“It’s amazing to be a member of a volunteer team of so many medical professionals from all around Australia. So many of the team have not even previously met yet on every trip team members so quickly and effectively bond and work together, united in the goal to give these patients in developing countries the best possible care. Operations are complex, challenging and lengthy. At every stage team members prepare and stabilise patients for a rapid recovery and discharge. The resilience shown by these children and young adults is truly awe-inspiring. For me, it’s so personally rewarding to witness the joy and happiness of families as people they love are given a new chance at life.”
Melanie Windus
Health Care Outreach Coordinator
Sydney Adventist Hospital
“The altruism of the volunteers in Sydney Adventist Hospital’s HealthCare Outreach Program who travel across the world to transform and save the lives of people they’ve never met, and to share their skills with local medical and nursing teams in the hope they can leave a legacy of self sufficiency, is inspiring – they are great ambassadors for Australia.”
Dr Brendan Nelson MP
Federal Member for Bradfield
Why Our Volunteers Volunteer
“What keeps me going back? The camaraderie of the team members; the meals together sharing the experiences of the day; learning about the lives of each patient - how they walked for days to get there, or how they manage poverty… How we arrive to see 60 patients with deformed faces and bodies, and 10 days later we leave as they wave to us as a group of "normal" people - for some, they have never known what "normal" means...and we all have tears in our eyes. That's why I keep going back!”
John Sanburg
Team Leader
Nepal Reconstructive Surgery Program
“The expectations of the people we operate on in other countries are totally different – if the patients come from outer islands they have often never seen white people or even motorized vehicles – yet they place the most extraordinary trust in us - also amazing is their ability to recover so quickly from surgery – their ability and their resilience to get up and going with minimal analgesic requirements – they have open heart surgery one day and are up and going the next.
I actually believe I get far more out of it than I put in. I love the association of people from all over the world – the feeling of team and identity in that team - working in different conditions to home draws people together and people put things aside to get the job done.”
Associate Professor David Baines
Paediatric Anaesthetist, The Children’s Hospital Westmead,
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - Vanuatu, Rwanda, Fiji
“Being involved with Health Care Outreach is a humbling as well as a life changing experience... working with a team of healthcare professionals who are committed to sharing their skills and knowledge…you take home great memories. The best thing about Health Care Outreach however is not what you take when the surgeries are finished...it’s the training...its making the local people self sufficient...it’s the legacy you leave behind.”
Christopher Waite
ICU / CCU Manager, Sydney Adventist Hospital
Project Leader - Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, Vanuatu, Tonga
“The language barrier prevents lengthy dialogue between ourselves and our patients, but their quiet gestures and their smiling eyes let us know that we have done a wonderful thing for them. Our patients have no money, no resources and little to look forward to in life, but they are humble and kind in nature and that is enough to know that we are doing a great thing for them.
The highlights are being able to help those that would otherwise continue to spend their life un-aided, often in shame and pain away from their own community. My most poignant moment was seeing a man who crawled in on his hands and knees, have surgery, and then walked out tall and proud.”
Bronwyn Chalmers
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Sydney Adventist Hospital Emergency Care
Nepal Reconstructive Surgery Volunteer
“When I first started nursing I had a desire to work with underprivileged people in less fortunate countries. Up until a few years ago I was unable to fulfil this desire... the highlights are the faces on the children after cardiac surgery when they have more energy and are able to play sports and be more active in their daily lives.
I have learnt to be more tolerant of people and I have learnt new techniques and ways of doing things by working with staff from other hospitals. Above all I have learnt to be more cost conscious and less wasteful - nothing in these countries is ever thrown out - everything is recycled. I never ceased to be amazed at how one can improvise when equipment is not available!”
Lorraine Craig
Operating Theatre Scrub Sister, Sydney Adventist Hospital
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu
“There were so many positive things about this trip it is hard to list them all. A highlight is in seeing how quickly these patients improve. Pre-operatively they are often breathless and low in energy. However within 24 – 48 hours of the operation the children in particular are shining – they breathe more easily, have more colour and energy, and once they are over the initial discomfort of wound healing, laugh more often, are more responsive and look happier.
The most poignant moments are witnessing the care and dedication of the families. Many travel a long way to reach the team in order to have their sick child operated on. Once at the hospital as they rarely have any funds they are obliged to camp on or near the hospital grounds, and take turns at being with the child. I saw mothers and fathers either sleeping on thin straw mats under the beds or sometimes sitting up all night in a straight-backed chair watching their child. They are also grateful for everything the team does for the children and never complain. Many of these children now have a real chance at life because of the Open Heart Team. It is the most significant contribution I have ever made to any cause and I am very happy that I was able to do so.”
Kathleen Claire
Nurse Unit Manager, Division of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - PNG
“We are so blessed in Australia...it is at times heart wrenching to see the need in developing countries. This is one way we can give something back. What we do, particularly in teaching, is priceless, and therefore most satisfying. A highlight is being able to train local staff so that their expertise will last into the future, long after we return home, resulting in a continuing benefit to the country. It has taught me to be a better communicator and more tolerant. The staff in hospitals within some of the countries are so keen, it is humbling.”
Dr Bevan Hokin
Director San Pathology
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - Fiji, Vanuatu, Nepal, Myanmar
“We have a very good health care system in Australia. People don’t usually die from preventable disease. I guess people in Australia don’t realise how lucky we are to live in a first world country with such ready access to health care. People in Vanuatu have a very rudimentary health care system where death is very much an accepted part of life. Prior to us getting there, one of our patient's best friends had died waiting for us to get there for valve surgery. The 9 adults (and 10 children) we did were so appreciative of having a second chance at life or a better quality of life. I have observed how happy people can be with so little material possessions.”
