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Friday Aug 20, 2010

From London Hospital to Haiti Hospital

I am a physiotherapist working in a London Hospital with patients who have suffered neurological problems (brain and spinal cord injuries). I have now embarked on a trip to Haiti to use my specialist skills to treat some of the many patients that suffered injuries from the January earthquake.  I will initially be working with the charity 'Haiti Hospital Appeal' who set up a spinal injury ward at their hospital following this earthquake.  I envisage my main role will be around training the Haitian staff in caring and providing rehabilitation to the patients, and exploring the long-term options for the patients.

I am planning to be away for 7 months, and have taken a career break from work.  I hope to work with Haiti Hosptial Appeal for at least the first 3 months, but my work after that is yet to be decided!

I have wanted to volunteer overseas ever since I went to Ghana after I first qualified as a physiotherapist in 2006.  I worked in Ghana for two months as a volunteer physio through a structured program with a UK based charity.

Working in Ghana certainly exposed to me the challenges you are faced with when working in a developing country.  However, I am expecting the work and environment in Haiti to be a lot tougher: being one of the poorest countries in the world, it is open to a lot of violence and corruption, and it is still very much in shock from the earthquake this hit in January.

In preparation for my trip, I have been fundraising, with the aim of raising £10,000 to kit out the spinal unit with rehabilitation equipment.  My fundraising events included organising a salsa night; 'Cycle to Haiti' sports event, and a couple of 'swishing' (clothes-swapping) parties. Friends and family have also got involved : they have helped fundraise through a sponsored walk; holding a quiz night; and selling homemade cakes, cards and jewellery. So far I have raised over £9,000, but I am hoping this will reach the £10,000 target by the time I leave: I will keep you posted!

Here is my Just Giving page and the website for the charity: http://www.justgiving.com/Hannah-Steadman and http://haitihospitalappeal.org/.

Posted by Hannah ( 3:48 PM )
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