|
Pg 3: Inauguration Ceremony Conferences |
CRC Marathon Promotion You don’t often see medical students dressed up as intestines and shouting on top of their lungs in public, but November 10th 2007 was one of those rare days.
The only thing that could possibly have propelled us into this was, of course, our urge to promote public health within Hong Kong. Inspired by the 28th Asian Medical Students’ Conference’s theme ‘Cancer in Asia – incidence, suffering and prevention’, and the alarmingly low awareness of colorectal cancer (CRC) in our local community, thirty-three dedicated medical students from both CUHK and HKU joined hands to launch a promotional campaign. Our main aim was to equip Hong Kong citizens with sufficient knowledge to act early and protect themselves from CRC and, in order to achieve this, we needed to reach out to all members of the public and leave an impression so deep that our messages would be etched into their minds.
And what better way was there to achieve this than carrying out a massive marathon promotion? Thus, on Saturday, we travelled over thirty streets in six districts and boarded five different types of transportation (bus, minibus, ferry, railway and MTR), determined to spread our message.
One feature of our campaign included large posters which we wore, and these walking billboards with take-home messages certainly caught attention as we made our way down some of the busiest roads in Hong Kong. Our freebies – beautifully designed calendar cards listing CRC symptoms – also attracted immense interest. In addition, we had stations set up with life-sized stands showcasing our prize-winning posters from the Conference. These were packed with CRC information, such as knowledge on the natural history of CRC, its symptoms, screening, and where to acquire supporting resources for patients. We grasped any opportunity to emphasize the importance of screening to as many pedestrians possible because, as we have heard way too many times in community medicine lessons, ‘prevention is better than cure’
The highlight of the day, however, rested with our ultimate mega-movement: thirty-three doctors-to-be linking into one large intestine, performing colon-dance routines and bellowing out key messages as loudly as possible. Our efforts paid off, because besides the large crowd that quickly formed around us, we also caught the eye of the media and received coverage from RTHK the same night. We are proud to have made our mark, and we look forward to further enhancing our contribution to public health in the future! http://www.amsahk.org |
© 2008 Asian Medical Students' Associations Hon Kong (AMSAHK)
Designed and maintained by Shirley Wong
This page is best viewed with full attention and a family-sized carton of ice-cream