Marcy’s Blog

Vanakkam

This is hello in Tamil.  Here in Vellore the primary language is Tamil, but with being at CMC I am learning words in Hindi and other languages.  For the majority of the time the therapists do not speak in Tamil to the patients because they come from all over India and from other countries.  This past week I was able to work with and develop a good relationship with a patient from Nigeria.  It amazes me that the staff at CMC know 2-3 languages in order to communicate with the patients and they all know English.  Every subject at the school is taught in English and the staff communicate in English too.

So now that you’ve had a language lesson I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to!  So this past week I was in the rehab institute and I was able to split my time between all different departments: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and social work.  I also observed in the gait lab, the only successfuly working one in India and I spent time in their spinal cord regeneration lab where they do stem cell research on spinal cord injured rats.  I enjoyed being in each department and learning about the roles of each of these health care professionals here in India.  It’s interesting observing what they do and how the roles are similar and different to the U.S. due to the culture difference.  For example each month a member of each department goes out into a rural village where there are patients who have had TBIs or SCIs and they meet together to make sure people are connected in the community, to motivate them, and to encourage them to seek vocational opportunites.  Here in India there is minimal monetary support for individuals that have disabilities so it is crucial that the patients and their families receive information and education about vocational rehabilitation and that they are encouraged to pursue a career.  In the SCI department I watched a motivational video about a previous patient that had a spinal cord injury who recovered well enough to walk with crutches and he returned to working in his farm.  It was amazing to see the conditions he learned how to maneuver through (tall grass, uneven ground, rocks, sand, etc.) and how he still performed his work as a farmer.

On Wednesday I went and did home visits with a social worker and physician into the slums and poorer areas of Vellore.  This was also an amazing experience!  I was able to see and go into the homes of these people who were very poor.  Most lived in one room huts with 5-10 people.  The majority only make 80-100 Rupees a day (~$1.60-2.00) and that is to feed everyone in their household.  They only get water once every 10-14 days and this may be less because it hasn’t rained here in a long time (pray for rain in Vellore!!)  Many of these patients had health difficulties and family conflicts due to the added stress of the illness/disability and financial circumstances.  All of the families were so nice and invited me into their homes.  One family had a business of making copper pots so they took the time and showed us how they made them, it was interesting seeing the tools that they used and the process of making the pots.

To see the complete opposite, I went to Bangalore this weekend a larger more modernized city of India with 9 other international students.  I had my first train ride going to the city.  We mostly spent the time shopping and eating American/”westernized” food.  We went to a couple fast food restaurants, KFC and McDonalds, and did some shopping in the large malls.  They also had several Indian stores and restaurants that we visited.  The temperature was the best part, it was much cooler ecspecially at night, I finally wore long sleeves for the first time I’ve been here!

This week I’m back at CMC main hospital in the general medicine and surgical wards.  The therapist at this department wants me to do a more hands-on treatment with patients, which will be good so I can continue to develop my phyiscal therapy skills.  I also might be visiting another CMC satellite hospital to do more visits into the rural villages around Vellore.

Hope all is going well and I’ll continue to keep you updated!  Only three more weeks, time is going by so quickly!

Poyittu varukiren (Goodbye)