While everyone likes to complain, we often don't realise how good we have it here in Australia.
Based in Melbourne, Australia, TrekMedic is a non profit team of volunteer doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who have come together to help provide basic health care, education and emergency aid to under-priveleged communities worldwide. After a trial expedition in 2011 we have returned to Nepal on average twice per year and are now pioneering new missions to Africa and continue ongoing work in Nepal. We run basic regular mobile and established village health clinics alongside local health workers and in areas where there is no existing clinic. Nepal has a population of nearly 30 million people with one third living below the poverty line. 25% earn less than one American dollar per day. Children under 5 are 10x more likely to die than if born in Australia. Adults between 15 and 60 are 5x more likely to die than if living in Australia. The top 3 major causes of death are pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles (all preventable illnesses associated with poor living conditions and a lack of access to sanitation and basic health care)
20/10/2023
As the Sep/Oct trek has come to an end and I've had a chance to catch up on the data, we ended up seeing 1,698 patients across 5 remote villages, including over 200-300 dental extractions and many more fillings, giving away 350-400 pairs of donated glasses, excising lesions, managing trauma, hypertension, diabetes, and a multitude of eye, ear and rheumatoid and ID complaints and referring a few complex cases to KTM for further investigation and management. Our international team dealt with monsoon rains, crazy roads, injuries, illness, leeches and random bites to do an amazing job. Thank you to our friends, family and sponsors for your support. Here's a few more pics of us on trek and also at PA Nepal, an amazing orphanage run by an amazing woman. More on them later...
14/10/2023
Team has made it to Bhandar and we've got a 10hr drive back to KTM today after an 8hr trek yesterday. As always after every trek it makes me reflect on how fortunate we are to live in a first world country, but also the Nepalese remind me to appreciate things that money can't buy, like a smile, a sunrise, friendship, love and teamwork. More stories, pics and videos to come 😊
11/10/2023
We're bringing our trek to a close having seen over 1200 patients. Will be bringing you more pics, videos once we are back in KTM. Some of the amazing scenery en route to our final village... we'll then hike to our departure point to brave the "roads" back to KTM. So proud of this incredible team of individuals from around the world working together to help these villagers.
08/10/2023
Over 170 patients seen yesterday at Phapre clinic! Dr Duygu takes a history with Nima interpretin;, clinic in the clouds; giving out donated glasses; RN Amy checks a knee; RN Sarah checks a BP... we've had a lot of blood pressures in the 180/+ range; morning yoga stretches; interpreter Pasang shows a little 90yo lady how to do a selfie; houses wreathed in mist. We have one more day here then we'll make our way to our final village of Rawa Dolu. After that we trek back over a few days to the main road where we'll bus back and aim to be back in KTM by the 15th. Got some great videos to upload when my signal is better including one of our sickest patients to date who has a heart rate of 35 with exertional dizziness and likely high degree heart block or sick sinus. Trying to get her to a cardiac centre ASAP.
07/10/2023
Shots from the trek from Banse to Phapre yesterday and a few clinic shots. The lady with the leaves is because the Nepalese are steppe farmers with no open fields, but their crops are grown in layered beds on the mountainside. They have no open fields to graze livestock so they climb trees to cut leaves for their livestock.
06/10/2023
What's in this lady's ear? If you've followed our previous trek posts from earlier years you'll know the answer! Video coming soon of the culprit 😉😬
06/10/2023
Unsure exact count but we say somewhere in the 150 count region again yesterday. Misha doing a string of dental patients; Rachel syringing an ear; Jodie in clinic; Dr Jon removes a lipoma; RN Claire assists Jon in closure of the wound; spontaneous knee effusion that tracked up a man's thigh confirmed on US but minimally tender and not hot; ruptured biceps tendon; huge chunk of wax removed from an old fella; Dr Jon teaches a patient how to use a puffer and spacer who desats to 80s on walking; Amy checks a BP.
05/10/2023
Sunrise over Banse clinic (finally!); cute kid with stickers from the team; RN Claire tries on a pair of donated glasses; our always smiling HHE ground support; RN Jodie with an extracted tooth; more bad teeth; med student Rachel listening to a lady we diagnosed with new hypertension and a Left carotid bruit. For those non medical, a carotid bruit is a sound we hear when we listen to the neck that indicates a narrowing in the major blood vessel to the brain that can lead to a stroke. We're sending her to KTM for further investigations. Man who was mauled by a bear but surprisingly his sight was preserved; man who had a fractured back but couldn't afford surgical treatment; the team washes hair!
05/10/2023
Team's first day at Bhanse. Despite the rain we still saw approx 130 patients. Young lad with his extracted tooth; accessory teeth; eye testing station; team in clinic; RN Jodie testing vision; RN Sarah giving stickers to a baby; RN Claire pre and post extraction; super dentist Misha; Dr. Jon using ultrasound to investigate abdominal pain.
04/10/2023
Team has arrived safely in our next village and to our friends and family we are no where near the earthquake. We're in the tail end of the monsoon season so it's pretty rainy where we're at.
Team with the government head of the local municipality... all our health camps are approved by the local government authorities. Additionally we always work with at least one local Nepalese doctor to ensure the treatment we prescribe is appropriate and similar to what they would do. Additionally it allows for us to learn from the Nepalese and vise versa; Banse village; Dr Jon operates on a foot; skies over Kiji; clinics get busy; once again the team obsession with cucumbers 😂🥒; sunsets over Kiji; fungal rashes are very prevalent in Nepal; mists descending over the village.
