Sunday, August 17, 2008

SGH Colon Cancer Awareness Outreach 2008 - WS#37


An entertaining Welcome performance by amateurs

In Singapore, one in 50 people could have colorectal cancer. There are more than 1,200 new cancer cases seen each year, the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) wants to nip the problem in the bud. The cancer is preventable! Timely detection and treatment can save your life.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan (centre) with SGH CEO Dr Ang Chong Lye, actress Felicia Chin, A/Prof Eu Kong Weng and sponsors.

To raise awareness on the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer, SGH organised an outreach event at the Suntec City Mall from August 16-17. It features interactive games, exhibits and even a mock-up operating theatre where you can be surgeon for a day.

1,200 free faecal test kits and colonoscopies are given out and conducted during the event to eligible participants aged 40 and below who have a family history of the disease. The Singapore General Hospital will offer free colonoscopy to those with positive results.

Singapore Actress Felicia Chin, and Brand Ambassador of Vitagen was present to have photos taken with her fans. For every 5 packets of the beverage bought, you get a pair of cinema tickets and an autographed photo with Felicia. I got them and a towel in a Lucky Draw! VITAGEN International supports Public Education on Colorectal Cancer and has donated $50,000 cash during this event.


A crash course before surgeons wanna-bes don surgical gowns and take to the operating table! Feel and also learn how the surgical equipments are used in the OT. You can donate S$5 to have a photo taken in this operating theatre of the future!


Visitors have to collect 4 stamps playing interactive games and answering a survey, they can then redeem a goody bag which contains a loaf of bread, a bottle of fruit tea, Vitagen drinks, Vitamin C tablets and a magazine. I requested to take a photo of the items in the goody bag but was rejected, so I had to spend an hour queuing to play games just to get this bag of goodies. The teddy bear was won by me when I answered a correct question on stage. Clever hor!? hehe....

I met some elderly ladies who said they took more than an hour on a bus journey to get to this event. They looked very happy and were sharing their haul. :) They told me that not only do they get to know more about the disease, they received goodies from sponsors, bought some stuff at good discounts and even get to be a doctor for a day!

Congrats and thanks to SGH for organising such a great event! And thanks to all sponsors for the tremendous support on Public Education in Singapore.

SGH Colon Cancer Awareness Outreach 2008
Suntec City Mall


*This is not a sponsored post.


82 comments:

  1. The goody bag looks nice! And what a great crash course that is! I'd like to try that too..

    Happy Sunday eve,ECL!

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  2. Yen,
    Those are great goodies in that bag. :)
    Hope you can find a similar crash course, wahahahaha.....

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  3. I was at Suntec City today and managed to get a glimpse of some of the posters on display. However, the noise from the stage and the crowd deterred me from playing the games.

    I have to salute you for queuing for one hour to share what's in the goodie bag with your readers. If I have to queue with the noise roaring away, I would have just decided to walk away from the event.

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  4. wah wah.. the things you do and the sacrifice you make in the name of blogging!! u is the best!!

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  5. wah wah.. the things you do and the sacrifice you make in the name of blogging!! u is the best!!

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  6. There must be huge crowds today. The noise would be awful. I hope you have gained a better knowledge on this disease.

    I wanted to walk away twice, then also tried to seek assistant from one of the staff but to no avail. So I have to queue just to find out what's in the goody bag.

    That's why I was late for my Mensa meeting and also dinner with you. :P

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  7. my rainbow angel,
    a little bit of sacrifice lah.... hope to bring better content to my readers mah.

    It's also doing community work on my part here as I can spread the health message of SGH to more people.

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  8. Hi thanks for keep on visiting my site. I hope I'm entertaining you somehow. By the way, is it hard being a surgeon?

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  9. Hi! I was tagged for a Meme about 6 of my quirks. I chose you as one to pass on the tag because I like your blog. I hope you will participate. The rules can be found at Garden Gnome Wanderings

    Enjoy!

    Garden Gnome

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  10. Hi Chie,
    You're doing fine. :)

    It's tough being a surgeon.

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  11. Hi Garden Gnomes,
    Thanks for the meme. I might not do it soon as I have too many posts in draft. Will try.
    Cheers.

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  12. An excellent way to raise awareness, ECL

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  13. Capt Picard,
    Yes, Sir. You need me to give you a check-up? hehe....

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  14. sweet Jasmine,
    Yes, good event and free goodies. :)

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  15. Thanks for posting this. My mom died of colon cancer; getting tested is important.

