Day 8 -last day at the memorial hospital

Hey travel journal,
Today was a nice chilled day which was awesome. We got up and I had breaky (from my food draw which was so nice) and then headed down stairs and onto the bus to head over to the memorial hospital for the last time. We started the day with presentations on the birthing suits and hospice centre before heading out into the wards. Then we headed up into the paediatric ICU were there were lot of tiny little sick babies and so many of them intubated or on nasal oxygen, a couple in humidifiers and on intubated bubbles was on a vibration machine that apparently helps to stimulate the respiratory system and diaphragm function. First they showed us an empty room set up ready with a humidifier just in case something happens and they need it. Then from the neonatal wards we went into paediatric ICU where they only have two beds. Both had girls around the age of 5 years, intubated and under intensive care with meningitis / encephalitis. Things can change so quickly Sharni was telling me tonight that when her group went into this ward the second girl was blocked off because her family had had a meeting with the doc and they had been informed that she was brain dead and would never survive off life support, so they were saying their goodbyes as they had opted to turn off the ventilator. She was is a semi sit position when I saw her with the back of the bed elevated and her legs propped up with a blanket under the knees. I remember thinking how clever it was that they had blown up a glove and used two of the middle fingers tied together to hold the ET tube and the body of the glove to keep it elevated from the girls chest. So clever. But a reminder of just how fragile life is and how fast a patients condition can change. After that we went into neonate ICU ward that had four babies in cribes and one in a humidifier. This room was for premature babies (anyone under 2kg). With two of the babies having growing to over 2kg, one having just been weaned of nasal oxygen and one still on Nasal but he was looking around and blowing bubbles despite the Nasal pronges taped to his face. And two tiny tiny babies, doing amazing and breathing on their own but just so tiny. Then we went into the breastfeeding room, where a special chair is set up for mums with a big curtain that can provide them with privacy and three other babies in this room in bassinets on monitoring equipment. The littlest bubble in this room was sucking on what looked like a cue tip, and although his ecg was ok, his heart was over 180 (which isn't actually too bad for a bub his size) but his resp rate was nearly 60. We told the doctor and he said that it has actually improved and he is not requiring oxygen at the moment but he does have lung disease. Then we headed over to the hospice centre. They have 8 palliative care beds in this area, a lounge room, a bath room and a death room (as they call it, and is exactly what it sounds like). People who qualify for this room are those who require high levels of care and have less then 6 months to live. The lounge is a multi function room with a TV, couches, table and a fish tank. And is used for family visits, to get patients out of their room for a bit (there are oxygen ports and suction on the walls for those who need it), weddings, graduation photos with families, meetings etc. The patients have activities such as crafts they can do, and can get massage and aromatherapy. The bathroom is amazing. The views from the one way glass windows are amazing of the hills and the bath has a removable bed that they patient lays on and the bed. And bath tub can be moved to help immerse the patient, who can then have a shower, bath or spa. It's pretty fancy. The room is also used for hair cuts and has a. Radio in the corner so they can chill out and listen to music. Then we went into what they call the death room. When a patient is just about to pass away they move them into this room and can change the wall to being neutral clouds, Buddhist or Christian images. They can change the lighting and covering on the windows. Play any music, sounds or chanting they want. And the family can spend up to 8hrs in with the patient and do any family rituals or prey or just sit with the family member. The temp in the room is also 16 degrees so that once the patient has passed the body doesn't smell. Lovely, thoughtful idea, weird room to be in. And it started a conversation about if ghosts are real... After hospice we headed down to the delivery room. After looking at the three bus born today in the baby. Room through the window we gowned up and headed into the birthing suits. The first part of the ward is single rooms that mums in labour hangout in until they are fully dilated. There is a bed, a chair and a bathroom,.as well as monitoring equipment for both mum and feral heart rate, etc. After mum is fully dilated she is taken into the delivery room where a doctor will deliver her baby. The delivery room is a massive chair with strip's. It was so funny Andy jumped up on the chair and Jimmy pretended to be the catcher and I played 'dad' while people took pictures. After the delivery rooms we headed back to the conference room where they gave us all lunch and bubble tea, a popper, jasmine tea, a muffin and a biscuit. Seriously I brought a bunch of it back to the dorm. In full Andy fashion he ate all of it, had two bubble teas and finished off like three other meals apart from his own. Damn that kid can eat. Then we took a final group photo and said our goodbyes before heading out. We all went to the stationary store. Unfortunately the back pack Sophie wanted wasn't there but between us we still managed to spend a lot of money. I brought some note books which I really don't need but that we're very cool and a few book marks. I found awesome bookmarks in Chinese characters but when I asked someone to translate they had weird meanings so I decided not to go there. Jim tried to help me with an app the best he could but in the end we gave up. Then we all jumped on the MRT and went to the supermarket to get final typhoon prep. The supermarket was hectic. There were people everywhere and shelves were empty everywhere. Once we were all done we headed back to the dorms. I checked my emails and applied for a QAS PTS job and took photos of my knee for babs to show to Peter of all my bruising and soreness. Then a bunch of us headed out down to food street for dinner. I got curry fried rice with vegetables. And we all headed back to the dorm to eat. The girls joined a bunch of the others on level 5 to play cards and I decided to be antisocial and headed back to the room and ate while watching Netflix. Getting out of the elevator was a shock I was hit with a sea of Korean students. This program has three schools Qut, Korea and Singapore and officially starts tomorrow. Because of our holiday dates are different to Asia we come a week earlier and get to spend time at the memorial hospital, which the other schools don't get. So they have all arrived. And they have taken over. I had to wait soo long to get into the shower because everytime I attempted they were just everywhere. Then after a shower, it was time for bed. Keen for the lectures to start tomorrow. Night xo.Read more