Our PHS 2019 Organising Committee
by Lee Yong Qin and Gan Ming Yi
Phase III Medical Students and Directors of Public Health Service 2019
Public Health Service (PHS) is a student-initiated project established in 2004 under the NUS Medical Society by a small committee of medical students who had the passion to serve. Since then, PHS has developed, constantly adapting to the local healthcare landscape and the needs of the community, heeding its motto, “Promoting Health, Spreading Awareness”.
What happens at screenings?
Focusing on the primary prevention aspects and health education, student volunteers combine the various modalities for screening in one convenient location, over one weekend, so that residents will be able to receive a fuss-free and free-of-charge, comprehensive health screening. We even call up participants, post-screening, to remind them of all of the follow-up appointments that they have to go for, to ensure higher rates of compliance.
PHS 2019 screened over 740 Singaporeans and PRs, aged 40 and above, for chronic disease (blood pressure, blood cholesterol and glucose, BMI), cancer (colorectal, breast and cervical cancer), geriatric-relevant issues (cognitive, fall risk, visual, hearing, oral health) and oral health. Our door-to-door education and publicity efforts to the general public reached over 30,000 households this year, and our annual educational road show, Health Carnival, which raises awareness about prevalent health issues faced by Singaporeans, reached out to over 1,000 participants. We encouraged visitors to take greater ownership towards their own metabolic health, through a series of interactive activities led by our student ambassadors.
With 483 student volunteers, 28 doctors and more than 100 external volunteers from healthcare institutions this year, PHS continued to foster inter-professional interactions among students and alumni from Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, as well as healthcare professionals, to serve the community service and promote health. Throughout 15 years of service, PHS has reached out to more than 20,000 residents in various parts of Singapore and trained over 300 junior college and polytechnic students under our Young Health Ambassadors’ Programme (YHAP), to advocate for health in their own communities.
Our registration volunteers utilising the PHS application form to improve the screening process and flow for our participants
WATCH: Behind the Screens: Public Health Service 2019
Visual acuity screening at our Geriatric station
New Initiatives
For the first time this year, PHS 2019 worked with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to include referrals to social services as part of the screening, to provide better social support for our participants. This station helped ensure that AIC Care Consultants can assist and refer participants to a wide variety of schemes and services: from financial aid, Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund (SMF), Caregiving Assistance, Home and Hospice Care, and many others. To this end, medical students from Phase III to V speak with participants to find out more about their lives and medical concerns when taking their histories, and through these personal conversations, find out if they require any form of social assistance. By then referring them to the social service team, PHS worked hand in hand with the AIC Care Consultants to ensure that participants who required social support received advice and assistance on the day itself. This new initiative was well-received by more than 150 participants.
In addition, eye screening services were boosted this year with a collaboration with the National University Health System (NUHS) and Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC). A new mobile eye bus at the Canopy @ JLink tested senior citizens for glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy or age-related macular degeneration, an addition to the Snellen’s test which checks for basic visual acuity and any refractive errors.
Our Zumba instructors posing for a picture with the School’s mascot, Meddy, at the PHS Health Carnival
Our Guest-of-Honour, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Minister Grace Fu, interacting with our screening participants
Word of Thanks
It has been a really meaningful experience working with the Public Health Service committee. When PHS first started out, there were no free large-scale health screening events in Singapore, and low public awareness of screening for chronic diseases and cancer. PHS filled this gap. Now, there are more public health screening initiatives, such as the Screen For Life Programme that was started in 2017.
We are extremely grateful to our project mentor, Associate Professor Lim Fong Seng for his immense dedication and nurturing the PHS committee so patiently over the years, as well as the School’s unwavering support. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to the PHS alumni who never fail to inspire and who guide us with their valuable insight and experience. We deeply appreciate our screening, exhibition partners as well as in-kind and financial sponsors: your support has been instrumental in allowing PHS 2019 to better serve the community.
It is our hope and wish that the spirit of volunteerism will continue to live on among the medical students and more can join PHS in our endeavour to make Singapore a healthier nation, and bring about meaningful change in the community.