03/10/2023
Despite having 2 docs down with a flu, the team smashed it yesterday with a record 269 patients being seen! Dental saw 73 patients which is insane for a single day. So proud of the team as everyone stepped up. Cute "dope" man, lady we diagnosed with gallstones using the ultrasound, dental team on full ball, RN Amy with a cucumber (our team has an odd obsession with big cucumbers 🤷♂️😬); man with possible amyloidosis. Also to our friends and family we're about to head to a more remote area today so if the updates stop for awhile it's due to the fact I can't upload much with a 2G signal 😅
02/10/2023
172 patients seen at Kiji clinic Day 1! Dental team saw 50 of those with med student Rachel and RN Claire doing some fillings thanks to our sponsor ; lots of bad teeth due to poor diet, no brushing and no fluoride in the water; Dr Jon ultrasounding a lady with epigastric pain, weight loss 10kg in a month, night sweats and a lesion found on her liver (ultrasound gurus any thoughts?) ; dental team strikes a pose; Dr Duygu and RN Sarah proudly displaying a cucumber; team before clinic; lady with new donated glasses who can see so much better now; Dr Duygu examines the head of the lady who was dragged by a buffalo for 50 metres sustaining a head injury. We're hoping to get her to a larger centre for a CT Panscan.
01/10/2023
This young girl had cardiac surgery as a child but it doesn't appear to have been terribly successful. Photos don't do it justice but she's markedly cyanosed, sats 52% on room air, clubbed fingers and toes, systolic murmur and heaves, and presenting with increasing shortness of breath. We're aiming to get her specialist cardiothoracic treatment in KTM for congenital cyanotic heart disease, possible original tetralogy of Fallot or a VSD at least.
01/10/2023
Another busy day with some really complex cases at Kiji clinic. RN Amy cleans an ear discharging with pus; Dentist Misha and Med student Rachel with extracted teeth; main man Nima finds a random baby; Dr Jon examines a lady who was dragged by a bull with a head injury and C spine tenderness, headache and dizziness with possible subdural and Cspine fracture; RN Claire and med student Rachel smashing it at the dental station; Dr Duygu takes a history; glasses being tested on a patient; another patient with bad teeth! More amazing picd and videos coming including a 13yo with sats 52%RA!
01/10/2023
More shots from Ragani clinic where we've seen over 300 patients. RN Jodie working on a dental patient; villagers queueing up to be seen; Dr Duygu performs a shoulder examination, team treks to the next village of Kiji; young girl looks into the clinic at sunset; Dentist Misha performs an extraction to a crowd (check out the kid in the black T shirt); sunset over Kiji; Rachel shares a drink with our amazing ground support guys from HHE; RN Claire giving out donated glasses to patients.
30/09/2023
More shots from Ragani clinic. Moonrise over the clinic at night, RNs Amy & Jodie working on a filling, main man Nima from HHE doing crowd control, sunset over the clinic, RN Claire with a patient, 2 ladies at the clinic, dental team gearing up, sunrise over the clinic.
30/09/2023
206 patients seen yesterday in a crazy busy day. Dr Jon treats a lady who fell forwards, head injury with LOC, subcut emphysema helping to diagnose a maxillary fracture; Med student Rachel tests cerebellar signs; bad teeth; child getting his eyes tested; RN Jodie with a sick patient with pneumonia and infectious colitis, RN Sarah with an extracted tooth; recurrent melanoma; happy patient with new donated glasses that has restored his vision; RN Amy with a dental patient; View from the clinic
29/09/2023
More shots from yesterday's clinic day... dentist Misha working on a difficult tooth, villagers waiting to be sent, Dr Jon looks into an ear, severe perforated eardrum in a 9yo lad... has destroyed most of his tympanic membrane which will likely result in long term deafness, another chronically infected ear, team at the village before clinic, xray of a lady who has a fractured vertebra but was diagnosed with gout and arthritis and sent home by a local hospital, rainbow en route to the village and the team taking a break.
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While everyone likes to complain, we often don't realize how good we have it here in Australia. In April 2011, two teams of doctors & nurses visited Nepal and spent 5 weeks in both the Everest and Annapurna regions of Nepal treating trekkers suffering from high altitude related conditions and seeing and treating over 400 villagers in the Annapurna region, most of who had never seen a doctor or dentist ever in their lives. That mission was the pioneer expedition to pave the way for future teams to return and continue the work that was started.
Since that point in time, we have sent dozens of teams to Nepal and treated thousands of patients all across the country as well as sending one team to Kenya. Additionally, in 2015, Trekmedic took part in the earthquake response that devastated the entire country of Nepal, sending in rolling teams of volunteers spanning a 3 month relief effort and treating over 4,000 patients in villages and refugee camps across 19 affected locations. Our most recent treks in April/May 2018 saw us treat over 1,500 patients over multiple areas in the lower Everest Khumbu region.
Our model is based on small, usually 4-8 person teams, that trek out into the villages and either set up mobile clinics or work alongside established health posts. Our volunteers are comprised primarily of Australian doctors, dentists, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals and we now also team up with a Nepalese doctor for each trek as well.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS:
Nepal is still definitely our focus, as there is, and always will be more work to be done there.
Nepal has a population of nearly 30 million people with one third living below the poverty line. 25% earn less than one American dollar per day. Children under 5 are 10x more likely to die than if born in Australia. We will be looking into going back to Kenya again and possibly venturing to other locations as well however.
To keep up with and find out about the latest treks and upcoming treks keep an eye on this page and our instagram - @trekmedic ; cheers!
