As most of you know I am in Chile with my husband this year. Normally I am tucked up in a rehab centre in Surrey, but this year we have been in Africa and Southern America as my husband has moved jobs.
I am working with a team in a Sports Clinic here to improve their education programme and tell them all the stuff we currently do in the UK regards rehabbing the lower limb…. and they are interested really interested! No one comes here to teach- its a long way from everywhere and expensive to get here! So I am spreading the word, learning myself about how things are done and getting valuable experience in the ways that other cultures and countries do health care.
Here in Chile most Health care is private and physiotherapy is very different than I know it. The sad thing is that they have little access to CPD, and it shows! The want to learn is immense and I am glad to see the want for knowledge so clearly evident.
This is not the first time I have been in this position-overseas and giving advice and education to different cultures. In 2009 I won a travel fellowship with The Winston Memorial Trust, to travel, study and spread the word, and come home and use my knowledge to good use in my community.
The fellowship allowed me to travel for one month- paid for by them- and I went to Sierra Leone ( War torn Western Africa) to a Amputee centre there and to the opposite end of the spectrum- to Texas, USA to see the most modern US trauma facility which the US army run.
What does the Trust do?
Each year approximately 100 British citizens are awarded Fellowships for a wide range of projects. A Fellow must travel overseas for between 4-8 weeks, past award winners include nurses, artists, scientists, engineers, farmers, conservationists, carers, craft workers, artisans, members of the emergency services, sportsmen and women and young people. Since 1966, some 4450 Fellowships have been awarded.
The Trust also funds 10 undergraduate bursaries at Churchill College Cambridge, as well as an Archive By- Fellowship at the Churchill Archives Centre, each year.
I wanted to see what you could do with lots of money and what you could do with nothing. The overwhelming thing I learnt from the month long project was that ” knowledge is Power” . You do not need great facilities- you do need great therapists and great knowledge to make people better.
If you want to see what I got up to on my month long exciting travels follow the link here-
If you yourself would like to have the experience of being paid to travel and learn- click here-
http://www.wcmt.org.uk/index.php
Applications for the next year are being taken- it was the most wonderful experience that was afforded to me and I will always be grateful for the chance WCMT gave me!
So now I am off to see some Hip surgery and start a rehab protocol for post op arthroscopy hips! Life is always exciting! You should all feel lucky you work in such a great profession!
physioandrehab 