The 55-year-old adult educator and nurse, Regula Wirth from Gossau, Switzerland, has been to Nepal twice for the Senior Expert Corps. The first assignment was in a nursing school, where she primarily helped with the teaching related to neonatal care, nutrition, and addressing women’s issues. During the second visit she helped reorganize procedures in a hospital.
Ms. Wirth, how were you received in the places
of your assignments in Nepal?
I was very well received in the school, but in the hospital I encountered some resistance. Above all from nurses who had worked there for a long time, but some doctors also expressed it in a less straightforward manner.
How did you deal with it?
I tried to win them over with simple measures. For example, a doctor had prescribed that a baby with pneumonia should not eat. Of course, the baby cried for hours from hunger, which was not particularly conducive to alleviating the pneumonia. I was able to convince him that it is good for a mother to nurse her child. So the baby drank and then slept for three hours. That was a better point of departure for the treatment.
Was your suggestion adopted?
The head of the intensive care unit adopted it and I’m certain that she continues to work in that manner. Perhaps the other departments also work with my materials. I made a booklet with about 100 pages of functional specifications and many suggestions. Hygiene was a particular concern of mine, because it was abysmal! I actually showed them how a nightstand must be cleaned so that a new patient is not infected by the germs from the previous patient.
Did you also learn anything for your own work?
Not pertaining directly to the profession, but the period after childbirth interested me. I learned that all the mothers nurse and begin immediately with baby massage. Often the mother-in-laws massage the baby. It is very good for the baby, but it would not be possible in Switzerland. And there is something I call the ‘Nepalese approach to problem-solving’. Someone left a baby in the hospital because the mother did not want it. A childless family saw it there and adopted it immediately. Coincidentally, a few days later they were in the hospital again and I saw how they cared for the child so tenderly! This happy solution for all the participants would be unthinkable here in that form.
What is the lesson you learned from these two
assignments?
I can’t change everything and often I must make compromises, but if I have introduced one or two changes then it is all right because many people will probably profit from it. And honestly, I would gladly travel there again and see how things are running now.
of your assignments in Nepal?
I was very well received in the school, but in the hospital I encountered some resistance. Above all from nurses who had worked there for a long time, but some doctors also expressed it in a less straightforward manner.
How did you deal with it?
The head of the intensive care unit adopted it and I’m certain that she continues to work in that manner. Perhaps the other departments also work with my materials. I made a booklet with about 100 pages of functional specifications and many suggestions. Hygiene was a particular concern of mine, because it was abysmal! I actually showed them how a nightstand must be cleaned so that a new patient is not infected by the germs from the previous patient.
Not pertaining directly to the profession, but the period after childbirth interested me. I learned that all the mothers nurse and begin immediately with baby massage. Often the mother-in-laws massage the baby. It is very good for the baby, but it would not be possible in Switzerland. And there is something I call the ‘Nepalese approach to problem-solving’. Someone left a baby in the hospital because the mother did not want it. A childless family saw it there and adopted it immediately. Coincidentally, a few days later they were in the hospital again and I saw how they cared for the child so tenderly! This happy solution for all the participants would be unthinkable here in that form.
assignments?
I can’t change everything and often I must make compromises, but if I have introduced one or two changes then it is all right because many people will probably profit from it. And honestly, I would gladly travel there again and see how things are running now.
