Former Volunteer Faculty Raises Funds for BHP Partner Site

Sandra Piper, a BC nurse who volunteered at IUBAT in fall of 2012, taught maternal-child nursing at our teaching hospital partner site, the Centre for Woman and Child Health (CWCH). Like many of our clinical teaching partners, this is a private not-for-profit hospital, working hard to improve care standards. It is situated in the garment manufacturing district north of Dhaka, and provided emergency care to many victims of the infamous Rana Plaza collapse earlier this year. During normal times, CWCH serves thousands of families, with a focus on peri-natal care. Sandra recognized the terrific work and limited resources of CWCH, so when she returned to BC she organized a fundraising campaign.

In this photo, Dr. Karen Lund is presenting a donation of $2800 raised by Sandra to Mr. Rafiq, CWCH Administrator and Sister Margaret Sarkar, Director of Nursing.

Thank you Sandra, for your commitment and efforts to help this deserving institute!

Current IUBAT Volunteer Shares Her Experiences

Nancy Stephens, a Canadian volunteer currently at IUBAT, writes about her experience with the students in the CWCH (Centre for Women and Child Health) practicum setting. “Last week, one of our male Nepalese students was working in the paediatric ward and had done some health teaching about breastfeeding [with my help] to a young mother of a pre-term infant. This teaching was a bit out of his comfort zone and definitely outside of the cultural norm for a male to talk about “breasts” to a female. However, because he acted confident and was matter-of-fact about the subject, the information we had to offer was well accepted by this young mother. The following week he was working in a very busy immunization clinic where the students do a lot of health teaching. There are various health, maternity and nutrition topics that they cover. In our post-conference he reported that many women were very receptive to his teaching about breastfeeding, especially the concept of supply and demand. He also said that one woman asked him if he could tell her when her due date was (many of these women do not obtain any antenatal care so they do not necessarily know when they are due). Since the students had recently learned how to calculate the due date he told her he would help her figure it out. It surprised him that this woman was comfortable giving him that information and I can see that it has boosted his self-confidence. He is very approachable because he has such a gentle soul, and I am glad that he is willing to push the boundaries of what is culturally acceptable in this country. It is one of those small steps forward, and I am thrilled to be a part of it all.”

New long-term volunteer at IUBAT

Through the kind cooperation of VSO-Bangladesh, we have a new volunteer RN Jim Ofonda. Jim, who will work with IUBAT College of Nursing for two years, is originally from the Philippines where he earned an MSN. Before joining VSO-B he worked as a Clinical Instructor for six years, teaching many subjects in the nursing curriculum.

At IUBAT he has been focusing on Community Health, Mental Health and Nursing Administration. Welcome Jim and thank you for your great support to our students and our volunteers.