Medical Services at "The Beach" and Reflections [Blogpost 102]

My daughter sustained a sports injury back in May and subsequently we ended up spending a few days at Pantai Hospital. I am not sure of the exact reasoning of the name of the hospital, but - once armed with the knowledge that in Bahasa (the national language of Malaysia) “pantai” means “beach” - it certainly sounds more agreeable.

Over the last eight months I have had a number of reflections and observations of which these are just a few:

• The compassion shared by the taxi driver who drove us to Accident and Emergency (A & E)/the Emergency Room (E.R). He slowed down as much as possible to ensure the speed bumps (and there are many on one section of the road from our home to the hospital!) had minimum impact on my daughter. He apologized profusely for not being able to make the bump less impactful at each and every speed bump.

• The doctors and nurses in the Accident and Emergency (A & E)/the Emergency Room (E.R) who spoke with me out of earshot of my daughter to share their initial prognosis (based on the x-ray) of needing surgery and pins to hold bones together. (While this may seem an obvious practice, they are times in Malaysia when medical practitioners will make comments in front of others without thinking of the impact of their words).

• The amazingly personable, kind hearted and thoroughly professional orthopedic surgeon under whose care she was placed. Each and every time he spoke with us, he took his time to share next steps and always answered our questions (again, not something which can be taken as a given).

• The occupational therapist who, when teaching her how to use crutches and especially for manoeuvring up and down stairs, patiently explained and demonstrated the individual (literally and metaphorically) steps.

• While taking flights during the summer it was very sobering to see others who were being given priority access to board. While the airport wheelchair was (in some respects) a novelty for my daughter, seeing others who will use a wheelchair for the rest of their life or a gentleman using sticks and would appear to have done so since birth, was a great reminder that despite the inconvenience of these last few months, it was but a short time.

• I was taken aback at the range of emotions from strangers. There were many who held doors open for my daughter or inquired after her in a genuinely kind fashion. I was, however, taken aback at others who would see her on crutches and with a boot and make a comment like, “I hope you got the other guy back” as if to normalize violence.

• My daughter dealt with the new reality (especially the first three months while on crutches). She demonstrated self-discipline by religiously doing her physio two/three times a day and, despite being increasingly tired, managed to study and prepare for all her exams. She took it all (no pun intended) in her stride!

• She also took on board the reality of being unable to participate in Season One (August - November) sports and has - for the last two months - put in place a light fitness plan to maintain fitness, but without placing undue stress upon her ankle so as to be able to join season two sports.

Whilst many of these examples may seem to reflect on my personal life and have little relevance to education, I would counter with the following:

• When watching my daughter being taught how to use crutches initially and then specifically the process for going up and down stairs, I thought of the task analysis activities I was asked to complete as part of my Special Education certification programme in California.

• When we are able to complete tasks automatically, we become oblivious to the microsteps and it can be frustrating to slow down and itemize each and every step.

• However, the ability to break down tasks to the constituents is important to ensure no step is missed. This is important for academic learning (ie. remembering the steps for long division problems, writing a paragraph) and especially when the focus is on life skills activities (ie. getting dressed, crossing the road, personal hygiene etc.,.). With regard to students whose learning differences and needs are greater, these important life skills allow our students to maintain dignity, personal safety and ultimately a level of independence as they progress through school and prepare for life beyond.

Saturday was our last visit to “The Beach” and she has been “cleared” by the doctor to participate in sports fully. As much as we very much appreciate the care of her doctor, we are quite happy to know that we no longer have to rush across town for x-rays and doctor’s appointments and that life is back to normal.