Healthcare volunteering in Thailand
| country: | Thailand |
| departures: | 2009: 4 Dec |
| price: | From £700 (2 weeks) - £1500 (12 weeks) excluding flights. Price includes free insurance for UK volunteers, airport pick up, stopover in Bangkok, travel to Surin, accommodation with own room, local coordinator, daily transport to clinic and/or local hospital |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
The scope of nursing work is extensive. Volunteer nurses will work in a number of walk in health clinics for rural people in and around Surin City. You will assist the qualified Thai staff in all aspects of their work including family planning, immunization, health promotion, screening and wound care. The clinics can treat up to 160 people a day in busy times so your help as a volunteer won’t go unnoticed.
You may also have the opportunity to assist in mobile clinics for communities that cannot afford to travel to the health centres. Often held are women’s health clinics where you will assist with general health checks such as blood tests and blood pressure recordings. Our driver will take you and all the staffed nurses out to rural communities so you can provide this service to the community. If you are keen on training, the Thai nurses welcome training sessions to swap techniques and information too.
What else will I get out of this placement?
This is a truly unique opportunity to make a large and lasting difference whilst observing the working conditions of health care professionals in developing countries. Joining our Nursing Venture will not only provide a significant enhancement to your CV, it will also provide you with a first hand perspective of medical challenges and successes overseas. By working as a nurse in Surin you will experience Thailand not as a tourist but as a valued member of the local community. Surin is located in Northeast Thailand. This region is one of the poorest regions of Thailand so your support as a volunteer nurse will be appreciated.
Where will I live?
In Surin we rent private houses for our volunteers. These houses have hot water and electricity plus a self catering kitchen if you want to cook for yourself. You will share communal areas with fellow volunteers so you’ll have some company if there is anyone else volunteering at the same time as you and you’ll be close to shops, restaurants and bars. We also provide bicycles for our volunteers as there is quite a lot to explore outside of the town centre too in the country.
There is much to do in and around Surin including visiting traditional silk villages, helping mahouts wash elephants and photographing ancient ruins. Surin is also ideally placed to explore other parts of Thailand during your stay. The mountains in the North and the islands in the Gulf are only an overnight bus ride away, whilst the Thai-Cambodia border is only a few hours away. There are numerous fantastic places to spend your free weekends including the temples of Angkor in Cambodia or Khao Yai national park (where the movie The Beach was filmed).
You may also have the opportunity to assist in mobile clinics for communities that cannot afford to travel to the health centres. Often held are women’s health clinics where you will assist with general health checks such as blood tests and blood pressure recordings. Our driver will take you and all the staffed nurses out to rural communities so you can provide this service to the community. If you are keen on training, the Thai nurses welcome training sessions to swap techniques and information too.
What else will I get out of this placement?
This is a truly unique opportunity to make a large and lasting difference whilst observing the working conditions of health care professionals in developing countries. Joining our Nursing Venture will not only provide a significant enhancement to your CV, it will also provide you with a first hand perspective of medical challenges and successes overseas. By working as a nurse in Surin you will experience Thailand not as a tourist but as a valued member of the local community. Surin is located in Northeast Thailand. This region is one of the poorest regions of Thailand so your support as a volunteer nurse will be appreciated.
Where will I live?
In Surin we rent private houses for our volunteers. These houses have hot water and electricity plus a self catering kitchen if you want to cook for yourself. You will share communal areas with fellow volunteers so you’ll have some company if there is anyone else volunteering at the same time as you and you’ll be close to shops, restaurants and bars. We also provide bicycles for our volunteers as there is quite a lot to explore outside of the town centre too in the country.
There is much to do in and around Surin including visiting traditional silk villages, helping mahouts wash elephants and photographing ancient ruins. Surin is also ideally placed to explore other parts of Thailand during your stay. The mountains in the North and the islands in the Gulf are only an overnight bus ride away, whilst the Thai-Cambodia border is only a few hours away. There are numerous fantastic places to spend your free weekends including the temples of Angkor in Cambodia or Khao Yai national park (where the movie The Beach was filmed).
a day in the life of a volunteer
Generally, you will be picked up by our driver and taken to the health clinic each morning. Volunteers usually work four to five days a week for six hours a day, although this can vary. We also have a translator on hand to help you communicate to patients as many of them do not speak English. volunteer travel - what's it all about?
Are you looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world. Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.
how this holiday makes a difference
|
Volunteers assist in an overstretched rural health clinic. If nurses are not available, patients are turned away. The clinic is a vital service to the area as it supports poor local people who cannot travel to larger cities for treatment. The establishment of successfully fully staffed medical centres can improve people’s quality of life, health and therefore work prospects. Some clinic also offers a mobile outreach service for remote communities who otherwise cannot access any health services at all. Volunteers make a vital impact to support the nursing team and provide a professional service to the community.
Volunteers are supported by local Thai staff who know the region well. They are given information about local facilities such as restaurants, shops, villages etc to visit in their spare time. Also acting as translators each day on placement. We actively encourage volunteers to visit the villages outside of the town and to support their local handicraft production. The area is not a tourism hotspot so volunteers will be contributing directly to the local economy and assisting small businesses to survive. Volunteers stay in rented accommodation and are advised upon water and electricity usage. We provide bicycles for volunteers to get around on. We do not provide food for our volunteers, but encourage them to buy from small restaurants and local market stalls. All our volunteers receive a briefing kit which talks about dos and don’ts. Moreover our staff are always on hand to advise, help and ensure our volunteers have a positive impact. All of our projects need financial assistance, help with planning, technical support and project management and we support where and when we can. As an organisation we do not print brochures. We minimise paper by using internet and email. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |