Many of you probably know this about me, but many of you may not. After graduating collage, I became a Paramedic and spent about 8 years working on ambulances and in hospitals. For 6 of those years I worked as a professional Firefighter Paramedic for the Concord Fire Department in New Hampshire. This is how I got most of my medical experience, and probably played a large role in my being assigned here in Cambodia as a Health Educator.

This is a tuk tuk ambulance. It was given to the health center that I work at by a non-profit organization called Women’s Health Cambodia. It is used to transport patients with medical needs beyond the capabilities offered by the health center to the referral hospital in Kirivong 35 Kilometers away. It is unusual for a health center to have an ambulance and it is something they are very proud of.

Here is a photo I took riding in the back transferring several patients to the referral hospital. I think is funny that I should fly half way around the world to end up full circle working in an ambulance again.

But wait, it gets better…

I came to work one morning last month and was surprised to see an actual ambulance in the yard. The district director for a neighboring Provence was given 5 used ambulances from Korea. He surprised everyone here when he showed up with it and made a gift of it to our health center. As it turns out, his family lives in a nearby village that is served by our health center. Nothing but the best for family I guess. So, we now have a real ambulance too.

I have been spending some of my time here training the staff on how to use the ambulance and all the equipment on it. There is actually not that much equipment on it, which is probably not a bad thing.  Usually they just plop a patient in the back unattended and drive away anyhow.

Dr. Sera, our health center director, just promoted the head cleaner / maintenance man to head ambulance driver. This is kind of a scary thing since the guy has no driver license and has never driven anything but a motorcycle in his life. Lately, I have been spending time with him teaching him how to drive. We go driving around the compound dodging patients and mango trees. His biggest challenge is backing up using the mirrors and thinking in reverse.

This week he asked me to show him how the air conditioner works and what some of the buttons on the dash are for. I thought it a good idea for him to know how the air conditioner works as it is always hot here. When I got to the button for the mirror defrosters however, I told him he did not need to worry about that button.

Getting something major like an ambulance donated is of course cause for a ceremony. So, that is exactly what we had. Two local monks from the Wat and all the important officials from the community came.

 
There was about a half hour long prayer chant followed by several speeches and an official handing over of the keys.

Then one of the monks walked around the vehicle praying and splashing it with blessed water. I hope this is to bring good luck to the vehicle and its future passengers.

I thought it was hilarious when after his blessing the monk pulled a smart phone from his robes and started snapping digital photos.