Warragamba Seniors Healthy Living Expo 2017
On Friday 3rd March, our Academic GP Registrar Dr Alison Lyon and three fifth year medical students Devin Paine, Athenais Sivaloganathan and Alexander Kuo attended the Warragamba Seniors Healthy Living Expo at the Warragamba Town Hall. They carried out health checks for the local population who had travelled from all over Wollondilly to attend the event. The health checks included blood pressure, blood sugar levels, BMI and hearing and eyesight checks. OPSM and Australian Hearing were also present which allowed referral for further eye checks and hearing tests on the day. A health promotion discussion including smoking, diet and exercise identified issues on which the patients were given advice and referred to their own GP with a record of the check. Over twenty health checks were carried out in total, more than half of these were conducted on members of the Men's Shed. It was great to see so many of the men getting involved and encouraging each other to have a health check. The students enjoyed the opportunity to get out into the community and find out about life in rural towns of South West Sydney.
International Women's Day Health Checks @ Picton Town Hall
International Women's Day is a global celebration, highlighting the economic, political and social achievements of women. The celebration in Wollondilly aims to engage women by acknowledging their achievements and connect the community by supporting women. This year the event kicked off with a BBQ breakfast followed by speeches and a collection of community based stalls. The WSU Medical School provided a Health Check Stall where women were able to have their blood pressure, glucose and BMI checked, along with a history to identify any risk factors or concerns for follow up with their GP.
The stall was manned by 3 medical students, Albert, Beatrice and Meera, who were able to interview over 30 women in 3 hours. It was a great morning and the women were impressed by the high standards of the medical students and the availability of the check. The students also had a great time, practicing their skills - with a bit of time pressure!