Ears, Eyes, and Oral Health; what we learned from each other in Thailand
Over two weeks in far north-east Thailand, 12 allied health students from the School of Health Sciences conducted ear, eye, and oral health screenings for over 140 children and 100 adults. Dr Andrew Huhtanen (Optometry), Dr Camille Paynter (Speech Pathology), and Dr Alexandra Walchhuetter (Audiology) supervised the interdisciplinary placement, in conjunction with Challenges Abroad and Future Sense Foundation.
In addition to the ear, eye, and oral health screenings, we were tasked with developing and delivering preventative health workshops across local hospitals, schools, and community health centres in Mae Sariang and surrounding Hill Tribe villages. We rapidly learned a handful of helpful Thai language instructions and lots of skills in non-verbal communication to overcome the language barrier.
Despite being from different disciplines, we needed to work alongside each other to deliver a holistic approach to health education and patient care. Immersion in the unique local culture and language challenged our usual approach and deepened our cultural awareness. This reinforced the importance of patient-centred care.
Students developed essential skills such as flexibility, adaptability, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork to overcome language barriers and limited resources. We often had to modify our approach to suit different environments and individual needs. Being in an unfamiliar environment without access to typical clinical setup taught us to improvise and problem solve!
The experience highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork, clear and tailored communication, and flexible testing procedures to deliver effective allied health care. This will shape our future clinical practice.
Outside of testing and workshop preparation. we loved the cultural values of Thailand, learning the language, touring temples and interacting with local communities.
Students Lily Tarquinio, Siu Lok (Nick) Tang, and Madeline FitzGerald from Speech Pathology, Jasmine Pajar, Su Wei Phua, Olivia Ma, and Moeka Eiso from Audiology, and Maodi (Harry) Deng, Dannie Xiao, Pranav Sood, Thomas Liu Paulsen and Sandra Wong from Optometry describe the placement to be truly memorable and a valuable learning experience:
“Collaborating with other disciplines in Thailand was an enriching experience that I’ll carry forward into future placements and work. It was incredibly rewarding to see everyone's hard work on screenings and workshops come to life as the program progressed.” – Maddy Fitzgerald
“An eye-opening moment that made me appreciate our impact was finding out the closest speech pathologist was four hours away. Fortunately, we worked with the OT to come up with recommendations for speech therapy to overcome this access barrier.” – Lily Tarquinio
“I am grateful to have made a positive impact in the lives of so many members of the Thai community, especially through educating them on the best practices to ensure their eyes stay healthy far into the future. The knowledge that can be passed on can have a huge impact on even more people than the ones we tested.” – Pranav Sood
“I really enjoyed doing the eye screening and just seeing my friends and myself being more and more confident in it over time and using more and more Thai in the communication.” – Dannie Xiao
“This is an unforgettable experience in which I learned how to interact with people from a different country and culture and provide healthcare using verbal and non-verbal communication to overcome the language barrier.” - Maodi (Harry) Deng
“Learning about the cultural differences in Thai healthcare was really eye-opening.” - Sandra Wong
“It was incredibly fulfilling to have made a positive impact in the local community and a rewarding and enriching experience to collaborate with other health disciplines, building meaningful and long-lasting friendships along the way” - Thomas Paulsen
By Jasmine Pajar, Pranav Sood (on behalf of the optom team), Nick Tang, and Camille Paynter
