What can you say about the last day here?  There is excitement in the air because some of us will be headed home while others are going to take a few more days to explore the country.

Today started off with shopping, everyone making that first or last dash to the markets to pickup gifts for our families and friends.  Many had list in hand of the things they wanted to buy, some waiting for the moment or item to strike them.  We gave ourselves an hour and a half and quite a few of us were done before then.  Since we needed to wait for our vehicle to come pick us up, we started wandering the rows and rows of shops, I think many of us can attest to the fact that doing so is dangerous.  Now where are we going to stuff the additional items to get them home?

After our shopping trip, many of us began the process of packing, checking all the closets and shelves to make sure we haven’t missed anything as well as getting ready for graduation.  The ceremony is going to be held at the academy, so unlike in past years, we had to leave about an hour and a half before it was scheduled to begin to ensure that we arrived in time.

The ceremony was fairly short, filled with speeches, filmed by the local news media with gifts of thanks presented to the team and followed with group pictures.  For the second night in a row we may find ourselves on the local news.  All of the students, as well as General Ma Chuan were invited to a party being hosted by the instructors at the Gym Sports Bar.  This was an establishment located by our Australian friends since it is ran by an Australian living here in Phnom Penh.

A quick, or at least as quick as can be expected, back into town, everyone changed clothes and we were off to the party.  Paul and Mel had set it up and volunteered to be the cooks.  We are holding a good ole Australian BBQ.  All of the students, as well as the general, showed up to enjoy the food, receive their OESP certificates and other gifts from the team.

The party will wind down slowly throughout the evening and some of us have returned to the hotel.  For those flying out tomorrow there is packing to complete.  There is a group of folks that will be returning to the villages that we visited when we first arrived.  They will be meeting at 6 a.m., will get some breakfast, pickup more bread and other items before heading out.

As we observed upon our arrival, two weeks sounded like a long time, but the time has flown by.  We once again are leaving having renewed friendships and made new ones.  The OESP team has had the privilege of working with members from other groups with like goals and certainly looks forward to working with them again.

Will close for now and possibly post once more before heading to the airport tomorrow morning.  We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends soon.  Jerry, Gary, Andy, Bruce, John and Art.

Almost Done:

 Classes are finished so let the pomp and circumstance begin.  Today will be the graduation at the police headquarters followed by a party for all the students tonight.  The Aussies have secured the local Aussie restaurant called The Gym to treat everyone to traditional Aussie food (not sure what that means, probably Crock and Kangaroo). We went to the Gym last night and after trying to explain to the waitresses the difference between eastern and western medicine we allowed the to "coin"us.  I was feeling a little sick and I must say the painful burning sensation of a quarter being rubbed up and down my arm completely took my ming off being sick.  They tell me the 1/2" wide by 8 "long bruise will go away in a few weeks.

Yesterday Art Cole and I went to HOPE hospital to donated the 2 AED's and AED trainer to them.  The National news (CTN) was there so I was part of the National news last night (slow news night). We had been given VIP tickets to the International Kickboxing Tournament.  We were wisked in before the rest of the crowd sat in VIP seats with free everything and were broadcasted nationwide on CTN's sister station (ESPN Cambodia) sitting in the crowd.  It was 7 bouts long, Australia vs. Cambodia and Cambodia won all of them.  They are warriors in the ring.

Must head to the market today to buy Cambodian items for this and that.  Plane takes off at 11:20 am Saturday.

EMS:
This morning we went ahead and gave our final practical (hands on) exam and most did really well.  We did not give a written test as they have had 2 different sets of instructors and they were split into 2 different classes for the first week.

The people of Cambodia still amaze me.  Despite what seams to be social unrest they keep smiling and just want to help. I think Cambodia has a chance to break out of this, it's just a question of which way it will go.

Later today I will return to HOPE hospital with Art Cole and put on a mock CPR/AED class for the hospital staff.  This will be recorded for tonight's national broadcast news on CTN. That will be followed by a presentation to the director of HOPE hospital of the 2 AED's and training equipment.  These will be the first AED's placed on ambulances in the entire country.  Both AED's were donated by Microsoft, coming off of their coorperate airplanes when they were replaced by a newer model.  HOPE will recieve these as this is where we have donated two ambulances to and we know they will be used for the betterment of the Cambodian people.

Tomorrow we have closing ceramonies for the EMS and Fire Police and party to follow with all students. We all look forward to returning to our families this weekend.

