Opportunity
Friday 27 August 2010
Today our university students can study ‘locally’ but have global experiences. The following is from a Curtin University (WA) publication.
Kristy Tomlinson stepped out of her comfort zone when, in her final year of speech pathology at Curtin, she signed up for volunteer work in West Bengal, India.
She worked with a Go Global allied healthcare team for a month at the Anadaniketan Society for Mental Health Care and was struck by the need she saw all around.
Go Global is a Curtin initiative that supports community-based health care providers in India, China, South Africa and Ukraine. It was founded in 2001 by Trevor Goddard who is a senior lecturer at the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work and currently director of the program.
Go Global aims to foster an international multidisciplinary health and development learning experience that enhances the cultural awareness and personal, professional and clinical skills of health science students. Its vision is to provide quality international opportunities for students to contribute to humanitarian-based health services that can be sustained by those who follow.
Goddard initiated the program by taking the first group of student occupational therapists to the Shanghai BoAi Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in China. He used the visit to start developing and sharing a service model that now includes physiotherapists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, pharmacists and nurses in the four countries.
As one of nine graduates in occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy to volunteer for India, Tomlinson absorbed as much as she could about the local Bengali language and culture before leaving Perth. But she admits none of it prepared her for the challenge of working with the 300 children and adults who were experiencing physical, intellectual and psychological disabilities at the remote rural facility.
I was really overwhelmed at the conditions and had not anticipated the lack of stimulation and general healthcare at the centre,’ she says. ‘Very little was being done to enable participation among the residents and seeing children with such severe disabilities without wheelchairs or other assistive equipment was heartbreaking.
‘There had been no speech pathology intervention prior to our visit’.
Tomlinson said the team realised immediately that the programs they had made in Perth, prior to their departure, would be impossible to implement. They regrouped to focus on providing stimulation and communication through games, craft, music and dance based on local cultural values.
Modelling and providing education on the importance of inclusion and participation among the residents became a priority.
Through Go Global, Tomlinson and her colleagues were able to provide activity equipment such as swings, table tennis tables and basketball hoops from funds raised by the students. Everyone at the centre was delighted with the gifts.
“The assistance we provided came from the skills we learned at university,” Tomlinson says.
‘It was an amazing learning experience for me and I knew from that point I wanted to continue advocating for individuals with disabilities.”
Goddard says the young speech pathologist has come a long way since her graduation. ‘When Kristy returned from her first trip she assisted in the formation of the Go Global Alumni Chapter, which now has over 310 member volunteers,” he says.
She is currently president of the alumni and has also played a big part in launching Australian Allied Health for International Development Inc that advocates for the provision of allied health services in developing nations.
The Go Global Alumni Chapter runs this body but it exists outside of the University so it can apply for AusAID and Lotterywest funding. It also creates opportunities for alumni members to go back to the host sites and continue providing service.
Tomlinson returned to Anadanikeetan with Equal Health for two weeks of volunteer work in February this year and says she felt a lot more comfortable the second time around.
“Before the first trip in 2007 I was unsure if I wanted to work in the disability sector. Having the opportunity to see firsthand the incredible benefits of multidisciplinary allied health intervention set me on my career path and gave me a deeper appreciation of the benefits of speech therapy” she says.
“On both volunteer occasions our multidisciplinary team pulled together to achieve a common goal to assist where we could in the time we had. Everyone’s roles blended together and we learned to be advocates for healthcare and inclusion rather than discipline-specific therapists.”
This is one of many, many opportunities across all university faculties that open course study, career planning and the wider world of work for students. Individuals, however, need to be willing to both take opportunities offered as well as create possibilities for themselves in order to expand both learning and experience. Kristy’s story gives the impression of a young person who is alive to the many possibilities her chosen field has offered but also sees many more links and advantages by cooperating and collaborating with other areas of study. Above all she has allowed her idealism and sense of humanity to lead much of her experience. Her future may lie along the path she is already developing or indeed it may be very different. What is certain is that wherever she finds herself she will be involved and able to make a difference for the better.
Our St Catherine’s girls have similar opportunities in a wide range of fields offered by Universities and TAFEs as well as families and other groups. We know of many who, like the young person in this extract, have taken up the challenge and are making a difference.