SPECIAL EQUIPMENT HELPS NEWBORN INFANTS IN VIETNAM

Hospitals world-wide commonly use special lights called ‘bili lights’ to treat jaundice in newborn infants. The 1,000-bed hospital in Hue, Vietnam, had been without any operating bili lights for the past eight years.

When the MEDRIX team learned of this need last spring, two bili lights were purchased in Seattle at discounted from Olympic Medical and flown to Vietnam as part of the personal baggage of the Summer 2000 traveling team.

LaRelle Catherman (see below) observes the lights put to use on a new-born infant within four hours of the nursing team’s arrival at Hue Central Hospital. Extra bulbs provided with these valuable resources will ensure they continue their work.

Bili lights for newborn babies with jaundice

ENGLISH WORKSHOP GROWS FRIENDSHIPS

Rebecca Anderson conducted conversational English workshops for staff of the Center for Rural Development on the Hue Agriculture University campus. Rebecca recently graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Agronomy, giving her a natural connection with this group of Vietnamese peers in age and education. After-class field trips to rural areas created opportunities for more English practice and friendship building. She was invited to return next year to continue her workshop series but, to the disappointment of her students, is now in Africa gaining experience working with the Peace Corp.

Rebecca with English Workshop students

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN HUE

The MEDRIX Summer 2000 Medical Team included six nurses and one physician who taught and worked in several departments of the Hue Central Hospital and at Charity Clinic. Hue Central Hospital is a 1,000-bed facility operated by the Vietnamese government and Charity Clinic is a privately-operated clinic offering free health care to the poor.

Seventy-three (73) nurses and 38 physicians from Hue Central Hospital received certificates of completion after studying and updating their skills in a variety of subjects. Classes were offered in CPR and Train the Trainer CPR, Control of Infectious Diseases, Cardiology and Neonatal Resuscitation, Assessment and Care of the Jaundiced Baby.

Dr. Robert Wills, MD Psychiatrist and Internal Medicine Specialist of Bellevue, Washington, returned to Hue Central Hospital for his third time. He conducted classes and workshops on several topics, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Sydney Hodge, RN, now a traveling team veteran, completed her third Vietnam trip teaching at the Hospital.

First timers on the traveling teaching team were Tina Johnson, RN; Kristi Prinos, RN; Pat Wills RN; Molly McGill RN; and Jamie Zink, Translator.

LaRelle Catherman, RN, led the medical and nursing team and completed her ninth trip to Hue Central Hospital.

Through the generous contributions of local businesses and friends like you, supplies and goods valued at approximately $43,000 were given to the hospital and patients this year. Donations included two new Bili Lights provided for babies with jaundice (see lead story), medications, books and equipment. Each nurse graduating from one of the classes at the hospital received a stethoscope.

DRILLING FOR SAFE WATER

Access to safe water for drinking and cooking is a crucial starting point for improving health conditions in any developing country. In 1999, a portable well drilling rig was donated by various individuals in Bellevue, Washington, USA, for use in drilling for safe water in Vietnam.  A Vietnamese drilling crew from the Centre for Rural Development in Hue, Vietnam, was trained by a team from the US during the Summer 1999 trip to Vietnam.

The sandy soil of the Vietnamese coastal plain requires skillful drilling techniques.  The goal of the Summer 2000 team was to improve the skill and confidence of the drilling team from the Centre for Rural Development.

MEDRIX with Lifewater International and our Vietnamese well-drillers

YEN HEADS TO AUSTRALIA FOR SURGERY

Four years ago when we first met Yen, we hoped to bring her to the US for corrective surgery. However, due to the overwhelming technical difficulties presented by her case, this did not happen.

The good news is that last summer, Yen flew alone to Australia, sponsored by a Vietnamese doctor who practices there. Before leaving Hue for Saigon, Yen and her mother stopped at the MEDRIX team’s hotel and we offered our blessing to her.

In Australia Yen underwent surgery for the removal of the tumor and spent three months recovering before returning to Vietnam. The photo at the right was taken shortly after her return home to Vietnam.

WATER PROJECT IN ALUOI VALLEY

This quaint–looking cottage in the Aluoi Valley of Vietnam is in the heart of one of the most heavily dioxin-contaminated areas on the entire planet.  Agent Orange was used to defoliate the forest here thirty years ago.  According to a study completed in 1999 by a Canadian consulting firm, high concentrations of dioxin are still present in the soil and in the blood and breast milk of the residents.  Dioxin is a known cancer-causing agent.

A MEDRIX team traveled to this valley last summer for the purpose of testing the quality of well water. All wells were found to have high levels of bacteria commonly associated with diarrhea.

168 families live in this village area — only 30 percent have access to well water — the other 70 percent of the people drink water from ponds or ditches or catch rainwater.

MEDRIX has been invited to furnish 15 new wells in this village (see below picture) next summer.  We will work on this project in cooperation with World Vision and are committed to providing water safe for families to drink without fear of becoming sick from bacterial contamination.

Aluoi Valley village

WHAT THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!

In the Summer of 1999 a well to provide drinking water for students was only a dream in a village in central Vietnam. A gift from various individuals in Bellevue, Washington, provided the funds to hand dig a well in the rocky soil and install an electric pump. The photo below pictures several members of the Summer 1999 traveling team and local Vietnamese project coordinators at the future site of the well.

One year later in the Summer of 2000, MEDRIX traveling team members (including Bob and Pat Wills pictured above) visited the same site and found a new dormitory for students, a thriving garden and the completed well supplying water for domestic use

MEDRIX VISION ENLARGES....

The work of the Vietnam team began in 1993 under the leadership of Bob and LaRelle Catherman. Each year the team has conducted a month-long trip to Vietnam to train Vietnamese medical workers, conduct conversational English workshops, drill water wells and strengthen relations with our Vietnamese friends.

By 1999, the work had grown to the point of needing a formal structure. In February, 2000, MEDRIX was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the state of Washington with a board of directors to provide leadership to the growing work. The IRS has granted MEDRIX tax-exempt status.

The Summer 2000 team was the first to travel and work in Vietnam under the MEDRIX name.