-Gary H

Bruce’s View

Busy day today. I got up and sent the crew off to teach at the Police Academy. I put Paul Hurford in charge in case they try to pull any funny stuff on us. Paul can hold his ground just fine. 
I had to stay back and get the certificates printed. (Certificates for the firefighters and interpreters we were teaching for the last two weeks) Jerry and I put in a few hours last night getting MS Word to look like we wanted it to. I guess neither of us were experts. We are better now but still frustrated with the program. Anyway I went to 4 places today before I could find a printing place that could open the MS Word file. Sos's brother was my taxi today. He has a very small little car. I have to fold up to get in it and with my knees in my chest. He zips around like he is on a motorcycle. Yes it was more prayer time for me. I had no idea where we went but he did find me a place to get the certificates printed. So after 2 1/5 hours of waiting for the 26 color certificates we had to meet Sos at the Hospital. We just missed him so I asked if we could go to the fire station. We drove all over the city before Sos's brother could find the fire station. He remembered where it was when we found it. I wanted to get pictures of the broken fuel pump so I could sent the pics to Bill and he could order them a new pump. There was no one at the fire station that had a key to the door of the ladder truck barn. I went around back and piled up some scrap lumber and made a makeshift ramp. I them climbed up on the 6 ' wall in the back of the station and moved the ramp up there. I could then climb in a hole in the back of the ladder truck barn. I climbed down the inside on the metal supports to the ground. Inside there was no light and I didn't bring one either. So it was very dark and lots of junk in the way. I worked my way up to the engine compartment and they had it blocked with something very heavy. I could not see what it was but I could not get past it to the engine area. I used my flash on my camera and looked at the picture. I still could not figure out what it was. I was getting pretty dirty and I had other things to do. I climbed out and we left. When I was in Sos's brothers car he said that the firefighter that was at the station was going to weld up the hole I climbed in as soon as I left. Good for him! 
The EMS folks are graduating at the hospital now and Sos asked if I wanted to go. I already made a trip to the hospital this morning and there are crowds of people waiting all around to get in. Some sort of lottery type system to get in to see a Dr. I am still coughing and my nose keeps running so I chose to stay in the hotel and rest up. I want to be here when my fire team shows up and hear how today went in the trenches. More later.... 
It's later now. Really it is tomorrow! The team came back and said that we leave for the boxing match in 20 minutes. The had a good day. Lots of pictures taken by everyone plus the generals personal photographer. 
Now about the boxing match. We were invited to this event by the head of CNT a large TV station here in Phnom Penh. He is a very powerful person says Sos. We were his guests of honor. We sat up on a platform that overlooked the boxing ring. Waiters came by every 5 minutes with cold beer and soft drinks. None of us had time for dinner before we left for the event so the beer really tasted good. It wasn't really good beer though, it just tasted good at the time. We got there at 5:45 ish and left about 10:20. The boxers were kick boxing. There was 4 bouts of Cambodian fighters then 4 bouts of Cambodian vs Australian boxers. All the Australian boxers lost. We thought that it was rigged. The ref was obviously paid off. It was very interesting but we all felt bad for the Aussies. It was even Australia Day. Most of us went to the Gym Bar after the event to get some food. 
Now today the 26th. We all go shopping then at 12:00 noon we all go to the academy for the graduation ceremony for the firefighters. So again more later...... 
Bruce Carpenter 
 

Just two more days of classes and this trip to the fair city of Phnom Penh by the OESP Team, with our new found friends from Australian Firefighters International and Northwest Medical Teams will be coming to a close.  The EMS guys must have really run into some disasters today because we haven’t seen them since they left this morning … wait … over there … Oh that’s Andy and Gary looking a little haggard.  They spent the morning discussing earthquakes, tsunamis, floods … basically anything that would cause a lot of injuries.  As Gary mentioned yesterday, the student’s question today was … What do we do?  You do the best as you can until additional aid arrives.  The afternoon was then spent covering burns.

The Communications guy continued to read user manuals, ask questions and await answers from his resources back in the states.  Although no visible progress may be seen, we are continuing to move ahead in providing solutions and assistance to the communications personnel of the city.

After a quick dinner, it was time to begin planning for the end of this week.  Some of us worked on certificates for the students, while some went looking for the “perfect place” to have a graduation get together.  Others in the group spend the evening getting some much needed rest.  When we arise tomorrow morning, it will be the final day of classes.

Bruce’s View

Safe arrival again today. All your prayers are working. Don’t give up on us quit yet! We have until Sunday to get home. Thanks for the support. I ride in the front passenger seat of the van here and home again. I sleep most of the way as I can’t stand the pressure from the terror if I leave my eyes open.

