Just spending a week on a medical mission in an impoverished village can make a huge difference in the lives of people who otherwise might not receive any care at all, says Eileen, a senior specialist in Singapore’s human resources team.
Eileen recently travelled from her home in Singapore to the village of Koligram in Bangladesh, located about a six-hour journey from the capital Dhaka. As a low-lying and densely populated area with poor drainage and frequent cyclones, many of the people suffer related illnesses, according to Eileen.
“Most of the villagers complained of aches and pains due to long-term manual labour, skin problems from poor hygiene and gastritis from poor diet or malnutrition,” she said. “With the help of two local physicians, we treated more than 1,200 villagers around Koligram.”
Eileen said it was frustrating that the six-member volunteer team could not always give the villagers the full range of treatment they needed, as medical supplies would sometimes dwindle by the end of the day to nothing more than vitamins. But what the team lacked in medical supplies, they made up with a health education and some fun and games.
“We spent our lull period each day packing medicine for the next day and playing with the children in the campsite set up by our host to house displaced families and orphans,” Eileen said. “We distributed small gifts donated from our Singapore network and organized drawing and music lessons for the children. It was a rare treat for the children to have outsiders showering them with attention. A simple hug meant so much to them.”
In her experience as an SAP recruiting lead, and in her new role as HR and engagement representative for a project with a large resource company, Eileen found the skills she learned on the job at Accenture valuable in her medical mission role.
“Both roles required me to adapt quickly to new surroundings and be resourceful,” she explained. “Being a recruiter before and now a demand management person, I need to be resourceful in staffing projects with the right skill sets. In my mission trip we had to come up with solutions quickly when faced with limited medical supplies in an unfamiliar setting.”
Eileen has participated in several community service trips abroad, including areas of China and Tibet, but this was her first medical mission. She prepared for the mission by refreshing her first-aid skills and completing a course on setting up a mobile crisis clinic.
“Even though I am not medically trained, I was able to administer simple treatments like de-worming and advice on basic drug use,” Eileen said. “It was satisfying to see patients who have been suffering a long time from illness get the medical attention that they deserve.”