Dankook University spread warmth by delivering medical supplies to Cambodia, which suffers from a poor healthcare environment. With support from Korean pharmaceutical companies and DKU’s Youth Volunteer Group, consisting of ten students from the College of Medicine and Nursing and Professor Kyong-jin Cho (College of Medicine), the Cheonan volunteer corps delivered medical supplies and masks to the Cambodian relief group ‘Cambodia Battambang CSCP (Cooperation for saving of Cambodian People).’
Nutritional supplements, tear substitutes, eye drops, and two thousand masks were sent to Cambodia by ship together with a list of the medical supplies and a user manual prepared by the Youth Volunteer Group. The medical supplies were provided by 4 Korean pharmaceutical companies and are scheduled to arrive in Cambodia sometime in September. The supplies will be used by the relief group in treating local patients. The volunteer corps held video conferences with the local relief group to identify their needs and to understand the local situation beforehand in order to prepare appropriate medical supplies. Supplies remaining after the shipment will be sent to domestic institutions in need after discussions with the Cheonan Volunteer Center.
“COVID-19 has made it difficult to engage in volunteer work in person, but it has also created more places that need our help,” said Yeong-chan Song (second year medical student), who took part in the volunteer program. “[We] sent a carefully prepared manual to make it easy to use the supplies, so I hope the supplies can be put to good use for local patients.”
While social work cannot be conducted in the same way as before the pandemic, DKU is innovatively running various ‘untact’ volunteer programs instead of face-to-face overseas volunteer programs. These programs support activities for the underprivileged, provide assistance in rural areas, and improve upon previous efforts in regional environments. Although not in person, overseas volunteer efforts have continued in the form of providing education supplies and user manuals, which were made ready and sent to elementary schools in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia last year. Domestic, on-site volunteer work such as making kimchi and rice donations for those in need are also underway.