My stay at CRP was a life-affirming and deeply rewarding experience for me. : It is a welcoming and very caring place. I feel much supported as a visitor. Everyone – staff, students and patients made me feel welcomed and appreciated in so many ways. I can only say that on my return visit – which I plan to make early 2013, bringing, I hope some useful resources for CRP. I miss the warmth of Bangladesh – and most of all, its people – with whom I was lucky enough to make friends with during my stay.

Phil Commons – a returning volunteer and Trustee gives an account of her recent trip
I arrived back in Bangladesh on Monday 28th Jan after a forty two hours journey from Manchester. The departure delay of six hours because of the snow meant that myself and two other experienced physios missed our connection in Dubai – however in Dhaka, the driver was still there patiently waiting for us to appear as he had done the previous day.

There are two terminals now in the airport and, you’ve guessed it – we waited in the wrong one – but finally it was resolved “no problem”, and we headed for CRP to begin a three weeks stint of teaching and upgrading physiotherapy skills in current staff.

Many of our ex-students are now heads of departments which are busy and challenging as CRPs therapy services have become well known in Bangladesh. Patients arrive from far afield with high expectations and the level of severity of their impairments is high. What is impressive is the length families will go to seek out help for their relatives. Sadly, however, a lot of people have not been educated about their physical problems and have little idea what is and isn’t possible. One of our early emphases has been the need to educate and empower patients as a key principle in treatment.

I remind myself that therapy training is still relatively new in Bangladesh and the present staff have grown up in a clinical environment where there have been few senior staff to advise them. Given this situation it is impressive to see the second generation students they have trained coming through as interns and having a good grounding in the basic principles of their profession.

Our teaching sessions have so far gone very well though having 80 in two of the classes took some handling – the first of these was a class on balance re-training and was practical. The whole afternoon took on the atmosphere of a gala -to say the students enjoyed watching their colleagues react to being pushed off balance and do timed up and go tests etc.. Is an understatement. I resorted to a whistle for crowd control. This worked very well and seemed to add to the general festivities. If having fun helps you to learn then we should get a few PhDs. from the group.

The volunteer’s guest house is full of an interesting medley of volunteers – two of these are bravely starting off the teaching of the new master’s course in PT .along with two of CRPs ex- students who have recently completed their master’s degrees in London. One interesting cultural barrier for the two nationals to overcome is that their pupils are older and technically more senior than they, so the classroom dynamics will be interesting.

The spinal injury and stroke rehabilitation work is in full flow and the need to upgrade the skills of the staff to equip them to train larger numbers of students coming through the programs is clear. The hunger to learn is also clear so we as a small team are raising are our game and doing our best.

At this morning’s staff meeting -the CEO gave a timely reminder that patients are the pinnacle around which this organisation functions and we are here to serve the patients. As I looked around at the staff which now number over 700, I thought about the early days in Farm gate where the veranda was the overflow for extra beds, the bed sheets were brown and the patients peeled the potatoes and made paper bags from newspapers. There were a handful of PT assistants and one physio – no OTs and no Speech and Language therapists. There was no Redaway Hall and badminton tournament, no Bangladesh Health Professions Institute and no 14 storey building in Mirpur. Patients were loaded onto a truck to move about, and occupational therapy was Wendy Best leading manicure sessions. The changes that have occurred are really remarkable.

My impression, judging from the huge development in the shopping complexes in Savar and Dhaka and numbers of smart cars on the roads, is that now there is more prosperity in the country generally. To what extent this has filtered to the grassroots level to me is yet unclear but I feel that in a small way that myself and many others like me – ex volunteers and the background army of fund raisers far and wide have contributed to the changes I can see here in CRP. . “Achievement by co-operation” describes CRP’s journey thus far. I hope that this is the start of a journey that sees disabled people fully integrated into the society with equal access to education, work, health care and opportunity and where the devastating avoidable injuries, the results of which are before our eyes here on a daily basis become a thing of the past.

Phil Commons – Lecturer in Physiotherapy – Leeds Metropolitan University
Jill Fisher – Neurophysiotherapist – Leeds
Helen Shearer -Neurophysiotherapist.

Students attend a lecture from the Physiotherapists from the UK

Students enjoy an Update in Balance workshop

Students enjoy an Update in Balance workshop

They really found it a rewarding experience when something taught to them in the classroom came to life in the operation theatre.

The group sent their thanks to all CRP members for being such helpful to them & especially to Valerie Taylor for setting up the program at Oxford University.

Kate Hollands
CRP has provided me with an incredible experience of the culture, people and society of Bangladesh, and I would advise anyone with the opportunity to volunteer here to take it as soon as possible. You won’t regret it! ‘Kate Hollands is working as a General Volunteer and is currently helping in the Advocacy Department. Recently she reported back her view on volunteering at CRP. She says ‘I believe working at CRP gives people valuable new opportunities and experiences. I have helped in the inclusive school, working with the children which is incredibly rewarding. Working in the Advocacy department has developed my knowledge of the impact CRP has on the society of Bangladesh. They are always striving to achieve the best for their people. Experiencing various therapy sessions in the hospital and observing how well patients benefit from CRP makes me feel very privileged to be part of such an organisation. I have gained valuable medical experience, greatly contributing to my desired future profession. CRP offers volunteering opportunities to people all around the world. Activities such as working in the inclusive school, helping in the hospital and working in the various departments of CRP are all available for our volunteers.

Samantha Fuller
I am an Occupational Therapy student studying for a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours at York St John University. As part of my course I must complete 1,000 hours of clinical work in an Occupational Therapy setting. My clinical hours have been completed here at CRP this summer. I arrived on 24th May 2012 and will leave on 3rd August 2012 after a ten week placement. I have spent these ten weeks under the supervision of hand speciality Occupational Therapist Sumanta Ray.

My learning has been fantastic!!! There is a difference between the conditions and injuries seen in English and Bangladeshi hand therapy units. England has a strict health and safety culture and as a result the number of traumatic injuries is far less than here. England’s electricity system is highly maintained and very safe unlike Bangladesh, and so we do not see severe electrical injuries like the ones presented at CRP. Oil hurricane lamps are not used in England; therefore our children do not experience the accidental burns that the little ones here do. Ceiling fans do not pose a problem as we do not have them, and industrial and work-related injuries are far fewer owing to the rigorous safety precautions which are part of our culture.
My educator at CRP, Mr Sumanta Ray has been an outstanding supervisor. He has encouraged me in independent learning and as a result I have a sound knowledge of upper limb anatomy and the various conditions which affect this part of the body. I have been taught well to assess muscle strength, range of motion and levels of sensory perception. I have been instructed in scar-management therapy and feel very confident with these newly found skills.

This placement has afforded me the opportunity to work autonomously as a hand therapist. It has improved my professional reasoning skills and my ability to plan and implement effective interventions under the expert supervision of an experienced Occupational Therapist.

The length of my placement has meant that I have been able to follow the progress of some patients from the time of referral to discharge, and I have been involved in all stages of their programmes. The patients I have treated from my own caseload have shown marked improvements over the few weeks I have been providing therapy and this has been evident in re-assessment and evaluation procedures.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement here at CRP and feel that the time I have spent here has expanded my skills as an Occupational Therapist. I believe that what I have learned and experienced will be very valuable for my continuing career and future practice.

Thank you to all the staff members at CRP who made my visit so enjoyable. I will treasure my memories of Bangladesh forever in my heart.