This is a little different from the usual events I blog about… it’s about how I spent my Labor Day! :) It’s been the best spent day this year so far, in my opinion. And no, I didn’t kau chai, sing, dance, eat or go clubbing this time, haha.
My dad registered under my church, SIBKL, to participate in a mobile clinics program. So when he got the call to go from the organizer, Catherine Teong, he also asked me & the rest of the family (and friends) if we wanted to go. Me, mum, dad, Weiphin & Jonathan agreed to go for the day-trip to the Orang Asli settlement @ Kampung Pian, Temerluh, Pahang. :)
THUS at the glorious time of 6.45am, we assembled outside church, prayed, and set off to the deep-in-interior Kampung Pian to set up the mobile clinic for a day. The four doctors manning the clinic were my dad, Dr Liew Fah Onn (O&G), Dr Stephen Mak (GP), and this really cute couple: Dr Peter Paul Wong (orthopedic surgeon) & Dr Hon (pediatrician). Then there was a pharmacist, Daniel, and a nurse, Mei Sime. The only other people with a medical background in the group would then be myself, Jon & Weiphin–2nd year medstudents who had no idea what they were getting into. The other people went as support staff and handled food, second-hand clothing, crowd control, etc…
Dr Hon & Dr Peter Paul Wong. :) We sat in their car. Such a cute couple!
I can’t quite remember how long the journey took, but it was about 3 hours, and I kept napping on and off. Jon & Weiphin didn’t quite help because all three of us were squished in the backseat–they didn’t give me very much space in the center. I have stiff shoulders from sleeping in odd positions…
The government-built community hall that served as our clinic grounds. The door on the left is the main entrance where registration was positioned.
We arrived at Kampung Pian at around 11am and started to set-up. My duties for the day were to handle the registration counter along with two other non-medical people from my church, JJ & Helen. Therefore the task of taking history as well as measuring BP & temperature fell to us. Then, because I was the medical student amongst the three of us, I initially had the task of measuring the random blood sugar level.
I was SUPER panicky!! I mean, yeah, we had digital BP machines & digital ear thermometers so I didn’t have to worry about using the sphygmomanometer correctly and cleaning the thermometer between patients, but I had to PRICK SOMEONE LA FOR THE BLOOD SUGAR. WHAT IF I PRICK WRONGLY?????? (later I was relieved of this duty because for me to take history, BP, temperature AND blood sugar made my station very slow, lol)
When we opened registration, there were SO MANY ORANG ASLI THAT CAME TO THE CLINIC!!!! I was overwhelmed and blown away. I felt so awkward at the beginning only having to use Malay to communicate (and my Malay is really not that great). Jon & Weiphin assisted the pharmacist, Daniel. They got a firsthand taste of doctors’ handwriting, haha. We only ran the clinic until 4pm, but the final count of patients seen by the doctors on duty came up to 157 persons!
I saw… more things than I had ever seen in my life, ok. Textbook things that suddenly jumped out into life and grinned at me. Sarcoptes scabieii infections (tiny skin-colored bumps–I will never forget what they look like), impetigo (fungating, white, circular lesions), cellulitis, carbuncles (Dr Peter almost cut and drained it), fungal skin infections (large whitish patches), diarrhoea, respiratory symptoms (dyspnoea–literally susah nak jalan naik bukit), cardiovascular symptoms (palpitations! one lady described them as po-pom, po-pom dalam dada bila bernafas), and infected cavities…
And I also learned that in situations like the mobile clinic, all the history-taking methods learnt in IMU fly out the window. There’s just no time to ask all that deeply before I had to pass them on to the doctors. I had to multi-task: take BP & temperature while taking history and thinking about associated symptoms that I could ask about and translating them into Malay in my mind before asking & writing… and trying to calm crying kids when I tried to take their temperature. I don’t know how many patients I clerked, but I do remember the time whizzing by without my realizing it.
The tired but enthusiastic volunteers debriefing at the end of the clinic session. LTR: Henry, Lee Peng, dad, mum, Mei Sime
IT WAS AWESOME LA. I felt like a semi-doctor, like I was doing something of significance. Way better than lectures/lab/PBL/MMS/CSU. Heee.
Right, so I lied about not eating… Cuz as all Malaysians do, we stopped at some obscure Chinese restaurant on our way back home around the Bukit Tinggi area for dinner. :)) It was sumptuous and cheap. I also liked this health drink made from dragonfruit that they were promoting and let us sample.
Dad, mum & Mei Sime tucking in.
What a fantastic day. It was really a pick-me-up and sort of like a nudge from God to remind me why I’m doing medicine and NOT music as my primary degree. :) Anyday, God. I’d do this again. Who knows? From one-day trips to long-term medical missions!
