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| Now that's a holiday |
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| In case you need a recap |
I prepared a basic talk about playing with plastic before I
left, and loaded a couple of other things onto a USB stick. On arrival in Sri
Lanka I received an email from Asha detailing the two days I would be spending
at the hospital talking to surgeons, treating patients, lecturing to the Sri
Lankan OT association, as well as those poor students. I would be talking
extensively on shoulders, brachial plexus injuries and tendon transfers. Now, I
can crap on with the best of them at any time about any number of issues
related to the upper extremity, but brachial plexus injury? I was up the
proverbial creek without the paddle in the barbed wire canoe.
After a bit of negotiation, I was back on more comfortable
ground. Sports and fractures, wrists and PIP joints. We scheduled it in for the
last week of my trip, and I bundled my family onto a third class train carriage
heading north and away from the city. I couldn’t escape Asha’s enthusiastic
tentacles however. Within a week another day of talking had been added on, this
time with the physios for the Sri Lankan cricket team. Some preparation needed
to be done.
Borrowing a laptop from the 16 year old son of a woman we
were staying with, I beefed up my talks and created a plan. Unfortunately, that
laptop was infected with a virus, and the presentations couldn’t be opened. Ben
Cunningham, Greg Hoy, and Sarah from the AHTA came to my rescue, uploading a
variety of stuff onto Dropbox. My family left me for the rainforest, I put on
my cleanest, most un-crinkled shirt, and headed off to work.
Anyone I’ve ever talked to or heard talk about volunteering
always emphasise how intense it is. I was assaulted (in a great way) from every
angle by therapists who were desperate to learn more, patients desperate to get
better, and doctors desperate to have their therapists help them achieve the
results they expected. The hand therapy room in Colombo was crowded, with
patients and families lined along the corridor outside waiting hours for their
turn. I talked and talked and talked. I’m certain the students understood
nothing in spite of their protestations, however the questions I received from
the OT’s were insightful and challenging.
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| Hamish Highpants and the Sri Lankan cricket team physios |
The cricket physios were also demanding. We discussed the
usual suspects, then spent a lot of time problem solving how best to deal with
metacarpal head bruising and finger web splits. I didn’t have a definitive
answer, but as they say in the classics, before you find a solution you must
understand what the problem actually is. I talked a lot about the role of the
intrinsic muscles in the hand, as well as encouraging proprioceptive training.
The impression I ultimately left Sri Lanka with was guilt.
There was so much more I could have done if I’d been better prepared, if I’d
had the inclination to offer help earlier than I did. I don’t believe I wasted
anyone’s time, and I know I was able to pass on some of my knowledge, but I
also know I could have done it more effectively. Volunteering in countries with
developing hand therapists should not be done lightly or in the manner I
initially approached it, because to do that creates a real risk of devaluing
the intensity of the teaching that is required. Having said that, if you are an
expert in some area, your time would be welcomed. All you need is the
understanding that two hours will become more, which in turn, will make it
worth so much more to you, and those you are helping.
Look after those fingers,
Hamish
