Dr Charles Qiu member update 2

Published on: 16 April 2014

In February, young old boy Dr Charles Qiu (2007) joined ‘Unflappable’ Professor Grant Fergusson-Stewart (1956) on a surgical mission to Eastern Samar in the Philippines, 10 weeks after Typhoon Yolanda. Grant’s team saw firsthand the devastation of the deadly typhoon when they took a road trip through coastal villages from Tacloban to the hospital in Borongan where they were based. Grant, who does volunteer surgery at the hospital each year for three weeks, said the devastation was extreme and far worse than was shown on television. “Our patients were the poorest of the poor, and had survived with only what they were wearing. Others had illness or disease that was not treated because of the typhoon, lack of facilities or lack of money.” On Charles, Grant said: “This was a great opportunity for him to learn to work outside the luxury of our own big hospitals. We had no investigative help and were short of supplies, so we reused things normally disposed of. We were constantly without running water or electric power. Quite an experience! … Although Charles was just starting his surgical training in Perth, he fitted into our surgical mission team very professionally and it was a pleasure for me to let everyone know that he was from my old school! He was a great ambassador for Australia and for Christ Church.”