Building on the success of last year, the British Medical Association (BMA) is again running a competition that celebrates the voluntary work carried out by doctors, and the help they deliver to those in need.
The ‘Doctors as Volunteers’ competition invites doctors from across the UK to share their experiences of the challenging and varied work they have done at home and abroad, by creating a poster to promote their cause and highlight what they have learned.
The posters are being shown in the exhibition area at the BMA’s annual representative meeting in Liverpool this week, where two winners have been chosen.
Dr Faraaz de Belder, an anesthetist from Sheffield, produced one of the winning posters on her voluntary work as a special constable for West Yorkshire police, where she works alongside police officers on routine patrol, planned drug raids and arresting offenders with a warrant.
Dr de Belder chose to be a special constable to gain an insight into a role that is different to her day to day work as a doctor. “I wanted to do something that was out of my comfort zone and joining the police as a special constable is an entirely different world to working as a hospital doctor.
“Being able to come home after a shift knowing that I dealt with a situation and made a positive impact in reducing crime is a great feeling and it never gets old.”
The second winner is Claire Ferraro, a voluntary doctor from London, who worked in Freetown, Sierra Leone with King’s Sierra Leone Partnership, helping victims who had signs or symptoms linked to the Ebola crisis.
The Ebola epidemic has devastated communities in West Africa with Claire saying it was hot, busy and exhausting work, but an incredibly rewarding experience. Here she explains her most memorable moment:
“During my first week in the unit, I gave the good news of a negative Ebola test to a terrified young boy who had been admitted alone and had spent most of the time quietly crying in his bed, he was then reunited with enormous hugs from his family.
“There was a great sense of camaraderie in the unit with friendship and good times making up for those times when it was pretty tough.
“Seeing the number of Ebola cases start to fall was satisfying, but my heart sinks every time a new case is detected. We are all hopeful 2015 will see the end of Ebola and allow the country to repair its weakened health system. King’s will be there to support that process every step of the way.”
One of the runners up, Dr Anil Joshi from London, has been volunteering in Asia’s poorest country at the Bairo Pite Clinic in Timor Lest, where she uses her skills and experience to provide care for almost 400 patients a day.
Dr Joshi said that volunteering for the Bairo Pite clinic is very rewarding: “The Timorese people are rebuilding their lives after years of conflict and their ambitious willingness to advance is inspirational.
“The organisation relies on charitable donations, with people volunteering their time. You can’t put a price on how rewarding the work and experience is."
Another entry who was a runner up is Dr Elizabeth Morris from Barnsley, who has been volunteering with British Exploring as a medic for charity expeditions and treks.
Reflecting on her time volunteering, Dr Morris said: “Seeing young people develop as the expedition progresses has to be the most rewarding part of volunteering. Many achieve goals that they would not have believed possible beforehand and there are some who decide to pursue a career in medicine after seeing a doctor working in close proximity.”
Also having their poster featured at the exhibition are Dr Joanna Gordon from Sheffield and Dr Alice Braga from Bristol who volunteer for Facing Africa, a UK based charity which funds surgical teams to perform facial reconstruction surgery for children under the age of six who have noma in Ethiopia.
Dr Gordon and Dr Braga said: “It is incredibly rewarding watching patients see the results of their treatments and the excitement on their faces at being able to do every day normal things such as eat solid foods and be able to chew in public.”
Dr Ian Wilson, BMA representative body chair, said: “As doctors, we have a unique set of skills and expertise that can be used to help individuals and communities around the world, such as the recent Ebola outbreak which saw the deployment of doctors from the UK to provide support in helping to combat the crisis.
“We are tremendously impressed to see so many doctors involved in this and a range of other voluntary activities, and it is a privilege to be able to recognise the importance of undertaking voluntary work.”
