Today...is a day for Hepatitis! Especially Hepatitis B and C! This day was celebrated by Selayang Hospital in conjunction with the World Hepatitis Day on Sunday!
There will be an attempt to make a Guinness World Record of making a bigger version of this!
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil! This is to depict the phenomenon that our society ignores the threat of hepatitis and that more awareness needs to be raised to counter this disease.
Our day started off with the briefing at the registration counter by the staff members on what to do. There are two main areas that we can help, which is approaching people to fill up a survey on hepatitis, and also to register patients for the blood test. The blood test normally cost around RM10 - RM30 whether the test is only for Hepatitis B antigen or for both B and C. There are other stations which deals with the extraction of blood, explaining about the disease, giving educational talks....but we haven't graduated yet so yeah, stick to the simpler tasks.
The registration counters
The senior staff members writing away
These are the survey forms, in Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil, which is designed by the MOH to gauge the understanding of the public on hepatitis B, and whether awareness has improved over the years. There are even some questions like is transmission of Hepatitis B affected by sexual behavior, which is hard to explain in mandarin. The official term is called 性行为 and then whenever the patient needs elaboration, then that's where the awkwardness comes in.
The survey really helps us understand better about Hepatitis B. As all the questions in the survey is actually true statements, we ourselves are now aware how Hep B can be transmitted. From obvious things like blood transfusions to little things like sharing nail clippers. We can remember them so clearly after asking the public over and over again these questions.
This auntie was very friendly. She gave me a good laugh when she said she is loyal to her husband and then started asking me how does 性行为 relate to Hepatitis B. Oh boy...
Yeap she was so detailed going through the mandarin-version of the survey. She asked me what is 疫苗 and I had to check with the English version to find out. Luckily V-shenn told me how to pronounce it haha...paiseh
Soon it was lunch time! Headed to cafeteria...
Hospital being hospital
Cafeteria entrance
Of course, MSD gave us a treat for our contributions! XD Arigato!
V-shenn brushing teeth after lunch. She makes a good dentist la if she could. I'm not sure whether the fact that brushing teeth straight after meals (within 30 minutes) can damage your enamel layers...anybody can clarify?
Was on one of the entrances. Satisfaction is a KPI in Selayang Hospital!
A note on Hep C. There was a little section whereby patients have to tick whether they had share needles, have unprotected sexual intercourse with multiple partners, tattoo, family members with Hep C, and/or undergone blood transfusion before 1994. It was part of the procedure to double confirm with them even after they ticked the form before registering them for the blood test. So imagine double confirming "sex with multiple partners". We get so many funny responses like "eh takde la suami satu je" or "wo mei you luan luan lai la...".
In the afternoon, we handled the registration counters for a change. We have to categorize the patients whether to only go for the Hepatitis B surface antigen test or to also go for the Hepatitis C antibody test if they fall into any of the categories stated above. Everybody is susceptible to Hepatitis B, which currently has a cure (albeit costly). However, Hepatitis C has no cure, for now. But the good thing is, there are vaccines for both B and C, so that's why awareness is very important!
How about Hepatitis A? Well it's a self-limiting disease which is easily curable (lots of rehydration and rest), so it's not that big a threat compared with B and C, which are as "popular" as AIDS, TB and Malaria among others.
We also had to label blood vials with stickers, and also to record down their details as the blood test results will be sent to their mailing addresses a month later. Lots of writing to do.
Few ongoing sessions of talks
The campaign banner is the second one inside
We even have a mascot!
Blood test stations
Hati-hati dengan hati anda! So next time when you "sakit hati", check for hepatitis!
Fyi, sakit hati means sad in Malay. But the heart as an organ is termed "jantung" instead.
Registration counter manned by us
The empty vials
We were given goodie bags, containing leaflets, an apple and some Maggi chicken curry stuff
Keeping the extra forms after the entire event
Tired, but having a good sense of satisfaction by helping the public. That awesome feeling you get when working in a hospital!
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