Lynda Brayton
Intensive Care Nurse, Geelong Hospital
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - Vanuatu
“It was a very exciting and emotional trip to Nepal to be part of a team to repair cleft lips and palates so we could put a smile on someone’s face for the first time in their life. After the first trip I was addicted.
Often we don’t realise the need of people in developing countries until we are there to see and help first hand. It is the most rewarding thing I have done. The Nepali people are a very gracious people and so appreciative of what we can do to help them. We try and work alongside the Nepali Doctors and Nurses to try and educate them so one day we will be made redundant as they will be able to help their own people. Each trip back to Nepal is like seeing our family again.”
Neroli Seberry
Midwife, Sydney Adventist Hospital
Nepal Reconstructive Surgery Volunteer
“With experience obtained both in Australia and PNG, local doctors are now able to conduct pre-screening around the provinces so that my patient volume has decreased. The intensity of work has increased though with each patient being a real surgical candidate rather than a diagnostic exercise. However, this increased intensity pales into insignificance compared with the breathtaking achievements of each successive OOH team visit.”
Dr Richard Hawker
Paediatric Cardiologist, The Children’s Hospital Westmead
Operation Open Heart Volunteer - Nepal, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, PNG
“The best thing I like about OOH in PNG is that it is not like scores of other voluntary organisations that would take a team for a camp and then pack every thing back without leaving a “legacy”. On both these trips I found that more than half of our stocks were left for the local hospital to use and also every visit upgraded the hospital facilities (Theatre and ICU). The local staff and doctors have been sufficiently trained and have established excellent cardiology referral services. The local surgeons have been sufficiently trained to do some initial closed heart operations. The OOH has not only been fishing but also teaching them how to “fish” on their own one day.
The images of love, appreciation, friendliness and warm heartedness of the local staff and people will be forever ingrained in my memory. The children who benefited from the services may be only a fraction of the children who need help in that part of the world, but I do know that the worth of a single soul is important.”
Dr John Murala
Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon, The Children’s Hospital Westmead
Operation Open Heart Volunteer – PNG
“Originally, I did it to help the children. I just couldn’t cope with the thought that these kids didn't have the opportunity that we have, however now I see both the benefits we give, and the benefits we receive as the kids lives are changed. My peers have the opportunity to share that experience - what we have accomplished is amazing, however we haven't even scratched the surface of the need. To grow the program we need more sponsorship and more volunteers – both in leadership roles for the program and in medical and nursing disciplines to provide different medical services.”
Russell Lee
Team Member, Inaugural Operation Open Heart – Tonga 1986
Team Leader, Operation Open Heart – Tonga, Solomon Islands, PNG, Rwanda, Fiji, Mongolia, Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Vanuatu
“Working in the Cardiac Ward at the San, it seemed a natural part of life to become involved in the prospect of going to Tonga to do heart surgery. Russell Lee would talk to everyone he came in contact with about the need he had seen in Tonga. A lot of people suffered from valvular disease and needed surgery, but not all were able to go to New Zealand. After many months of organising it was then decided we had to find money to go with, so fund raising commenced in a small way…we had car washes at the local garage on corner of Fox Valley Road and Comenarra Parkway, then it was up at 6am and off to Hornsby markets to sell all the trash and treasure that people would give us. We sold old curtains from the Hospital to locals to furnish the windows in their flats. Money was slow coming, so bigger ways were needed. We held dinners in the San cafe with gourmet food, and asked for donations. In the end everything came together and in February 1986 a team set off to do the first lot of surgery.
Everybody who went either took annual leave or were granted leave without pay to go for 2 weeks. Some of us left from the hospital in a bus to go to the airport early that morning – I remember Dr Charles Sharpe (who later lead the first plastic team to Nepal) being there to farewell us – he had supported the idea from the beginning.
In a way it was hard to believe that the day had finally arrived and we were off. It was sort off unbelievable that such a small idea that needed lots of money and equipment was about to happen. A maintenance team had been to Tonga to redo the theatres and set up a room to be used as an ICU with piped oxygen. There was some apprehension – we were leaving a safe environment for an unknown. Had we packed all the correct equipment or would there be things we needed? No one would know till we got there.
On arrival in Tonga some locals were at the airport to meet us, and we were made feel welcome at the hospital. It wasn't long before we had taken over and were running the place. The staff were friendly and helpful. The patients were lovely and very trusting and never complained. The relatives were very thankful and came with gifts, fresh fruit and local vegies, which we shared with the local staff. All went well the first year, and it was great to go back the next year to see how well the first group had progressed.
If there is one thing I learnt it is that these people have very little in earthly goods but they care for each other and share what ever they have with anyone. It is great to see that the project has grown and the thousands of people have been given an opportunity for a better life because everyone got involved.
Heather Buchanan
Health Care Outreach Volunteer since 1985
“Namaste to all our new friends…Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for letting us share the experience of Nepal 2007 with you…you were extraordinarily welcoming. We felt not only welcome, but also valued as integral parts of the team, whose opinions were heard and respected and we can't tell you how much this enhanced our experience. Thank you for this, and for the example of giving of your time and skills to serve others.
Overwhelmingly, we feel proud to be nurses. You don't need language really. We found as you all have before us, that people world wide just want to love their kids; they want you to see how beautiful they are; they want them to be happy, safe, well cared for and pain free. Not many professions allow you to go halfway around the world to do what you do best and feel so rewarded at the end of a day's work. We went overseas with strangers and came back with a team full of new friends with whom we shared a life changing experience.”
Karen Dean and Jen Dixon
Nepal Reconstructive Team
