Chiang Daw Hospital, Ban Mitrathorn, and underground caverns in Chiang Daw

Sawasdee khràp everyone!

            Yesterday, we visited Chiang Daw to tour the hospital and see how the more rural parts of Thailand help their patients when they are diagnosed with AIDS.  Though when I say rural it is in comparison to Chiang Mai.  The area surrounding the hospital has a population of about 100,000 which is a little less than double the population of Portland.  Though they did not have nearly the same resources or city development that exists back home.  We were warmly greeted by an inter-professional team.  We learned about the unique problems that face the hospital given the proximity to Myanmar and the number of hill tribes that surround Chiang Daw.  We were then taken on a tour of the hospital and shown the two different pharmacies attached to the hospital, their maternity ward, OT/PT wards, and lastly, a facility were children with development issues can go to be around similar children.  It was interesting to see the hospital and learn about the unique challenges that the hospital faced. 

            Some were similar to the other hospitals but there were some stark differences.  Often in the more rural parts, there is a shortage of pharmacists and doctors.  I have found many hospitals though not all organize their shelves via disease state and not alphabetically by dosage form like I have seen in most of the hospitals I have been at during rotation.   A few notable differences were the hospital’s operating room was not able to handle C-sections so if a mother needed to have one the mothers would be sent to a provincial hospital that could accommodate the procedure.  They also had standing orders for mothers with HIV to help protect the child but the reason they had these standing orders was that until recently they didn’t have a maternity doctor.  The staff also have to contend with the various hill tribes that all speak different languages which makes giving directions and having the patients understand how to take the medication all that more difficult.  The pharmacy had an interesting way of showing how to remind patients to take their medication and do a pill count.  Both were rather low-tech but incredibly efficient.  I enjoyed seeing the hospital and comparing with the other different hospitals that we have been to in Thailand and back home in the USA.

            After lunch, we went to Ban Mirathorn.  I thought the work the Christian nuns are doing is very interesting and I enjoyed hearing about the orphanage.  They were first established to take in girls whose parents had sold them into human-trafficking and started a school to educate the girls.  Then they expanded to children who had been in a bad situation at home or parents had passed away due to complications with AIDS.  I was surprised to find out that international adoption has an age limit for the children (younger than 7) and that female orphans were the only children at the orphanage.  I did wonder what they did with the male orphans with similar situations.  Their work is very noble work indeed and I was happy to see that they take their work seriously and with such passion.

In front of the cave

            Lastly, we visited a cavern near the orphanage that is a sacred site for Buddhism.  There was a shrine within the cave.  We hired a guide who took us around the cave to show us different stalagmites and stalactites that looks like different animals.   It was very fun walking around in the cave though it was incredibly slippery and there were some points that felt a little claustrophobic. There were some points I was on my hands and knees to get through but we all made it.  There were a few narrow passageways  The caves were much warmer than I had anticipated.  I can already sense there are many concerned parents reading this post and panicking. To the concerns parents and primary caregivers, yes the cave is in Northern Thailand and no they are not the same ones that the Thai soccer team was visiting when they were stuck.  Those caves were in Chiang Rai.  We were visiting during the winter months which are much drier and less precipitation than in the summer months.  We had two guides who know the caves very well and made sure we were safe the entire time.  It was a very rewarding experience.  100 percent of the group successively made it through the cave without any harm.  It is worth repeating, 100 percent of the group successively made it through the cave without any harm. 

As always thank you for reading

-IM