John is feeling like a million bucks today and jumped right into his class. They all welcomed him back. Dave and Carol are taking the day off and shopping. Mel and I are in a classroom half the day and out on the drill ground the other half. Well only about 2 1/2 hours. The heat drives us goofy if we stay out much longer. Another 100+ day today.

I killed a big, Big,BIG hornet in the classroom today. The two Cambodians in the room at the time both ran out when I went after the hornet. It was about 3” long and was flying like a Blackhawk Helicopter. One whack with a piece of our firewood sent it into a tail spin. I picked it up and went outside and everyone stepped back. They said Big Sting, Big Sting. Well this one was rendered inoperative by the killer Bruce. So I was not afraid of this one. A good look at it outside in the sunlight then it was turned into fertilizer for the grass. They said through the interpreter that one sting and you swell up like a watermelon and cannot work for 2 days. You get a high fever and feel strong pain! Next one will get more respect from me. I will smack it then step on it in the classroom before I attempt to pick it up!

Things started out pretty smooth today. Then after about 1 hour when we were all busily teaching comfortably, one general asked out interpreter outside. He came back in and said that we would have to move out for about 1 hour so they could move the new police recruits in the classroom for some reason. I told the interpreter that if them move us from the rooms that they promised us for two weeks and that we arranged to have for over 3 months that we would not come back. We would all go home. Well the interpreter went outside for a few minutes then came back and said go ahead and continue your class. One more win for the OESP people.

I don’t drink my water bottle that they deliver as soon as I get it. I let it warm up a little first because it is ice cold. I had my bottle on my podium warming up and 30 minutes the delivery girl brought me another one. She picked up the warm one and said something in Cambodian and ran off with it. My interpreter said that she didn’t want me to have to drink warm water and she ran off to bring back a cold one. I hid it this time! I’m going to quickly sign off because I smell a hot electrical smoke!

Later!

Ok!  The electrical problem was in the fan. I unplugged it, re wired it , now all is well and smoke free. Glad it was not my Apple computer equipment. I just spent hours making the certificates for the students and I would be sick if I lost all that work.

104 degrees in the PM part of class, then off to our hotel. We only passed one motorcycle down on the way home. Looked like minor injuries so we kept going. Stopping anyway would be extremely hazardous anyway.

Dinner at 6 PM, so I have to go find a printer.

Tomorrow…….

Bruce Carpenter

The Weekend View from Bruce

Well I suppose I have to go back a few days. Last Friday we were brought to the Police Academy again. The Fire Academy is at the Police Academy because the Fire Police are Police first. They all go through 4 months of Police training then they are assigned to one of seven positions. Fire, traffic, tourism, water, security, and general police stuff.

It was the usual day. No ladder truck to teach Ladder truck maintenance with. Two interpreters instead of three we needed, and 100+ degree heat. So we accomplished the impossible until lunch then ran for the ocean to recuperate.

We rushed back to the hotel to pack all our belongings so the hotel could rent out our rooms. When I had most of mine packed we were told that we did not have to pack up everything and that our rooms would be saved for us when we came back on Sunday.

So we grabbed our small bags for the weekend and rushed down stairs to get the 1:30 bus. The van came at 2:10 to pick us up and take us to the bus station. We loaded up on the Mekong Express to Shinookville. 4 hours later, after one short stop halfway there at the mountain pass (More of a hill pass) so the Buddhists could light some incense for the travel gods, we arrived at the Shinookville bus station. It was 6:30 and dark. We found a van to rent, thanks to Andy. We needed room for all the boxes of fire gear the Australians were bringing to the Shinookville fire department. We took the van to the hotel where we had reservations. We got our rooms for 28 dollars a night, which included a complimentary breakfast. We rested up and returned back to Phnom Penh Sunday evening. (I will not go in to how wonderful the hotel was because I do not want to get John in trouble. He is newly married and left his bride at home.)

When we got to our rooms all our stuff was mixed up. The hotel did rent out our rooms. They collected all our belongings and put them in John’s room. Then they tried to return our belongings to our rooms and got some things mixed up. We recovered and crashed in bed.

Up in the morning at 5:00Am to prepare for a new week. One week to go and we still do not know what to expect on Friday.

Got to go to a meeting and get one more interpreter. Bruce C. 

Star date 1-23 in a galaxy far far away called Cambodia we are all still fine. Last night we went out to eat at a place that has servers and cooks who are/were street kids.  They have adults who try to stear them in the right direction by teaching them skills such as restaurant work, mechanics, electrical work and English just to name a few.  The kids worked very hard a served up a pretty good meal.

