Groote Schuur Hospital: Cape Town, South Africa — Perspectives on Global Health

Jacqueline Roberge-Dao

I’ve always been fascinated with travelling and meeting new people. A previous trip to rural Peru working at a centre for children with disabilities gave me the travel bug and motivated me to discover new cultures.

In Cape Town, I had the opportunity to intern in the largest public hospital of the Western Cape, the Groote Schuur Hospital. I split my 8 weeks between 3 different rotations: neurology, paediatrics and general medicine. As the beds needed to be cleared quickly in general medicine, my role was to quickly assess and discharge with outpatient referrals, assistive equipment and/or self-management education. In neuro and peds, cases were much more intense which required intensive daily rehab for remediation of function.

A story I would like to share happened one day on the neuro ward. An elderly woman was admitted displaying total body paralysis, but brain scans revealed everything was working normally; the team didn’t know what to do. I spent three hours just talking to her about her life experiences and my own (therapeutic use of self). I learned that her husband had passed a couple of years ago, that she was carrying an enormous burden of responsibility for her multi-generational family, and that she had just been diagnosed with HIV. As we explored her grief, guilt and attachments, she revealed to me that this was the first time in many years that she was able to express herself and feel heard. The next day, I returned to see her and a miracle happened: slowly but surely, I was able to get her out of the bed – she was no longer paralyzed. We took a walk outside that day, and she cried thanking me. This made me appreciate that no matter where we are born or what experiences we’ve been through, we are, at our core, the same. And sometimes magical things can occur when we remember that love is real and that connection and empathy can go a long way.

This field work has influenced my future career plans in that I will be extremely willing to accept an opportunity that takes me abroad. I overcame many personal fears during this trip which helps me move forward and push my boundaries of what is possible in terms of working whilst travelling. I have witnessed disparities in health and realized the immense need for powerful figures that will advance the system and humanity as a whole.

Jacqueline Roberge-Dao won the SPOT Global Health Travel Award. She is about to graduate from a master’s in Occupational Therapy (M2).