They didn’t speak the same language or share the same culture.
They didn’t have access to modern medical equipment or air-conditioned facilities while working in temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite the obstacles, a group of Madison-based nursing school students and college graduates provided care to over a thousand children of Cambodia and Laos during a three-week medical mission trip through the nonprofit organization Family Care Cornerstone Project.
Bethany Rieth, a 2015 University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate from Oconto Falls, was a member of the 15-person team.
From May 20 to June 9, the group visited orphanages, schools and hospitals providing care to kids who Rieth said “never would receive it otherwise.”
“A lot of these kids go uncared for for a very long time,” said Rieth, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in May.
In her last semester of nursing school, Rieth worked in a pediatric intensive care unit with a professor who taught at UW-Madison and Edgewood College in Madison. The professor accompanies students to Cambodia twice a year, and Rieth joined the contingent, not to earn course credit like the other students, but to serve others and practice her nursing skills.
Rieth previously participated in two other mission trips, helping to build homes in Jamaica and Alaska through Next Step Ministry of Madison, but this was her first medical mission trip. Each experience has had a profound impact on her life, she said.
“It changes your heart. You truly realize how much we take for granted here,” she said.
For the people of Cambodia and Laos, “their focus every day is making sure they have food to eat, clothes on their body and somewhere for shelter,” she said.
Since returning from her trip, Rieth has encouraged others to participate in service work — not in far-flung places, but close to home, by donating to local food pantries and being conscious of the food, water and clothing they waste.
“Every little bit we can do here is important. There’s so much need here in our own communities, and we tend to turn a blind eye toward it,” she said.
Over the three-week period in South East Asia, each member of the mission team saw over 150 children, providing a head-to-toe assessment for each one. Team members provided care for the child or referred the child for followup treatment. They also offered payment for continued care; Rieth said a lifesaving surgery could range in cost from $25 to $50.
Rieth, who paid her own travel expenses, raised over $2,000 for her trip, with a big part coming from St. Anthony school and parish. Rieth designated the funds for surgeries and dentist appointments, and also donated toward the development of a surgical wing at Angkor Hospital for Children in Cambodia.
Rieth also received donations of medical supplies and hygiene kits (toothbrush and toothpaste, a bar of soap, wash cloth and comb), which she carried to each location she visited. She said the children’s response to the hygiene packs surprised her.
“It was amazing because almost every child we gave them to almost broke out in tears; some of them did. They were so happy to receive a toothbrush!” she said.
The supplies were transported in a few Army duffel bags, weighing about 100 pounds altogether. A lack of modern medical tools had Rieth asking herself, “How can I provide care to this child with little or no equipment?”
Although she was assisted by a an interpreter, Rieth found it difficult to question the children about their health.
“We definitely learned to use our eyes and assess the children, which is a good skill to learn,” she said.
The group spent one week in Phnon Penh and a week in Siem Reap in Cambodia, and also spent part of a week in Laos with the Friends Children’s Hospital of Laos. There they worked with nurses and doctors teaching about health care. Pain management was Rieth’s theme, and she taught how to assess for pain and how to treat it.
“An interesting thing is when I asked them how they identified pain in a child, the only answer they could give me is ‘If the child is crying.’ They could not identify any other types of pain, how to identify it and what to do about it,” she said.
Other signs of pain are fever, lethargy or sleepiness, or a change in the way a child interacts with others, she told the native health care providers.
“Even as nursing students or as recent grads, we were more educated than the nurses and doctors working over in Cambodia,” she said.
Because of a genocide campaign in Cambodia from 1975-79, about 2 million people were killed in the country, leaving 50 percent of today’s population 15 and under.
“The idea here that we learn from experience, we learn from a mother, they just don’t get,” Rieth said.
Those she encountered on her mission trip were honest and gracious, she said. The girls were curious about life in America and loved practicing their English-speaking skills. To bond with the kids, Rieth would paint their fingernails or give them hair supplies, jewelry or school supplies.
The group from the U.S. stayed at hotels with electricity and running water, and on days when no clinicals were scheduled, they visited temples, explored caves and saw waterfalls. On the last day of the trip they rode and splashed around with elephants.
Rieth, who is studying for her boards of nursing examination and applying for jobs, has a long-term hope to work in a neonatal or pediatric intensive care unit. She’d also like to participate in more medical missions.
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