Projects

"BREAKING THE SILENCE"

Breaking The Silence is a series of workshops organised by SCOME in collaboration with the Centre for Sign Linguistics & Deaf Studies (CSLDS) to raise awareness on the difficulties faced by the Hong Kong deaf community. These workshops take place on Saturdays for 4 weeks in Semester 1 and are open to medical students from both HKU and CUHK. Through this series, medical students acquire basic sign language skills based on the CSLDS Basic Sign Language Course Part I as well as medically-related sign language terms that are applicable in clinical settings. We hope that medical students understand the current shortcomings in doctor-patient communication for the deaf population and are motivated to better connect with future patients who communicate through sign language. 

MENTAL HEALTH MONTH

The inherently challenging and stressful academic rigor of medical schools creates an environment that may leave medical students vulnerable to poor mental health when sufficient support is not provided. SCOME’s Mental Health Month is a series of activities that aims to support medical student mental well-being and to raise awareness about mental health. Activities include inviting Dr. Dogs to visit medical campuses and organizing workshops to train medical students on crisis negotiation.

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DR DOG'S DAY

Dr. Dog’s Day is a series of events held in collaboration with Animal Asia on various medical campus locations in HKU and CUHK. Dr. Dogs who are proven to help lower humans’ heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels are invited to interact with medical students. In addition, wellness gift bags containing items such as home-made snacks, leaflets to promote mental health, and information from the medical campus wellness team are also distributed to the participants. We hope that this activity can play a part in helping to relieve the buildup of exam period stress for our fellow medical students.

SPEAK UP: SEXUALLY SMARTER

Speak Up: Sexually Smarter is a one-day activity that aims to educate medical students about sexual safety and sexually transmitted diseases. The event includes hands-on learning such as a condom-making workshop by Sagami and an interactive talk on STDs conducted by an experienced doctor of a local HIV clinic. We hope to raise awareness about the importance of sexual education and to encourage open discussions to lift the societal stigma and discomfort that surround these topics.