Today was my turn to get sick.  I'm guessing it was the place Andy and I ate lunch at the day before because we are both hit with it today.  We had the students teach CPR this afternoon while the morning session was lifting techniques, trauma and automobile extrication.

Sos is getting supplies ready to take out to the villages we visited on our second day in Cambodia this trip.  Several of us have given him money so that more water wells can be drilled in the remote area.  This trip so far, we've had six wells installed.  In much of the outlying area there is no fresh water available.  So unless they walk far for water, it's literally collected from muddy puddles.  Thus the children and elderly are very sick and it contributes to the mortality rate -- simply for lack of water.

Andy put together a great T-shirt design and he and I have taken it to a local shop to be printed.  The shirt will feature both the OESP and Ausralian training teams logo.  As always T-shirt size here only goes to XL (thats medium to large in USA) so our bigger trainors won't be able to wear them after the first wash.

Tomorrow is disaster medicine, earthquakes tsunami's and other large scale rescue techniques. I'm guessing that means the same questions in class that we have answered in previous training session, which is "What if it happens here in Cambodia?  Our answer is, "If it happens in Cambodia without warning, do the best you can do, and we will be on the ground in 36 hours to help you out".

More updates from class tomorrow, Gary

Another day of instruction arrived and each group went their way.  The EMS group continued trauma week covering topics like: lifts, drags, carries and some auto extrication before lunch.  Returning after lunch, the class spent the afternoon going over CPR and an introduction to AED protocols.

 The Communications group visited with Dr Yit Sunnarong, Chief of Technical office of Calmette Hospital to discuss communications.  Some suggestions were proposed for handling the 119 line ringing busy when they have multiple calls for ambulances and we obtained a better understanding of the ambulance coverage system for the city of Phnom Penh.  Later in the day, time was spent at the city’s radio transmitter station obtaining more information on their inoperative radios.  In the process, the staff there was moved to check through all of their spare parts and documentation.  What they found was many of the items we had asked about last week which will make further attempts to bring transmitters into service easier.  They also found a part that will allow them to bring one of the radios on air today.  When we arrived, we found that since last week, they had repaired a system controller that was reported as inoperative.  All in all, things continue to move forward in the communications field this trip.

 Bruce’s View:

Another week begins.  It is Training Day 6 and it has dawned sunny and hot.  The Fire guys once again headed out to the academy to continue their training in the dust and heat.  But the EMS guys, they headed for the air conditioned comfort of HOPE hospital to continue their instruction with the combined classes of police personnel and the new students that had started at HOPE Hospital last week.  For the EMS students this will be trauma week.  Both classes learned or reviewed the basics and starting today they will begin to gain a knowledge of how they can affect the health of someone injured traumaticaly. Today they learned and practiced making splints and cervical collars from the many items that one can find lying around.

Jerry stayed busy today conversing with one of his resources about possible solutions to the radio problems the police are having, as well  as to getting suggestions on where we might be able to obtain some additional spare parts.  Tomorrow, while the Fire guys are working hard at getting dirty and the EMS guys are enjoying their air conditioned auditorium, Jerry will be meeting with the staff at Kalamet Hospital to talk about communications and visiting the transmitter station again to conduct some equipment tests.

 Bruce’s View

Well, we taught and taught. The Aussies taught the Wild Land class and we (Mel and I – Mel is an Aussie too) taught fire behavior. Mel did the bulk of the teaching. Poor John labored through with the SCBA search and rescue without an interpreter. I’m not sure how he does it, but he is good at it. I failed in securing another interpreter. Hopefully we will get one tomorrow. 
The 103 degree heat today really kicked our bottoms. Not much else to say except we all need some food. Then we need some rest so we can do it all over again tomorrow. I just met with Sos and he was telling me what the generals want for a show this Friday. It’s just another waste of time to show off stuff that no one understands. Maybe someday………….

That’s it from here for today.  To our families and friends that worry about us, support us and put up with our wanderings to other countries, a great big Thank You!

No ladder truck or drafting engine was visible when we arrived at the training academy this morning.  Apparently they did not finish up the ladder truck yesterday and the drafting engine has a starter problem.  This severely hampers the training for today since the students switch topics today and are with a new instructor.  Dave is able to begin his USAR training and Jon will combine his and Bruce’s students to practice room searchers with the students wearing SCBAs instead of the scheduled pump operations.

 The EMS team worked on improvised stretchers, moving patients and some assessments.  By the end of the day, the EMS group challenged the Fire group to a little contest on moving patients.

