HEALTH PROMOTION & Session with Dr Kay

At 2.30 p.m., Encik Jaharun tells us about public health promotion. It is not as easy as it seems, he told, often creative activities such as quiz, games, talks, attractive poster, calendars, broachers and etc  are created, in order to catch the attention of the public. Besides that, he has to find out where and when is the perfect time and place to promote health.

At 3 p.m.  we are honored to have Doctor Kay here in Kuala Nerang. She gave us some very good advices and information regarding all the topics. She also briefs us what is important and what to expect for the upcoming exam.  This session with her, indeed, do help us a lot.

At 4.30 p.m., Encik Jaharun’s college bring us to visit the health promotion unit store room, where thousands of poster, voucher, calendars , models are stored there.

 

Occupational Health and Non Communicable Disease

      I need another story, something to get off my chest......my alarm rang and today was a brand new day. There was a song kept running in my head at that time:
                               Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
                               Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit Padang Terap.
       For the morning session, we discussed about KPAS.What is KPAS???? KPAS means Kesihatan Pekerjaan Dan Alam Sekitar. Before this session was started, Encik Mohd Suhaimi B. Abdul Wahab informed us a shocking new that he needed to take part in an operasi after 50 minutes so he was unable to bring us to the clinic today. However, he provided us a short but detailed information regarding KPAS.
       At first, he mentioned the objectives and missions of KPAS. Next, he tried to explain the responsibilities of KPAS to us in detail. He also provided us some information about the needle prick injury and Hepatitis B cases among workers. KPAS is also involved in receiving the complaints from the public and the investigation of the complaints will be done by the officers. Next, the reports will be done and sent to Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri(JKN). After that, he gave us a brief idea about the health setting and hazards that involved in occupational health.
       Next was the question and answer session, as time was precious, we all tried our best to "combat" him with a lot of questions. He was so helpful and finally we all got the datas before he left for the operasi. We also borrowed some useful booklets from him in order to collect more datas for our posting. Then, we left the DHO for the breakfast session.

Health Promotion in School (Monday, 21th Feb, 2011)

Early in the morning,...... among the darkness of my room,....... a soft music start playing..........

scary???........

No, that's my alarm.

I grope in the darkness for my alarm, turn it of; Cautiously made my way to look for the switch, which is my source of light.Wash myself clean, eat, get dressed, and of i go.................

I hit the road bout 6.15, got to travel to Padang Terap, which is 1 1/2 hrs away from SP.

I manage to reach on time...."phew......"

Our mission today????? Observe the health promotion in school.

It's held in a school next to the district health office. when we reach there, the teacher is still giving the students a briefing on pay attention and taking notes. The students attending are made up of randomly picked students from each grade. Unlike the usual situation, where the DHO officer pick a particular class among the whole school.

The School Hall

 We went in the hall and observe. Students are positioned like exam time, few rows made up of students, each assign to a place with a desk and chair. How nice, I thought they'll need to sit on the floor. Anyway, the DHO officer in charge start talking soon after we arrive. He distributed a booklet to each student, where they are to fill in their particulars, and answer the questions in it. It will be collect back later for analysis, to find out the students health status, (physically, mentally, and emotionally). The officer guided them trough-out the process of filling in the booklet. In between, he gives them advise and healthy lifestyle, how to exercise, how to handle the teen years. 

There was a break in between the health promotion. We went up and had a chat with the officer. He told us various ways of primary health care, what they usually do, and what are the activities for the students later. After the break, the talk continues, we watch the process of the health campaign. Among them were students talking, not paying attention to the speaker, especially the those sitting at the back. There were two saperate counters set up behind the crowd, one for height and weight measurement; the other for BP  measurement.

Counter for Weight and Height Measurement

We notice that the teachers took the opportunity to measure their BP and also BMI. So, it looks like it's not just health promotion to the students, but it also bring awareness to the teachers on their health status. Reaping double benefit, i will say, it's a good way to reach out to adults also, especially in todays time when most of them are tied down by work, family, commitments......(well, you add on to the list)

BP Measuring Counter

After the briefing, the students were sent out for a little exercise. They are to jog a distance of roughly 4km. As expected, when making a whole group of students to jog, there will be some of them just walking leisurely, speed up only upon instructed by teachers. After the jog that looks more like a walk, students gather in the hall again, this time for they are to go to both the counters set up to take the measurements. Finally, after the long day, it ended, and we head back to SP.

Adolescent and geriatrics health, child and maternal health and family planning in KK Naga

‘Burp…..’ The night before going back to padang terap, I had food poisioing and vomited 7 times. And by 6 a.m , we are back on a journey to padang Terap….

