When she registered a high fever in a woman in her rural community, Auntie Arun alerted the local hospital, which quickly dispatched a team of doctors and healthcare personnel to transport a COVID-19 patient. Fortunately, the woman did not have the corona virus and the village of Moo 11 in Nong Khai province remains free of the pandemic. Auntie Arun (Arunrat Rukthin), 60, said she intends to keep it that way.
Auntie Arun is not a doctor, but a member of the rural Village Health Volunteers. – known by their Thai acronym Aor Sor Mor – the unsung heroes on the frontline to guard and protect residents from the coronavirus. They are also cited as one of the reasons why COVID-19 numbers in Thailand have remained relatively low.
“We are ready in every neighborhood, in every village and every district. We know everyone, who lives where. We knock on the door, ask where people have been and give our phone numbers so they can call. We are distributing pamphlets about COVID and hand washing and sticking the pamphlets on doors,” said Auntie Arun.
Khaosod English
This is how an entertaining article by Asaree Thaitrakulpanich begins under the title “Meet rural health volunteers, the unsung heroes on virus fronline” on the website of Khaosod English. In the story, the background of the organization Village Health Volunteers (Aor Sor Mor) is explained and a number of volunteers from different parts of Thailand, such as Non Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu, speak. Narathiwat, Satun, Pathum Thani and Suphan Buri.
The volunteers
The volunteers act as a mediator between local residents and medical staff, collecting medical data and passing on doctor's prescriptions. They have no real medical training, although courses in this field do take place from time to time. The advantage is mainly that they know the people and families in their neighborhood, to whom such a volunteer provides the necessary information, which they would not easily give to a doctor or nursing staff. Also towards a patient it is a great support for a doctor to work with the local volunteer.
In this day and age it goes without saying that the volunteer's contact with the people in her “neighborhood” is important. They take their temperature, point out the importance of washing hands and keeping a distance from others in order not to become infected with the corona virus and sound the alarm if necessary. Anyway, read the stories of the volunteers: www.khaosodenglish.com/
History
The establishment of the Village Health Volunteers network began in 1977, when the Thai Ministry of Health partnered with the Japanese government to develop a primary health care system in all regions of the country.
The concept was also an embodiment of Thailand's pragmatism, drawing inspiration from the Thai Communist Party's local version of "barefoot doctors" as practiced in China. Widespread anti-communist sentiment in Thailand during the Cold War was not a hindrance.
Now the organization has a network of more than 1 million (!) volunteers, each providing basic health information to the local population and coordinating doctor visits to 15 to 25 households.
Back in Nong Khai with Auntie Arun
The motivation for Auntie Arun to do this volunteer work is that she wants to assist her neighbor in case of illness in a sober way and sincere care. “I know how many people live under each roof. I am responsible for them from birth to death.”
A volunteer since 1991, she knows everyone in the 20 households in Moo 11 for which she is solely responsible. Her sub-district, Tha Bo, has about 300 volunteers in total, with 22 in Moo 11.
'I do it because I love it. I want to help my neighbours. Of course, in this time of COVID, I hope to get none of it in return. But I love my family and neighbors and don't want them to get hurt," she said. “I also enjoy chatting with people, checking on them and learning new things as a health volunteer.”
See also this video:
About this blogger
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Bert Gringhuis (1945), born and raised in Almelo in the beautiful Twente. Later lived for many years in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, working in export for various companies. I first came to Thailand in 1980 and immediately fell in love with the country. Been back many times since then and moved to Thailand after my (early) retirement as a widower. I have been living there for 22 years now with my somewhat younger Thai lady Poopae.
My first experiences in Thailand as a kind of newsletter sent to family, friends and acquaintances, which later appeared under the name Gringo on Thailandblog. Many, many articles followed those first stories and that has grown into an almost daily hobby.
In the Netherlands still an avid footballer and football referee, but the years are starting to tell and in Thailand still avid, but the pool billiards is really of inferior quality, ha ha!
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Thank you for the people you help
Good story, Gringo, I'm glad about that. These volunteers deserve to be put in the spotlight. They are largely responsible for the public health successes in Thailand. They visit pregnant women, maternity women, the elderly, the disabled, people with HIV, make sure they use their medicines properly and that children are vaccinated.
Good that Khaosod writes something about this, that's why I read them every day. And Gringo good that you translated this for those who prefer to read in Dutch. It is a pity that the automatically generated 'related topics' do not include Tino's old article about the health volunteers. Hereby: https://www.thailandblog.nl/gezondheid-2/volksgezondheid-thailand-succesverhaal/