contained some pop rocks candy, some Hershey chocolates, tootsie rolls, a popper toy (that only occasionally worked - I'm wondering if the humidity makes it harder for the toy to get suction to the table before popping up) and a Silly Bandz bracelet. Layton came away feeling very pleased with how it went. It was crazy hot and pretty chaotic and crowded but I think it was a success! We will do the same thing all over again tomorrow but just with a different craft. For dinner tonight the hospital put on a gala for us and other doctors. They fed us dinner in a banquet hall and then karaoke was the main event. The Vietnamese love their karaoke! And just like at home, some singers are all business and some singers are all party! None of us made it up on stage to sing but Layton did get up to join in with the big finale group on stage to clap and then did the conga line around the room with all the Vietnamese Doctors! He also got his picture taken with the girl that we met at the hospital today and was emceeing the event tonight. He did think she was hot after all! Tomorrow will follow pretty much the same schedule but we should still be able to find some time to enjoy the pool and beach at this beautiful resort.
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