“There is no price tag for your health, go for Health T.A.G. Fair!”
The inaugural Health T.A.G. (Test, Advise, Go) Fair, co-organized by NUS Department of Pharmacy and NUS Pharmaceutical Society took place on 4th September 2022 at The Frontier CC. It boasts of a turnout of almost 220 participants, comprising primarily of residents in the age group of 40 to 60 years old. The event was graced by Minister for National Development, Mr Desmond Lee, Chief Pharmacist Dr Camilla Wong and various stakeholders, including the Boon Lay grassroots leaders and director and partners from MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation. This was the first pharmacist-led health fair, planned and executed by staff and students from the Department of Pharmacy, NUS, supported by practicing pharmacists and nurses. The latter was staffed by Diabetes Singapore.
Top photo featuring Mr Desmond Lee (Minister for National Development), Dr Vivianne Shih (President, Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore) and Boon Lay grassroots leaders.
Bottom left photo featuring Dr Camilla Wong (Chief Pharmacist).
Bottom right photo featuring Mr Satyaprakash Tiwari (Executive Director, Diabetes Singapore), Minister Desmond Lee and Boon Lay grassroots leaders.
Health T.A.G. Fair was conceptualized with the idea of bringing healthcare to the community by providing information on cardiovascular risk reduction and related medication, health tips and education on disease and cancer prevention.
So, how was “Test, Advise and Go!” achieved?
Testing stations were set up to measure blood pressure, cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin, urine albumin, body mass index and medication history-taking. Pharmacy student volunteers took the lead by staffing most of these stations, excited about putting what they had learnt in classes into practice. In addition, they played important roles as health advocates alongside oncology and infectious disease pharmacists from the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) to provide participants key information and tips on cancer screening and adult vaccination. One key take-home was how to use the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kits and why it was important. Hard at work, most of our students were on their feet all day, tirelessly ushering participants from station to station.
At the personalized advice station, practising pharmacists explained personalised Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) and Diabetes Risk Assessment risk scores to participants, addressed their concerns and corrected any misconceptions they had. The health fair did not just end there. A small group of the participants were referred to doctors for follow-up care. Handouts on the usual medicines used for the “three high’s” were handed out to people at risk, while others were given suggestions on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to better manage their health conditions. All in all, participants found the event beneficial as they received personalised advice on their current health. One participant has even continued updating our organising team on his progress made with his blood pressure lowering, as an acknowledgement that the information we have provided him has led to his greater acceptance that he would need to take his medicines as prescribed to adequately control his blood pressure.
Hear what the participants have to say:
“I am grateful for the efforts you and your team have put to organise this event and I must say that it was well done and extremely helpful.”
“I liked the convenient location, and being able to screen for main chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and diabetes.”
“The students are friendly and willingly answered all the enquiries I have.”
“I got to know more about my current physical and health conditions through the health fair.”
“I enjoyed the glucose testing, and talking to the friendly pharmacist at the end.”
“I want to thank the team for organizing/running the Heath Fair at Jurong West. Biggest takeaway is that the gut microbiome will not be affected by BP drugs like Lisinopril-5 (ACE Inhibitor) & Amlodipine 5mg (Calcium Antagonist). Lifestyle changes (whole food diet/fasting, sleep and exercise) “eliminated” obesity & pre-diabetic issues but on a personal basis, did not help lower BP. It may be a genetic case personally. Will resume the BP medication, which I hope it will alleviate/eliminate the “silent killer”. Thanks again! PS: Most productive Health Fair ever 😀”
We were encouraged to witness the impact made through this health fair in improving the health literacy of our participants. Our vision of empowering the community to take greater ownership of their health is regarded as achieved.
We regard a special thanks to AstraZeneca and Diabetes Singapore for their support of this initiative, and all our partners and sponsors for making Health T.A.G. Fair 2022 possible. We look forward to the next iteration of Health T.A.G. Fair!
Health T.A.G. Fair 2022 organising committee, together with student volunteers, Mr Wu Tuck Seng and Dr Camilla Wong.
Article by Mr Ong Wei Siong, Ms Ng Shi Ying, A/Prof Doreen Tan and Dr Leroy Koh (Health T.A.G. Fair 2022 organising committee).
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