Ho Xiangmei, Class of 2014
7th November 2015
This year was the first time I participated in Harvest Care Volunteer event, and as a volunteer physician together with several other NTU CMAA members. This event offers basic health screening such as measuring of blood pressure, blood glucose, height and weight as well as an additional component – TCM consultation, for a small fee of $5.
I was a little afraid at first, as I did not know how many people there would be. I had heard that there was quite a huge crowd last year so it was great that we had several volunteers to help out this time. One memorable visitor we had that day was a lady with very high blood pressure that the machine could not measure. She came with her husband who was worried for her but he said that she refuse to see the doctor or eat medication. We advised them to go to the hospital immediately. It’s worrying to see such cases where the people do not see the seriousness of high blood pressure and the importance of medication adherence.
Beside consultations, we also have sharing sessions by our alumni on neckaches, backaches and dementia. We taught them some simple exercises and acupoint massage. Although the crowd that turned up was not as huge as expected, it was nevertheless a fruitful experience giving consultations, offering advice and educating the people.
