Saying good-bye is never easy to do...

Well, our work for 2013 in Vietnam is now done!  Wow...cannot believe it's over!  This trip has flown-by and because we now know these folks so well, it makes saying good-bye more difficult each and every time.  Amy is, thankfully, as much of a sap as I am so when we finally got in the car to come back to the hotel we both had a little moment together.  It's always nice for me to be around someone who wears their heart-on-their-sleeve, like I do!!  :)

I suspect we will be getting lots of emails from the therapists here, as for many of them their English has improved greatly and they want to continue to practice, as well as to be able to ask us questions about patients, so email is a great tool for that type of communication.  Vietnam's internet capabilities have opened-up greatly in the past 2 years (and even more so in the past 8 years) and so it is the way to communicate across the world!!

Our final day began with our lectures for about 40-50 participants who are either physical or speech therapists or pediatricians and the orthopedic surgeon also attended.  Here is the sign they created for the course...it's all very official!

And then, of course, the standard posed shots...

Yen is standing with Amy and Giao is standing with me.  We always think it's impressive when Amy looks tall here in Vietnam.  :)

So the Vice Director of the Hospital opened the course with a greeting to all of the participants and to Amy and me.  He was quite kind and the 'ceremony' of having someone of his 'station' is traditional here in Vietnam.  Amy then began the course by talking about the Development of Pre-Language Skills in Children.  She did a wonderful job and I think for the participants her lecture was quite ground-breaking.  The field of speech therapy is a fledgling field here in Vietnam and they are just at the start of learning the specifics of how communication emerges and develops, so Amy has been instrumental about bringing them information.  This trip there is also a speech therapist from Australia who is here for a month supervising Vietnamese students in the 'speech certificate program' for their clinical experiences.  So she and Amy have been able to chat quite a bit about the challenges that abound here.  All-in-all, though, Amy's lecture was really well received and they are really excited about exploring these ideas and learning more.  This will be an on-going area of learning for now and into the future.  


I then jumped-in and did a lecture about Brachial Plexus Injuries and was happy with how it went.  It was well-received as well and I think the information was helpful.  I did a little bit of Kinesiotaping demonstration with Amy as my 'model' as well.  We then took a little break, as we had been talking for about 3 hours and after the break there were a few questions.  While Amy was answering her questions, I was asked to sign the certificates the participants receive.  I kind of felt a little famous, as I had someone handing me certificates one after the other and all I had to do was sign.  The certificates were lovely and on very heavy paper.  I was initially having some trouble separating them from each other due to the thickness of the paper and Quyen, one of the therapists, just took the certificate pile from me and began handing them to me one-at-a-time.  Oh well...I guess every celebrity needs a 'handler!'  ;)

Here's some photos from the morning's class...

 At the start of my lecture.  We would talk a little bit and then Giao and Yen would translate for us.  The participants were given our lecture slides in both English and Vietnamese.  

Our lecture hall.  Giao is in the foreground translating for me while I am teaching.  

Amy teaching the class.  

As is tradition, we were presented with gifts upon completion of the course.  This is a physician who runs an orphanage outside of Saigon, mainly for children with Cerebral Palsy.  She invited us to come to her orphanage next time we are in Vietnam.

Amy and her beautiful scarf, which was the gift we were given for presenting.  Mine is blue and green and will be added to my already-plentiful scarf collection.  Can't have too many pashminas!

This was the opening slide when the participants arrived in the lecture hall.  I love the hospital's logo, located in the top left corner of the slide.

This is the certificate the participants were given upon completion of the course.  







After lunch we were allowed to relax and 'take a little break' and then around 130p or so, we gathered the staff to go through all of the items we had brought for them.  It is such a lovely experience getting to show them item-by-item and to see the excitement on their faces for items we can access so easily in the US.  

These 2 PTs were excited to break-open this package.  It is filled with splinting material, which is difficult for them to obtain here in Vietnam.  

This is a balance board, which several of the PTs tried-out upon taking it out of its package.  They were excited!

We gave them 3 large rolls of Theraband, which is the stretchy, rubber-band-like material that you can use for strengthening.  The 3 different colors represent different tensions.

Amy brought lots of jigglers for them, which can be used for oral motor preparation, providing sensory input to the hands, legs, body and face, and they are just kind of cute and fun.  Atop each one is either an elephant or a crocodile.  

