Health Matters

VSO takes the health and welfare of volunteers very seriously. In the spirit of "fore-warned is fore-armed", volunteers are inundated with a whole range of information throughout the training and preparation process, including a half day workshop covering issues such as water-purification, food safety, malaria prevention, managing diet and exercise, emotional health and safe sex. (We were shown a very sobering video of four volunteers talking very honestly about how they had ended up returning from their placements HIV+)
Part of the recruitment and placement process includes a thorough medical check to assess any physical or emotional health issues that could present a challenge or require monitoring. Before leaving, there are a whole range of inoculations to complete, including for my placement a couple of particularly nasty ones - rabies and Japanese encephalitis B. (Given the number of stray and semi-stray dogs roaming the streets, I am very glad to have had the rabies injections. It was worth the horribly sore arm!)
VSO also provide a suggested list of medicinal and first aid items to take, so before leaving I dutifully went and bought up half of Shrivenham pharmacy. I probably didn't need to bother, as most items are easily available here, and many medicines that require a prescription in the UK can be bought over the pharmacy counter. As part of our orientation in the first few days we spent a morning at the Bangkok Nursing Home for a briefing with the local doctor who acts as medical adviser to VSO. The name is misleading - it is actually a very modern, state-of-the-art private hospital that looks more like a hotel. Dr Irene gave us a very detailed breakdown of the causes, symptoms and treatment of the various horrible diseases that we could potentially succumb to: malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, typhus, amoebic dysentery, giardia, leptospirosis, rabies, encephalitis.... If a volunteer were to become so seriously ill that they could not be treated at their placement, they would be transferred to the BNH. It looks like a wonderful place to stay, but on balance I think I would rather not get so ill that I would end up staying there!
Up to now I have been pretty well, and most of my copious supply of medicines has remained untouched. However, one thing that I was very glad that I had brought was a course of antibiotics for urinary tract infections. It meant I was able to treat a rather nasty infection last week very promptly, with the result that I only spent half a day in bed with a temperature feeling sorry for myself before I was up and about again.
I am starting to feel quite tired now. It is getting hotter and the intensity of the language training is taking its toll. Hopefully, I should have a fairly gentle start to my placement, as schools are currently on holiday and there are a couple of major public holidays in the first half of April, including several days for Songkran, or new year. It seems Chiang Mai is the place to be for this celebration (one of the main features of which is throwing water at people), so if I can get my act together it might be a good opportunity for a trip there.