12.8.24
ethel cain's strangers
31.7.24
medical journey #4
had cervical cancer lecture this morning and to my surprise, dr said that currently hpv testing is the way to go instead of pap smear. pros: detect the virus strain right away, faster and more specific result. cons: pricey. and it's not even widely available in malaysia yet. dr told us to check out rose hpv programme online - and so i did. medicine really moves in a fast pace, the drugs, the tech.
since we're learning in a university hospital, granted there were extra access to techs that are not available in gov hospitals all over the country. even then, we're still outsourced as to keep up with the advancing machineries, a proper molecular lab is needed and to establish one is such a tedious, costly process.
24.7.24
bloom
my heart is a lotus // it blooms in the small pond of your palms // my songs to you // the green-necked ducks // sow love // and you reap grievance
17.7.24
-
the realization that i know so little about my brothers and that they don't know much either about me
13.7.24
medical journey #3
joined sign language programme as media committee today! thanks to adlipa who dragged amirah, ezrin, sarah, balqis and i to take part, otherwise i really can't be bothered. they're in logistics and programme bureau, though, and programme members got really nice pink lanyard - media's just ribbon red. the banners, bunting and slides template were my design, so i felt a bit proud seeing them on bigger-scale display.
it was more fun than expected. bearable workload, though there were some hiccups in the process. we didn't reach our target of 60 participants, but 49 people signed up and there are even high schoolers among them. though, we had to stand by since seven in the morning and listened to a forum from otorhinolaryngologists from ummc and htar. the session is rather short as they list some deafness causes in medical perspective, from intrauterine infection like toxoplasmosis, mumps and rubella and age-related, to the existence of doctors who use hearing aids themselves. they also mentioned about monash advancing an app from the collaboration of their medical and engineering student.
the participants later played a basic sign language relay game (we dry ran it during rehearsal yesterday, basically hi, nice to meet you, i just learned sign language) and then had volunteers from rcdm - rc deaf missions malaysia. the rcdm director, ms agnes also came and interpreted as the volunteers signed on the stage. the director also discussed about how limited is the job opportunities for interpreters in malaysia, and that our healthcare is yet to be inclusive and accomodative to the Deaf community, in which the d is spelled in capital as a sign of acknowledgement. she rose issues like difficulty in booking and confirming appointments online, consultation with doctors taking longer time and the lack of privacy of the Deaf as they often had to rely on family members when getting health consultation.
they also brought an interpreter along (which i deemed was very cool) and apparently her girlfriend also came to support her - the girlfriend walked back and forth to give participants the microphone and moved even more than we committees. i think it's even more challenging that we're using bahasa isyarat malaysia / bim but the speech is in english, so basically the interpreters had to juggle between two language structures - three if you count the signing, in a very fast pace. as the volunteers finished signing, another rcdm volunteer signed clap as a gesture of support. it's very intriguing as i never knew that clapping also has a sign.
during ms kimberly's session, she picked a participant randomly to answer a question, but she was so taken aback that she couldn't answer properly. after the fourth session was over adlipa and i helped took picture of the participant and her friend, and we learnt that she wasn't a um student, and she left halfway after she cried due to the overwhelming feeling. also, the interpreter's girlfriend helped calm her down. my roommate said that the girl must have felt anxious as the setting was unfamiliar to her and that she could relate.
i forgot how to do you're welcome, though... so when i returned the fifth speaker's pendrive, ms kimberly, she signed thank you and i just signed thank you back to her ㅠㅠ but that just felt really malaysian, though, reciprocating terima kasih with terima kasih instead of sama-sama.
for the last session, participants were divided into groups with one person in charge each. i joined the group where the Deaf volunteers is an indian couple. the husband once had a heart attack with pain scale of 7, so they role played the situation with simple dialogues like how can i help you today?, chest pain, difficulty of breathing, from scale 1-10, 1 is good, 10 is bad, what medication do you take, please sit, doctor will see you soon. this session was the most beneficial and fun overall.
the event thankfully sailed smoothly after a thorough preparation despite the shortage of manpower and some technical issues with the microphones. we even had free breakfast and lunch provided, not to mention yesterday every committee member who attended rehearsal got free zus drinks. not sure if this is p&c but the budget was huge since the sponsor (yes24) paid us in usd... my roommate says it amounted to about 10k myr. for tax relief or just their allocated budget i'm guessing. with that much budget, the participants also got complementary tote bag and sign language book.
afterward we had photography session and cleaned everything up, and i was basically knocked out until six in the afternoon.
this is only the first part, though. we have another two upcoming one and the second one will most probably be more intensive. i'll write again by then. till next time!