The Teesside University students, alongside lecturers, ran into the cold waters of the North Sea at Redcar beach as part of the annual Redcar Boxing Day Dip.
The group held hands and wore their Cambodian nursing uniforms in an emotional fundraising effort for Roka Referral Hospital, an under resourced village hospital they encountered during their placement.
Healthcare in Cambodia is in urgent need of improvement.
The country faces significant shortages of health professionals and facilities.
The students hope their initiative will not only provide direct support to Roka Referral Hospital but also raise awareness about the global disparities in healthcare access.
The group of students, all part of Teesside University’s nursing programme, took part in a self-funded nursing placement in Cambodia in 2024.
As part of the trip the nursing students attended Battambang Provincial Hospital and Roka Referral Hospital, as well as local villages and a school.
They saw extreme levels of poverty and witnessed first-hand the immense challenges facing healthcare workers in resource-limited settings.
“I’ve loved all my nursing placements, but what I saw in Cambodia was a real eye-opener,” said Sophie Wright from Middlesbrough, one of the third-year nursing students involved in the fundraising effort.
As well as the international placement, Sophie has completed placements in local hospitals and settings such as West Park Hospital in Darlington, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Newton Aycliffe and Roseberry Park Hospital in Middlesbrough.
However, the disparities in care between the UK healthcare settings and Cambodia is what has motivated her to fundraise.
“We visited hospitals in Cambodia where there is no privacy and extreme overcrowding,” says Sophie. On the Cambodian placement the nursing students saw children being born in a shared room without painkillers. They also saw a family mourning their loved-one in the middle of a busy hospital.
“At the end of some days, I just couldn’t stop crying,” Sophie recalls. “We were often left speechless. It was not what we’d expected. When I got back to the UK, I was really upset for quite a while, I felt empty and sad. I realised there are many things I for granted. That sometimes I complain but ultimately, I’m so lucky. Lots of us who went on the trip felt the same, so we knew we had to do something.”
The Teesside students decided to take action by raising money to fund vital resources. Their “Boxing day dip” challenge is part of an ongoing fundraising effort.
The event has received an outpouring of support with over 100 donations from the local community, raising more than £2,000 – and donations are still coming in.
“I was shocked,” says Sophie. “I had hoped people would donate. But when I looked at our GoFundMe page and it was going up and up … I didn’t expect it. It kept pinging with lovely messages.”
In addition to the sea run, the group will continue to raise funds, considering the Great North Run and the Three Peaks Challenge for their next fundraising effort.
As well as raising money the students hope to inspire others to engage in global health equality and advocacy to make lasting improvements.
Sophie is particularly passionate about mental health nursing with hopes to become a mental health nurse for our Trust when she graduates.
Sophie was shocked by the disparities in mental health care between her placements in the North East compared with the facilities she visited in Cambodia. She says: “I spent a day working in psychiatry in Cambodia, where there were no inpatient mental health services. If you’re in mental health crisis outside of the 9-to-5 hours, there is no service. And Roka Referral Hospital doesn’t have mental health services that I’ve seen.”
“The money we’ve raised so far will be enough to pay for a year’s wage in Cambodia. We’re hoping it can be put to good use.”
The students’ fundraiser is just one example of the growing trend of student nurses around the world using their international experiences to drive change, raise awareness, and improve access to healthcare in developing countries. Their effort comes at a time when there is increasing recognition of the need to address global healthcare inequalities and to support international healthcare initiatives.
To donate or learn more about the campaign, visit the Boxing Day Dip for Cambodia Healthcare GoFundMe page.
