Clear Path International Introduces Hippos to Cambodia

The hippo never was indigenous to Cambodia. As far as we can tell from our natural
history research, the large slick round animal comes from Africa. But that didn't
stop us from introducing it to the young patients at the Angkor Hospital for
Children in Siem Reap.



Our hippo donation came in the form of a pediatric exam table given to Clear Path
by the Group Health Cooperative of Seattle last year along with about five
container loads of other medical equipment and supplies the large health care chain
no longer needed, ranging from OR tables, anesthesia machines, x-ray equipment,
gurneys, exam tables, crash carts and so on.



Much of the Group Health donation went to the earthquake region of Pakistan and to
a hospital in El Salvador, but we set many of the pediatric items aside for the
children's hospital, thanks to a shipping grant from Universal Aide Society in
Canada. Snoqualmie Valley Hospital also contributed items to the shipment. The
other items we sent to Cambodia include an incubator, billy warmer, pediatric
gurneys, an infant scale, cribs and surgical supplies.



Though the incubator and warming light may have greater practical healing power,
the hippo was by "the biggest hit" among the children at Angkor hospital, said
David Shoemaker, executive director. "It's being used all the time."



But the staff seems to like almost as much. When we toured the hospital and were
introduced to everyone, Shoemaker only needed to say "these are the people who
gave us the hippo" and there was an immediate smile and recognition!



The Angkor Hospital for Children is a bustling place in the center of Siem Reap,
tucked between the Center market and some big hotels. It was started by a Japanese
photographer who frequented the nearby temples of Angkor Wat and discovered the
plight of the area's children suffering from HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, tropical
diseases, tuberculosis, polio and other serious conditions. The hospital staff,
which includes international volunteers, sees an average of 300 children per day
and its annual patient load is up to 70,000.



Although somewhat overwhelmed by its load drawn from Siem Reap and surrounding
provinces and an active outreach program, the hospital is so well run it is now
training doctors, nurses and specialists in the government-funded public health
sector.



Impressed with facility when I visited it last year, I decided to set aside the
pediatrict items donated to us in the Seattle area with the help of a nurse from
the Mukilteo area who had also visited to hospital. When I came across the hippo at
Group Health I thought of the hospital immediately.



Little did I know it was going to be so popular that the hospital decided to buy
several other exam beds shaped like animals, including an elephant, Shoemaker
said. The elephant will delight the kids as well, though it may not surprise them
as much as the hippo for we all know the lumbering large-footed, big-eared collosus
with the trumpeting trunk is indigenous to Cambodia and regularly is seen at
Angkor Wat giving rides through the park.