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  16. I used to work in a university surgical department where the professor, the head of department, specialised in colon cancer. I can't speak of him and his staff highly enough. They did wonderful work. Recently my mother died from that same thing. It is a very important subject and often ignored as not being quite "fashionable". You are giving this the very publicity it needs ECL. And I hope it has nothing whatever to do with Jaymes.

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  17. SGH sound like a great organisation - what a wonderful contribution. Should have had one of that in Norway too.

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  18. That is a good event to raised awareness. I got my first colonoscopy this year and I had 3 polyps. Although they were benign, I'm glad they are gone now. I had to be put all the way under for the procedure but I think scarring from other surgeries make it trickier with me. I know some people get it done with just a local anesthetic.

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  19. This is a great program to create awareness. Cancer is one disease I am very afraid of, and thinking of it makes my mood off sometimes! it's just horrible.

    btw, Felician is so pretty, never heard of her before, first time today!

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  20. SGH does well with this prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer awareness.
    Vitagen's new product I heard not bad, with collagen :P

    I need to look out for 老人痴呆症 awareness!!*lol*

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  21. That's an admirable awareness outreach program. It's good that the program aims to share important information to the people.

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  22. Hi A.
    I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. *hugs*

    Thank God, Jaymes' medical tests didn't show any signs of cancer.

    I chanced upon this event while I was shopping in the mall. I took a look and was impressed by the people manning various the exhibition stands. They were helpful and ready with information and answers.

    For a good cause, I have to blog about it and help to spread the message. :)

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  23. Sounds like a successful event :)...or is it because of the goodies and chance to see Felicia Chin har? :P

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  24. Renny,
    SGH (Singapore General Hospital) is one of Singapore's oldest and largest acute tertiary hospital and national referral centre.

    SGH accounts for about one third of total acute hospital beds in the public sector and about a quarter of acute beds in Singapore. Annually about 70,000 patients are admitted to its wards and another 600,000 attended to at its Specialist Outpatient Clinics.

    To bring down health care costs and ensure that Singaporeans take a more active interest in their health, our various healthcare organisations are trying to reach out to them through public education.

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  25. Carver,
    That's good news that the polyps were benign and have been removed. What a relief for you! *hugs*

    I had a colonoscopy done last year and I was put to sleep too. I'm so glad that I was given a clean bill of health!

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  26. Farah,
    I'm scared of cancer too. Seems like many more people are affected with it these days. So far I have several friends and classmates who looked healthy, ate healthily and exercise regularly but died of cancer! *scared*

    Felicia Chin is a Mediacorp actress. She is one of the more popular actresses in Singapore. A very nice and friendly girl, I was impressed with her down-to-earth attitude at this event, so I decided to put up her photo. For Vitagen International, because I admire its contribution to the community, I also give it a mention. :)

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  27. napaboaniya,
    First time I went to a SGH fair. I heard last year they had one too.

    aiyah... you are not alone, I'm also losing my memory easily these days. I sometimes speak halfway and forgot what I wanted to say! haha.... Must find something to eat to improve my memory.

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  28. Rachel,
    I think SGH did a good job. I like their interactive approach and the visitors truly had a great time. :)

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  29. tigerfish,
    Even if the people's first priority was the goody bags, they would somehow learn a little about the disease or be more aware, from participating in the interactive games and demonstrations of the medical equipment.

    Felicia has a small group of fans who came specially to see her. And it is good because they too learnt sometime by coming to the fair. :)

    皆大欢喜!

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  30. Men go to the moon but haven't found yet an efficient medication to treat all kind of cancer ! I think scientifics of the whole world should work more on that then hike over the moon !

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  31. that's real neat, ecl! never really knew that this type of disease is preventable.

    the teddy bear looks so cute!

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  32. Gattina,
    I agree with you. The scientists should spend their funds on researches that benefit human kind more.

    Priority is to be given to the medical researches for cures for terminal diseases rather than going to the moon to look for living things.

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  33. maiylah,
    I didn't know it is preventable and can be treated too. When I hear 'cancer', I assume it's a gone case. :)

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  34. what a great activity to help other

    My WS : in here Thanks

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  35. my father was diagnosed with colon cancer...unfortunately he died last april, he was too old and weak to be treated accdng to his dctrs :((

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  36. nice shots! mine's up too hope you can drop by. Have a great day!

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  37. Wah got goody bag some more! I noticed your Gardenia packaging is blue?? Is that a diff type of Gardenia bread? Ours is red for white bread and green for wholemeal. What's blue? :)

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  38. My dear friend's brother died of colon cancer last year...I know it is very silent until it is too late. There should be more awareness events like this one!