Every morning whenever we heading to  DHO of Padang Terap, a crude cut like mountain will so enormously appearing infront of us, it is so refreshing as it reminded us the X ray of a crude cut skull of a patient with Thalassemia that has not being receiving appropriate blood transfusion. Along the way, u can see many orange dry leaves holding their last breath, trying to stay as long as they can on these dry looking trees, afterall  it is dry season here in padang terap! But u can picture it as orange autumn season like in those european country, which is more romantic, right?

Finally we arrived to our destination, which is Klinik Kisihatan Naga.  We were welcome by a very kind looking middle age nurse. She showed us around and lead us to the M.A of Klinik Kesihatan Naga.

The M.A was very friendly right from the beginning. He started to introduce about himself, and how he ended up working here and I started to feel hungry, as though as everytime was moving in slow motion, why time passes so slowly? Hmmm I wonder…

The M.A explain to us about the programme and plan that had been carry out for adolescent and geriatrics.However, he did mention to us that there are many plan for them to carry out, but some how lack of financial aids, some fail to be carried out. He told us they give preference to elderly which mean they will serve them first when they come for check out. As a medical student, we are always desperate for answers, so we all asked our doubt excitedly, and it seems like it scared him off a little. He was such a nice man to be kind enough to find for us useful brochure by searching it, in and out of the office. “Okay, I can’t stay with u all for long, I have a meeting to attend!”

Apparently it wasn’t enough information to be obtain just from M.A alone, so I tried asking the pharmacist on what are the most common drugs that have been prescribed for them. Drugs for Diabetes control and hypertension were among the most common.

And then, my group leader Siew leng was asking  the nurse regarding family planning. While another group member, Jesslyn was asking about maternal and child health. Eventhough we spent the whole day there, but the knowledge that we gained made everything worth!

Once everyone had tried their very best to finish their task, the words “coming home” rings a bell to us! I come from kuala lumpur, and for the first time in my life, I learned to appreciate Sungai Petani very much.

Day 4 - Food Quality Control (Thursday - 17 February 2011)

                 As usual, we gathered at PKD at 9am. Today, we’re arranged into Food Quality Control posting. The person-in-charged, Mr. Alan was there in time. Unfortunately, some of our group members were late, which made him unhappy initially. However, he was a real bighearted person. He not only forgave us, he also told us the importance of punctuality. We’ve learnt another big lesson today.

               

                When everyone is here, he started to brief us regarding the organization of the unit, the roles of this division, the activities carried out and some rules and regulations. It was a lucky day as they had an operation today, a ‘spot check’, which was to inspect the school canteen. We were invited to join the operation.

 

 The whiteboard shows number of sample taken during their monthly operation.

 

 There are total 37 schools covered by DHO Padang Terap.

 This is Mr. Elan, explaining their duties.

                After a briefing, Mr. Shukri, another member of the Food Quality Control division brought us to the school. When we reached the school canteen, Mr. Shukri and his colleague explained their purpose to the owner. It’s clearly seen that the canteen owner and the workers were all in shocked. Then, the owner asked the workers to continue their work, everyone seemed to be well prepared for the inspection. Then My Shukri brought us around the canteen and explained all the procedures done to us.

 Signing in at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Padang Terap.

 Mr. Shukri is briefing us about the procedure during their operation.

 This is the form used for evaluation. The evaluation includes various perspective, environment, food handling, water supply, sewage system, etc.

 'License' of the school canteen and sample of typhoid vaccination card that all food handlers should have. 

Here we started our evaluation. 

 The food handlers dressed up properly, i.e. apron and hair covered. PASSED

 The plates and other equipments are neatly placed. PASSED

 This is a bad example, the pot with sugar water is fulled with ANTS! FAILED

 Dustbin is completed with plastic bag and close properly. PASSED

 The raw food are kept separately from cooked food. PASSED

 The chicken is not closed properly. FAILED

 The drain is clean and the water is running properly. PASSED

 The store room is kept clean, all the things are kept neat. PASSED

                 If the marks is lower than 60%, then the canteen will be closed for 2 weeks, for the owner to improve the condition and reopen after permission gained from the authority. Besides, they will be issued a compound, which will then be dealt in the court.

                That's the end of our evaluation. It was really a different experience to every one of us.

                Then, PPKPK Mohd Zin Mohd Yasan told us that they have a meeting in the afternoon, so, that’s last activity of the day.

                Finally, last event of the day, HOME!