Saturday 30 January 2021
ACCC CNY Event
Happy Chinese New Year from ACMA!
The first event of 2021 was a health check stall at the Chinese New Year celebrations by the Auckland Chinese Community Centre Inc at the ASB showgrounds. The YACMA medical students provided their skills to give back to the community, refine their communication skills and enjoy some of the festivities. Thank you to all who volunteered on the day.
ACMA and YACMA wish everyone fortune, health and prosperity in the Year of the Ox.
Tuesday 02 February 2021
ACCC Talk: Dementia
ACMA President Dr Linda Lum gave a presentation to the Senior Lifestyle Group at the Auckland Chinese Community Centre on Dementia. The talk was well-attended, and covered the signs and risk factors of dementia. There was also education about potential ways to preventing the onset of dementia. Demonstration of a clinical evaluation test of cognition was done by Dr Lum with Bosco Yue, a volunteering YACMA medical student.
Saturday 13 February 2021
Holy Word Church Health Checks
ACMA held its first event of the Chinese calendar at the Holy Word Church of Auckland, providing health checks for attendees. ACMA members supported the hard-working YACMA medical students, who interacted with the public by checking blood pressures, BMI and providing basic health education. What better way to put the New Year wish of "good health" (身體健康) into action! Thank you to all our volunteers.
Saturday 17 April 2021
Wat Khemaraphirataram Temple Health Checks
The Cambodian New Year (Khmer New year, Choul Chnam Thmey) is the traditional celebration of the New Year for the local Cambodian people. It is celebrated over three days in the month of April. This year, ACMA joined the CMDHB Flu fighter team to deliver health checks and influenza vaccinations whilst worshippers visited their temple. In a truly collaborative effort our team consisted of high school and medical students, doctors, nurses and pharmacists. We were treated to a traditional lunch served family-style, with fried rice, noodles, barbequed meats, curries and various coconut desserts. There was much singing, music and good cheer all around.
Tuesday 04 May 2021
ACCC Talk: COVID-19 Vaccines
Dr Linda Lum gave a Pfizer vaccine update to the Senior Lifestyle Group on at the ACCC club rooms. Most attendees were still waiting to receive their vaccination invitations. The main topics were discussed were the NZ vaccination programme, how mRNA vaccines work and their safety and effectiveness.
There were questions on duration of protection, herd immunity and the immune response in the elder population, supplemented by encouragement from some members who have already received their vaccinations. To conclude, videos recorded by Counties Manukau DHB were presented in English and Cantonese to help reinforce the take-home message that the vaccine was safe, effective and recommended to all.
Tuesday 18 May 2021
TANI Talk: Elderly Mental Well-being
Dr Jessie Liu gave a presentation to approximately 120 Chinese community members at the Te Tuhi Arts Centre. Dr Liu shared her knowledge and clinical experiences of caring for older people. She gave insight into identifying the factors that might affect older people's mental wellbeing and how we might maintain mental health for our later life.
The presentation was well-received with positive feedback. This includes thoughts like:
“The presentation today made me realize the importance of health. Good health is supported by a good state of mind, and day to day exercise and balanced diet.”
“This event helps elderly to communicate & learn from each other. It helped me with self-improvement.”
“Doctor Liu’s speech was very good – it provides significant help to the mental health of elderly”
“ This presentation made me realize elderlies need to be healthy. We need to work out from our home, and attend more community events, and do more exercises. Keep a positive mind, exercise more, make more friends. This will help us elderly to stay young and happy forever. Thank you for the seminar today”
We thank Dr Liu for an excellent presentation, in conjunction with our collaborative partners, TANI.
Wednesday 19 May 2021
Health Talk: COVID-19 Vaccines
Dr Linda Lum gave an update on the COVID-19 vaccination programme at the Rotary Club Harbourside Club. This was held at the home of the America’s Cup, Royal NZ Yacht Squadron Club rooms in Westhaven.
Saturday 26 July 2021
Be Health Wise!
ACMA has been working in collaboration with Counties Manukau Health on a series of workshops focusing on Healthy Eating. On 26th June attendees listened to a dietitian talk at the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation rooms in East Tamaki. Eating guidelines, tips to reduce fat and sugar as well as reading food labels were a few of the topics covered. The workshop concluded with a delicious vegetarian lunch prepared by the kitchen volunteers.