Ten students from The University of Queensland ‘s Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) completed a five-week clinical placement in Hue, Vietnam working with children with disabilities in schools and orphanages.
During their placement the group ran workshops, created playground areas and worked closely with local teachers, carers, and parents.
Physiotherapy student Lauren Isherwood said designing a playground with the school principal to incorporate culturally appropriate games was a particularly rewarding activity.
“The playground helped provide an environment that created so many smiles and positive interactions so the principal asked if we could make the playground a permanent feature,” Lauren said.
“We painted the playground on our final weekend and unfortunately, we were not there to see the children’s reaction towards the new play area but we were proud of the final product and grateful for being able to provide a positive, sustainable change for their school.
“We also presented a half-day professional development workshop on Autism to provide teachers and careers with tools to effectively communicate and work with autistic children.”
Lauren said the overseas placement expanded the knowledge, skills and confidence levels of all participants.
“We had to learn how to work in a foreign environment and effectively overcome the boundaries this provided,” she said.
“For example, we had to learn how to work with a translator as none of us spoke the local language.”
The students held a number of fundraising activities such as selling chocolate and hosting Trivia evenings to cover the costs of the supporting staff and translators.
“The money raised from these events was fundamental for the trip to go ahead, ensuring all the practicalities of an overseas placement was covered, most importantly ensuring we had educators to supervise ten students across three different disciplines.
“Remaining funds were spent on resources for the children and teachers at our placements.
“We are indebted to the generosity of those who contributed, and hope the support continues for future years as it's a very worthy cause where we could see the direct impact of the contributions made.
“We would very much like to thank John Fitzgerald of Active Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy, Stephen Hoey of Therapy Solutions, The Coop Bookshop, The Red Room, Genies Café, and La Porchetta, and of course the Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Student Associations for contributing the major prizes.”
Project leader Professor Jenny Strong from School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences said the placement is a great opportunity for students to put into practice what they have learned in the classroom, work inter-professionally and gain a global perspective on health issues.
“They have done a fantastic job of creating lasting resources and training for teachers, which will continue to benefit these children in the long term,” Professor Strong said.
In preparation for the trip, postgraduate students from the UQ School of Languages and Cultural Studies ran a Vietnamese language workshop for students and clinical educators before they went to Vietnam.
“We are grateful for the support students and staff have received from the School of Languages and Cultural Studies because working in another country, let alone in a different language, is always challenging,” she said.
Other key staff members involved in the project include Clinical Education Liaison Managers and Dr Lucy Chipchase (SHRS), former Senior Lecturer Dr Bronwyn Davidson (SHRS), Associate Professor Di Eley (School of Medicine) and former Associate Professor Lindy McAllister (School of Medicine).
The project has been partially funded by a UQ Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant awarded to Professor Strong and her colleagues in 2011, the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Dr Anna Ciccarelli.
Each student was awarded a $2000 Short Term Mobility Grant by the Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations.
The Department also awarded $1500 to the School to support accompanying staff.
