My Nonprofit Reviews

I am very lucky to have met and worked with the HandReach team this summer as a volunteer! This is truly an incredible organization comprised of compassionate and dedicated people who genuinely want to help in whatever ways they can to support the physical and emotional recovery of these children. I was able to observe the team as they shared their expertise on burn contracture management with the Chinese physical therapists, and I got to see the smiles of the kids as they painted huge colorful murals with the HandReach team in between their therapy sessions! It was clear how much happiness the HandReach team brought these kids, and how receptive the hospital staff were to learning everything they could from the team.

Personally, HandReach has also helped me clarify my career goals and has nurtured my passion for caring for those afflicted with burn injuries. Coming straight from a 6 month work experience on a Burn/Trauma Unit in Boston, the 2 month experience on a pediatric burn unit in Beijing that HandReach assisted me in setting up enabled me to compare healthcare systems, determinants, and barriers as well as burn care techniques, which I feel has already made me a better nurse. I realized on this trip the vital role that organizations like HandReach has in providing experiential learning especially for aspiring healthcare professionals. The opportunity to observe care practices in a different country is invaluable, because it offers countless opportunities to not only learn, but also share experiences in a mutually beneficial partnership in which resources, education, and clinical work can be shared. Easily one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. I came back from this trip inspired by the knowledge I had gained, touched by the children I met, and very excited to share all that I had experienced with my co-workers in the burn unit, my friends, and classmates. I honestly learned more than I ever expected to learn from the HandReach team, the hospital staff, the children, and their families, and only hope now that I will someday be able to pay it forward.

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