Paediatric Consultant, Helen Armstrong, has been teaching over the summer - almost 6,000 miles and 12 hours away from the Learning Centre at CRH.

Helen was invited to Vietnam to teach potential resuscitation course instructors in Newborn Life Support (NLS). She was invited by the charity, newborns VIETNAM, and got involved as the charity’s co-director had seen her teach in Manchester. 

Helen, pictured third left on the middle row, said: “Of course I said yes right away, as I absolutely love teaching. It’s good fun and I love seeing the confidence and skills of my colleagues improve, knowing that many of them will take their skills and themselves become co-instructors in the future. It was also a wonderful opportunity to go abroad, to see how the system was different and to learn a bit about the Vietnamese people.

“It was amazing. The Vietnamese doctors, nurses and midwives in the National Children's Hospital in Hanoi could not have been more lovely and welcoming. They absorbed the teaching and were a joy to have in our groups. Having passed their General Instructor Course (GIC), they’ll go out and teach people how to resuscitate babies in their local units, some of which are tens of miles from a big centre. This will continue to improve the survival of newborns in Vietnam.

“I did manage some sightseeing too, as I’d taken annual leave so I could do the teaching. What a wonderful, vibrant country Vietnam is. I managed to see much of Hanoi on the back of a Vespa!

“It was a real pleasure to pay it forward to support such an amazing charity, whilst having a brilliant experience too. They must have seen how much I enjoyed it, as they’ve asked me back next year.”