Students volunteer in Tonga during break
Elliot Anderson (centre) takes delivery of a load of supplies from Mildura Base Hospital Director of Corporate Services Ms Julia Morgan, and Supply Manager Rod Moore.
Students from Mildura travelled to Tonga during their mid-year break to take part in a volunteer medical program.
Mildura-based Elliot Anderson (Year 4), and Fleur Muirhead (Year 3) together with other Monash students Andrew Long and Olivia Wells, joined the program run by TeaMMED, a student-driven, not-for-profit organisation.
It provides an avenue for Monash University medical students to become involved in medical volunteer initiatives world-wide, including medical resource collection and fundraising events in addition to local volunteer opportunities.
TeaMMed has been sending small groups of volunteers to the island of Vava’u, Tonga for three years.
As volunteers the students help alleviate the problems of limited resources and medical staff, and implement an educational approach to problems of obesity and increasing diabetes.
Elliot and Fleur visited schools located on Vava’u, holding workshops/lectures to teach children about the importance of exercise and healthy eating, and how they can avoid risk factors.
The team also headed to rural towns and villages to offer free “health checkups,” that included brief talk about the importance of healthy living, measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose level, a body mass index (BMI) calculation, and the distribution of brochures regarding diabetes and healthy lifestyle.
Another aim of the program is to aid in the treatment of those who have been previously diagnosed with diabetes, particularly those who suffer from diabetic wounds. This is a largely undervalued part of diabetes treatment, particularly in developing nations. Diabetic wounds are very common complications that often go unnoticed due to their painless nature and the fact that they are often hidden on the soles of the feet.
Appropriate dressing and treatment of these wounds are vital so that they do not become infected and potentially life-threatening.
To tackle this issue, the team helped increase local access to appropriate dressings by purchasing these and making them available for free administration within the Prince Wellington Ngu Hospital.
Before their trip Elliot and Fleur did some fundraising to help the cause; Mildura Base Hospital donated essential supplies and equipment and Nuttelex also provided generous financial support.