Bubbles...bubbles...and more bubbles!!!  Amy, this year, got the no-drip containers, as in the past we have had the basic bubbles and by the end of the day she and I would be so sticky it was kind of bad.  So, we upgraded this go-around!

Amy really searched and found lots of people figures and puppets that are Asian-inspired.  The staff instantly noticed that the figures looked like them and were very excited.  :)

Therapists watching the unveiling!

Amy brought some books and DVDs that are quite instructional with videos to help direct their treatment, specifically of children with Autism. 

The guys loved these Mardi Gras masks Amy brought for playing peek-a-boo and dress-up.  It was quite funny!

Our annual photo of the staff of the Rehabilitation Department at Pediatric Hospital #1 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam!  They always like to take the photo holding and/or wearing an item that was donated and brought by us for them to keep and use.  They are a very grateful bunch and specifically wanted us to say "Thank you so much!!!" for all of the donations!!!

Amy and I explained to them that these items were purchased through the generosity of donations given by our friends and our family and the therapists were overwhelmed that people who do not know them would donate money in order for these supplies to be purchased for them.  Their gratitude was palpable and both Amy and I were struggling not to shed a tear or two.  We were then both given lovely purses for our work in their Department (along with some lovely scarves for presenting the course this morning).  Their generosity is lovely!!

Then, it was back-to-work for our final afternoon.  Amy was escorted to her little 'speech' closet (literally, it was the size of a closet) and I made my way to the PT room, which is much larger and has ventilation via open windows and a door, as well as 2 overhead fans.  I think Amy mentioned her little closet had a little 'air conditioner' in it??

Here's some pictorial evidence of the smallness of Amy's 'closet'...

In this room were 5 adults observing, Amy, a child and a parent.  Those are some really small chairs, which is the norm here in Vietnam.

The speech therapists!!!

There's the speech closet in which Amy was working for the past 2 days.  You can see the 'air conditioner' in the background though.

I was happy to see 2 other little children with Brachial Plexus injury...

This little 1 year old guy was not too sure of me, but he did like the camera, clearly!!  He has a right brachial plexus injury, but is able to crawl on his hands and knees and is pulling to standing.  We were able to talk about some treatment ideas and taping suggestions for him.  

Here he is working with his treating therapist on trying to turn his palm up to the sky (supination).  He liked the beaded necklace, but not when presented by me.  ;)

This cute little lady was Nghi and she is 3 years old.  She was quite shy with me, but never cried and did everything I asked her to do (via translation, of course).  She has a right brachial plexus injury too.  









There was a lot of discussion and engagement with the staff about how to manage these children and we talked about kinesiotaping and some serial casting, as well as general treatment ideas.  I challenged the staff today (and yesterday afternoon too) to make some decisions and answer some questions for me and they did a great job!  It was a great way to end our time at the Pediatric Hospital #1!!

Amy's boyfriend, Robert, has arrived in Vietnam, so we will all have dinner tonight.  Tomorrow is a last-minute opportunity for me to do some final shopping and then try to pack my bags!  Here's hoping I will be able to zip my big bag shut and that it will not be too heavy.  Fingers crossed!!

A few random photos from the past few days...

Taken by Amy as we were walking back to the Rehab department after lunch.  Waving is Yen, followed by Thu and then Quyen.  They are all such lovely people!

Another picture of the hospital grounds.

A woman, about 70 years old, pushing an enormous cart of bagged items down a busy street.  We think she might have been collecting materials that can be recycled, but weren't sure.  

Uncle Ho (Chi Minh) on watch, during our lectures today.  He is ever-present here in Vietnam, as you'd imagine.

After lunch when we returned to the Rehab department, there was this huge stack of Heineken beer just sitting in the office.  Thought it a strange place for about 8 cases of beer!?!?

Piled next to the beer was about 8 cases of Miranda soda.  This is super-sweet and made with real sugar!

 




Our pathway to our dinner tonight at Tib.  We have dined here before and it's always delicious.  It's a long alley, but always so beautifully lit with these lights.










 I will do one final post tomorrow night before I leave and that will be it!  I appreciate all who have read this blog and thanks for your emails throughout my trip!  

Have a great night!!

xoxo
Stacy