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  39. Mariuca,
    The blue packing is a new type of Gardenia breads - high fibre white bread. We have the two breads you mentioned too.

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  40. Mar,
    Yep, the problem with cancer is, it's a silent killer.

    What I'm worried is sometimes it's not easily detectable even with very sophisticated medical equipment. :(

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  41. Looks like a fun but meaningful weekend. I always want to spread the word in cancer awareness because the disease can easily be managed if treated early.

    Have a nice week ahead, ECL.

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  42. performing your CIP online huh? u deserve a civic-conscous award for your effort!

    How's your boy doing?

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  43. This is a very worthwhile cause, ECL. Have a great week!

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  44. Ohhhhh thanks for the info ECL! I have yet to see the blue one here, but I guess it will make its way to M'sia soon enough! Happy Monday! :)

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  45. Emmyrose,
    You can spread the word any time you want it. Create awareness in your readers.

    Hope to see you in Singapore! :)

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  46. saint2,
    I'm a good citizen, always performing my CIP no matter if I'm online or offline. :)

    Thanks for your concern, my son looks fine but still has the pains. Cannot find the cause for it.

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  47. Mariuca,
    You seem to be in a good mood on a Monday. :)
    I'm surprised the blue package bread isn't available in Malaysia. It tastes good.

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  48. Hey, are there obvious symtoms that we should be looking out for?

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  49. waitingkitty,
    They include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, change in bowel habits, narrow stools, diarrhoea or constipation, red or dark blood in stool, weight loss, abdominal pain, cramps, or bloating.

    Colon cancer can be present for several years before symptoms develop. Symptoms vary according to where in the large bowel the tumor is located.

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  50. So, that's how you got to "operate" on pple... fun leh... i also want!!

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  51. LadyJava,
    haha... next time got such a chance, I'll email you. :P

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  52. Thanks for the information! What a great way to keep people informed.

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  53. That's a very great cause. Due to too much fast food and fast paced life, people really need to know more about this one. Thanks for the very educational information.

    My Weekend Snapshots are posted in these blogs:
    Jenn Was Here and Le Kulitszie Familie. Please stop by if you have some time. =) May you have a great week ahead!

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  54. 1 in 50 is a big number and it is scary. It is good to know that the hospital did this to raise awareness about the cancer.

    How is the dear boy?

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  55. 1 in 50?! It is darn high risk, no?!

    Wow, who is this Felicia Chin? She is pretty eh?

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  56. Happy Monday!! Congrats Singapore for the 1st success in Olympics....this is not the 1st and last.

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  57. A great post, ECL! I get a colonoscopy every year! The New York World's Fair happened in 1964-65. The area it was held in is called Flushing Meadow Park. It's a lovely place!

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  58. You have lucky readers. Thanks to eastcoastlife.

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  59. wow! thats great eastcoast..u surely got a very meaningful weekend.

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  60. Sounds like a great event to bring awareness to something that is so important.

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  61. Sandy,
    Welcome. I think Singapore General Hospital did a good job to reach out to the public and very commendable of them to offer free colonoscopy to those tested with positive results.

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  62. Hi JennWasHere,
    Young kids are not eating right from the beginning. I see many of them love to eat fast food and hate vegetables, dislike exercising. Most are obese. It is not good for their health.

    People have to learn to be responsible for their health and should learn to take care of themselves before it's too late.

    The healthcare providers in Singapore are doing a good job.

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  63. Julie,
    Yes, it's a high risk disease and scary scenario.

    Jaymes is fine for the moment. No reason for his acute abdominal pains can be found. He's just taking painkillers whenever the pain comes.

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  64. Wilfrid,
    That's 2% of the population! Almost 90,000 people in Singapore!

    Felicia Chin is a Mediacorp artiste. She acted in many Chinese TV dramas. You've never heard of her!?

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  65. bonoriau,
    Thanks! Yes, it will not be our first nor last Olympic medal, we will go for more!

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  66. the teach,
    I didn't know we need to get a colonoscopy annually.

    Thanks for the info on New York World Fair. :)

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  67. Just Another Day,
    Yes, I had a meaningful weekend! :)

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  68. Caroline,
    It is important that the public knows about this high risk disease and since it is preventable and treatable, the people should do all they can to beat it.

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  69. Leonard,
    You also Felicia Chin fan!?
    Fight with my son huh. hehe...

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  70. Doreen,
    Yes, she is.... and a pretty nice girl. :)

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  71. Thanks, eastcoast. My mom got great care and was surrounded by her family.

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  72. Gran,
    That's comforting. It's important that the family was with her.

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