 Jerry and Sos spent the afternoon at the City’s transmitter site looking at equipment, determined to identify the cause of the transmitter outages and what resources OESP might have at its disposal to correct the outages

Training Day 5 is here, the end of week one, hours from a weekend away on the beaches of Cambodia and day three of not having the ladder truck available for training.  Upon arrival at the academy this morning we did have two engines (one that can draft and one that can pump) so Jon and his group of students are going to have the opportunity to make big mud puddles.  With no ladder truck, Bruce is going over ladder and equipment placement at a fire.

 Rumor has it that CTN may be visiting today to get footage for the evening news.  In preparation for that, the Fire and EMS groups got together to go over the demonstration of skills.  The scenario is men trapped in a tunnel and the fire team will practice their confined space skills, bring the patients out of the tunnel and then the EMS team will go about triaging and treating the patients.

With no generals or news media appearing, all of the classes were concluded at noon and all of the instructors made a mad dash for the hotel.  You see, we are scheduled to be picked up at 2 p.m. for a bus ride out to the coast where we will be spending the weekend.  Everyone is looking forward to it but still have one more hurdle to clear, do we need to check out of our rooms at the New York or not.  One moment it is yes, the next it's no.  The last word as we arrived at the hotel was no we did not need to vacate our rooms.

We all met in the lobby waiting for our ride to the bus station at 1:30 but the ride didn't come and it didn't come.  Our bus is scheduled to leave at 2:30 p.m., will we make it??  About 2:15 p.m. our ride finally shows.  We each have at least a backpack, some of us are also carrying our computers and we also have 10 boxes of donated firefighting clothing to take.  We are finally loaded up and were the last ones to arrive.  But hey, we caught the bus so all is right with the world once again ... we shall all return refreshed on Sunday evening.

Adapt and overcome would have to be the way I would sum up the first  week.  Teaching EMS without EMS equiptment and teaching Fire with out proper firefighting equipment was the norm.

The people of Cambodia make it worthwhile though. Always happy, never assuming and above all wanting change. They really do make all the other stuff worth the trip.

We sent out six more soccer balls to schools in Phnom Penh.  Kids are always happy to see new stuff. The sport right now seems to be volleyball so I will pick up some of those as well.

North West Medical Teams finished up their week long class at HOPE hospital and did a tremendus job.  This group too was captured by the kindness and willingness to learn and become friends with the Cambodian people.  All five who came from NWMT have vowed to come back and be a part of this again.

Today Saturday 1/20 we are in Sihanouk ville.  After a week of challenges we pitched in and are treating ourselves to a very nice $123 dollar a night hotel. This place is great. It has 4 restaurants in it, a huge pool and it on it's own private beach on the Gulf of Thialand.  This place would go for $300+ in other parts of the world.  So when you come to Cambodia (and you know you want to) a trip to Sihanouk ville is a must. The hotel name is Sokha and it's a little bit of heaven.

The night before class begin, we had a change of plans from one EMS class to two at the request of Government officials.  Thanks to NWMT we were able to acomodate and on Monday started two classes in parallel. 

Many of the police students taught EMS from previous classes have been promoted and the police on the streets where accidents occur are in need of training and thus all the supplies from previous training had been placed in a generals office for safe keeping.  Training is key to ensure the police are equipped to use those supplies and help people in need.

All in all it's a good trip so far. We will continue to play the hand we are dealt and teach these classes to the best of our ability.  Tuesday it is supposed to start a week of 100+ degree heat.  If we're lucky we'll have have 3 fans going tomorrow and if the projector keeps running (the dry erase doesn't run out of ink) we should have a good day. 

Everyone was up early today and we headed southeast out of Phnom Penh.  About two hours later, we were in the area of the villages Prey Vang and Svay Rieng.  Sos visits this area often, helping out the villagers.  Today we brought along about 500 loafs of bread, some soccer balls for the kids as well as school supplies brought by our Australian members.

It was quite a day, spent visiting areas that wells have been drilled to provide fresh water, seeing and interacting with those in the villages.  The well Sos had drilled with monies donated by OESP members are marked with our names.  Go figure that Bill Whitney’s well was trampled by an ox, the handle broken off and the base cracked like Bill was coming up out of the grave!! Getting to these areas was not easy and we spent about three hours going place to place on the back of motor scooters over paths and across rice paddies.  We all got plenty of fresh air, sun and obviously were much warmer than our families in the Pacific Northwest.

We briefly met with Lt Col Chanda and found out that we will be doing all of the training at the Police training academy located about 45 minutes southeast of Phnom Penh.  Everyone put our heads together and began reorganizing the training schedules that had been developed.  As always, the team is prepared to adapt to unexpected changes.