Helping others:. Shannon MacNeil of Hockley Valley is among 12 GlobalMedic volunteers who recently operated medical clinics in Cambodia. Contributed photo
By Richard Vivian
Orangeville.com
May 25, 2010
Hockley’s Shannon MacNeil keeps her bags packed. She’s ready to take off whenever and wherever her skills are needed around the world.
A paramedic for the past 19 years, MacNeil is a member of GlobalMedic, a Toronto-based agency that provides frontline relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters.
“I’ve always wanted to volunteer and go to another part of the world,” she said, explaining she joined the group last fall. “I can’t praise GlobalMedic enough.”
She has yet to be involved in the sort of large-scale disaster relief effort that inspired her to get involved — such as the organization’s response to earthquakes in Haiti and Chile earlier this year — but her time as a member has not been idle.
During the winter months, she helped deliver food and blankets to homeless shelters in the city and, more recently, she went on a three-week voyage to provide pre-hospital medical care to impoverished Cambodian villagers.
“Even for them, it’s hot there this year,” MacNeil said, noting temperatures hovered around 40-degrees Celsius during her trip, plus humidity. “So a lot of the illnesses that we were dealing with were dehydration and malnutrition.”
The Hockley woman was among a dozen GlobalMedic volunteers — consisting of professional firefighters, police officers and paramedics — who ran medical clinics, provided care at orphanages and established water purification systems in the Southeast Asian country between April 15 and May 8.
They also provided training to local emergency responders.
“I think this one was probably our fifth over the past eight years to Cambodia,” explained Matt Capobianco, manager of emergency programs for GlobalMedic.
“We don’t just want to do emergency response. We want to augment that wherever we can to help build capacity in the communities we work in,” he said. “It’s also a level of engagement for our volunteers who aren’t able to do the emergency response. We’re deploying on 24 hours notice generally, and that doesn’t fit everyone’s lifestyle.”
Cambodia is on a long list of countries that need the kind of medical treatment expertise GlobalMedic’s volunteers possess, he said.
MacNeil thought she was prepared for what she’d come across on her excursion, but said she never expected the level of “heartache” created by what she found.
“All this stuff could be treated just with a few medications,” she of the illnesses. “Especially when you’re talking about people going blind because of (malnutrition and dehydration. That wouldn’t be happening if they just had a few more things.”
Beyond food and water, MacNeil said one of the biggest issues facing Cambodia’s rural residents is transportation. For instance, she said hospital care is free to children, but it’s several hours away by motorcycle.
“We had a two-week-old baby in one of the villages that was so sick ... but nobody wanted to take her because of the amount of gas and they wanted to be paid for their time,” she said, explaining the girl had severe respiratory problems. “If you were here, there would be no question. You would go right to the hospital. ... We would treat it with antibiotics.”
Since no villagers would, a group of the GlobalMedic volunteers paid for a driver with a passenger wagon to take the woman and her daughter for treatment.
“If that’s all the good I did in this trip, and save that baby’s life, it was worth it,” MacNeil said, explaining she doesn’t know the outcome because only mothers and their children are allowed inside the hospital. “Hopefully, the baby is OK.”
If all goes according to MacNeil’s plan, she’ll have a chance to learn the outcome next year. She and others in her group are planning to return to Cambodia next year, whether or not it’s through GlobalMedic.
“It was an amazing experience. ... I think we made a huge impact,” she said. “A lot of it’s not going to be long-term. The water will be, but the medication isn’t.”
A paramedic for the past 19 years, MacNeil is a member of GlobalMedic, a Toronto-based agency that provides frontline relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters.
“I’ve always wanted to volunteer and go to another part of the world,” she said, explaining she joined the group last fall. “I can’t praise GlobalMedic enough.”
She has yet to be involved in the sort of large-scale disaster relief effort that inspired her to get involved — such as the organization’s response to earthquakes in Haiti and Chile earlier this year — but her time as a member has not been idle.
During the winter months, she helped deliver food and blankets to homeless shelters in the city and, more recently, she went on a three-week voyage to provide pre-hospital medical care to impoverished Cambodian villagers.
“Even for them, it’s hot there this year,” MacNeil said, noting temperatures hovered around 40-degrees Celsius during her trip, plus humidity. “So a lot of the illnesses that we were dealing with were dehydration and malnutrition.”
The Hockley woman was among a dozen GlobalMedic volunteers — consisting of professional firefighters, police officers and paramedics — who ran medical clinics, provided care at orphanages and established water purification systems in the Southeast Asian country between April 15 and May 8.
They also provided training to local emergency responders.
“I think this one was probably our fifth over the past eight years to Cambodia,” explained Matt Capobianco, manager of emergency programs for GlobalMedic.
“We don’t just want to do emergency response. We want to augment that wherever we can to help build capacity in the communities we work in,” he said. “It’s also a level of engagement for our volunteers who aren’t able to do the emergency response. We’re deploying on 24 hours notice generally, and that doesn’t fit everyone’s lifestyle.”
Cambodia is on a long list of countries that need the kind of medical treatment expertise GlobalMedic’s volunteers possess, he said.
MacNeil thought she was prepared for what she’d come across on her excursion, but said she never expected the level of “heartache” created by what she found.
“All this stuff could be treated just with a few medications,” she of the illnesses. “Especially when you’re talking about people going blind because of (malnutrition and dehydration. That wouldn’t be happening if they just had a few more things.”
Beyond food and water, MacNeil said one of the biggest issues facing Cambodia’s rural residents is transportation. For instance, she said hospital care is free to children, but it’s several hours away by motorcycle.
“We had a two-week-old baby in one of the villages that was so sick ... but nobody wanted to take her because of the amount of gas and they wanted to be paid for their time,” she said, explaining the girl had severe respiratory problems. “If you were here, there would be no question. You would go right to the hospital. ... We would treat it with antibiotics.”
Since no villagers would, a group of the GlobalMedic volunteers paid for a driver with a passenger wagon to take the woman and her daughter for treatment.
“If that’s all the good I did in this trip, and save that baby’s life, it was worth it,” MacNeil said, explaining she doesn’t know the outcome because only mothers and their children are allowed inside the hospital. “Hopefully, the baby is OK.”
If all goes according to MacNeil’s plan, she’ll have a chance to learn the outcome next year. She and others in her group are planning to return to Cambodia next year, whether or not it’s through GlobalMedic.
“It was an amazing experience. ... I think we made a huge impact,” she said. “A lot of it’s not going to be long-term. The water will be, but the medication isn’t.”
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