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PEACC has coordinateed and contributed to the earthquake appeal effort by sending expert Australian health professionals to teach physiotherapists, health care workers and families (of patients) about the physiotherapy management of people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). The team has now arrived back from Pakistan, having spent 5 weeks there working primarily on capacity building of local Pakistani therapists.
Based at the National Institute for the Handicapped (NIHd), volunteers conducted a needs analysis of the training needs of the local therapists who were involved in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries. Then, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), they conducted a six day workshop to train over 30 local therapists. The purpose of the workshop was to teach the theoretical and practical skills to therapists and build their capacity to rehabilitate earthquake victims who have sustained spinal cord injuries. This was to enhance the skills of the therapists, so they can now treat current patients, and teach other Pakistani therapist themselves in the future.
A second workshop was run to further build capacity on the multi disciplinary management of patients, and service development of health departments. Following on from the workshops we treated patients with local health professionals in three hospitals, in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, to help consolidate their learning.
A visit to earthquake affected areas, helped the Australian team to assess the conditions that the Pakistani people are facing. They also met with hospital administration to consult regarding development of a community based rehabilitation project to service people with disabilities in the northern mountain areas of Pakistan.
"We hope we made an impact on the services the spinal injured patients will receive, yet recognize that there is scope for future volunteer workers to expand on this." said Craig Drury. The team was able to commence final stages of rehabilitation, where patients are being prepared for discharge from the hospital to their communities. Clinicians with experience in spinal cord injury rehabilitation were essentially needed at this time, to help organise discharge planning, living skills programs and planning for suitable accommodation. Future teams will be able to assist community and long team aspects of rehabilitation.
Madeleine Twarthwa suggested, "It would be ideal for PEACC to sponsor a small Pakistani team of spinal rehab workers (doctor, nurse, Physio, occupational therapist) for an extended visit to a spinal hospital unit in Australia, to learn about established practices, resources and models of rehabilitation. for the ongoing development of NIHd. " PEACC aims to continue to provide medical support teams and will be assessing the feasibility of sponsoring a Pakistan teams visit, in the future.
Annette Keay states, "We had a wonderful experience during our time in Pakistan and made some lovely friendships. We found the Pakistani people to be very hospitable, generous and quick witted, which made our time and work very enjoyable." The team thankfully survived the scorching temperatures of Islamabad and even survived working during hours with no electricity!
PEACC would like to truly thank the Australian team for a very successful effort in Pakistan. Their contribution, to help provide Pakistan hospitals with long term medical rehabilitation and to the rehabilitation of spinal cord patients of the earthquake, was greatly appreciated. PEACC hopes to continue with long term fund raising and to support the development of medical and community facilities in Earthquake affected regions in their future projects.
