Since 2010, CamKids has provided the funding to enable One-2-One Cambodia to operate the Canalside Community Clinic in an urban slum region of Phnom Penh. This is one of 3 such clinics which provide medical treatment and education to some of the most underserved and vulnerable people in Cambodia. Our Canalside medical team visits the community every week and services families in two communities; Thnoat Chrum and Sambok Chab as well as people from other surrounding communities.
Most of the residents are rubbish pickers, construction workers and garment factory workers who face a range of malnutrition, acute and chronic health problems, injuries and diseases. The clinic provides a range of medical, nursing and maternal treatment and care at the Canalside clinic. Since January 2014, the medical team has treated a total of 478 patients; 155 patients were provided with medical treatment, 267 were provided with nursing care and 56 were provided with maternal treatment and care.
Over the last six months our team has not only focused on providing medical treatment, but continued to promote health education and training about preventing and treating a range of common diseases including dengue fever, acute diarrhoea, respiratory infections including common colds, typhoid fever, malaria etc, during our weekly visits. The result of our focus on preventative health education is evident, as the number of patients visiting our medical clinic for acute medical care has decreased by a total of 24 patients (compared to the same reporting period in 2013).
The clinic also operates a social welfare program to community members who visit our clinic. As part of this program, our team ensures that patients have adequate food and clothing, and access to transport for specialized treatment at hospitals, so that they can receive any ongoing follow-up treatment that they require.
Our medical team always works cooperatively and respectfully in each of the communities and with the village chiefs. As a result, we have continued to build trust and strong relationships with the slum residents. On a recent trip to the Clinic, our medical team treated a young 13 year old girl, Rong Sreychen, who was suffering from a sore throat and cough. Sreychen had previously visited the clinic when she was treated for a serious burns injury in 2013.
Sreychen told our Medical Assistant, Tem Channat, that she is very thankful to the clinic for continuing to visit the Canalside community. "I would like to thank CamKids and One-2-One for providing the medical treatment and medicine which my family cannot afford", she said. "Whenever I or my baby brother is sick I know that we can visit the clinic. It is very safe there and the medical staff always take good care of me".
