A Joint Health Week: What is your opinion? Vote HERE

Vice President Abiodun ‘Abbey’ Atunrase has proposed that for this session’s Medicine and Surgery health week, we do a collaboration with our sister departments. They are:

• Medical Laboratory Science
• Nursing Science
• Human Nutrition and Dietetics
• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Pharmacology

The executive council wants all Medicine and Surgery students across all levels to air their opinions,but before you do. Here is Abbey’s Appeal

THE HUMBLE APPPEAL; A MUST READ!!

This appeal is as regards the JOINT HEALTH WEEK initiative being proposed by the office of the Vice President of the ABUAD MEDICAL STUDENTS ASSOCIATION.  Subsequent paragraphs would be to enlighten each and every Amsaite to the weighty importance of such an initiative, and I most certainly pray and ask you read through with an open mind and free your thoughts from whatever contraptions they are in.

Before, I go on I would like to correct the misconception that your dues are meant for just the week. This school of thought is quite wrong. YOUR DUES ARE MEANT FOR THE DAY TO DAY RUNNING OF THE ASSOCIATION, other programs meant to boost the welfare, social (talent hunt) and academic life of members. As well provide grants to help cater for class needs; such as projectors e.t.c . With respect to norms and practices, the funding of the week is meant to be sourced from outside, and should be a crowning event to an administration’s accomplishment.

THE APPEALS;

• An appeal for unity– Rift and segregation within the health sector has been going on for so long, so much so that it is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf, with some practitioners wanting to prove themselves over others and only pay attention to their EGOS to the detriment of patient care. In some cases, lives have been lost and if not lost a quantifiable decrease in patient care is noted.Fortunately, for us ABUADITES and as health practitioners in training, we have an opportunity to correct such notion, our schooling environment has made us to be very much in contact with each other, let us take this opportunity to give peace a chance and to prove to the outside world that we ABUAD MEDICS are very much in unity and set a record never before envisaged by uniting for our health week and show that patient care can be multi professional and we are all partakers in the word “HEALTH”. Let’s show that we can truly save lives without our egos interfering. This would promote team effort and build leaders of a multi-professional team. When we pull this off our administration would have set a benchmark in unity among st the college.

• An appeal for a more glamorous event– Teamwork is the secret that make common people achieve an uncommon result. A joint health week in no doubt will add more colour, publicity and life in everything we do, as they will be more talents on display than normal, every activity won’t be a dull , from the movies, concert, dinner, sports festival all are most likely going to be a hit back to back. Whatever activity intelligent minds such as the ones resident in college 2 gather to do will most likely be outstanding on the ABUAD CAMPUS because interweaving students across our college would produce more colourful and glamorous events. Plus there won’t be an excuse for a staff missing an event, because the entire college is involved

• An appeal to enjoy more and spend less– in this current economic recession, never as it been more difficult to satisfy our individual wants and meet our expectations all in the name of “dollar don rise”. Anyone who has experience in planning will most definitely agree with me that the cost of sourcing for souvenirs, shirts, jotters, pens, feeding items and any other materials being used for the health week will decrease as the number of people being produced for increases. The cost of producing for 500 people is more than producing for 1,000 people. At the end of the day burdens shared are easier to bear and happiness never decreases by being shared.

• An appeal to pool more resources together– Reducing the weight of finances on the association’s purse would allow executives offices resources to attain their tenure goals FOR 2016/2017.Kindly note plans are being made that the funding of this health week are as minimal as possible on the association’s purse, as we plan to source for funds from multinational companies, non-governmental organizations, banks, telecoms, government officials, so as to prevent a recurrence of what happened in 2013, of the association running into debt cause of the week.

Joint Health Week Demerits

We’ve realised that to achieve the thought of the impossible, methods never been deployed before will have to be deployed, so despite the demerits, we have suggested ways of working around the cons

Crowd control – challenges may arise from controlling the college student population of about 1,500. I believe this challenge is conquerable with the following prescribed measures;

• The joint local organizing committee of this initiative is estimated to be 70 in number; that is 10 representatives across each department, minimum of one person across each level. These Representatives would be:
  • Innovative
  • Resourceful
  • Creative
  • Solution-Orientated
  • Have the ability to think on their feet and cope under pressure
  • Enthusiastic about this project.

  As well sub locs will be set up within the departments that will effectively cater for the deparmental needs. An estimated number of 140 people will be on board to see to the day to day activities of the week.

• Dinner invitations will be by reservations – as people will be asked to notify the loc of them coming and who their coming with ahead of time, minimum of seven days, so adequate preparations will be in place.
• Rehearsals of the week are going to be undertaken by the loc, two weeks ahead of the proposed week. Back up plans are to be drawn up, in case the initial plan is being affected. So there will be plan a, b and c for each day of the health week.

Logistics of clinical students- issues might arise from allowing our clinical colleagues to effectively partake in the week; this can be resolved in two ways;

• Tempoary room allocation for the 110 clinical students at ido at the newly built hostels on the abuad campus or the hostels under construction at the new teaching hospital.
• The school bus system- already the school has a fleet of 4 coaster buses that seats a mininmum of 28 students, which enables it to transport 112 students in total. Most certainly the buses will be booked for that week for the to and fro shuttling of our clinical colleagues to enable them participate for the weeek.

The dinner hall-

Be reminded that any man-made problem can be resolved by man-made solutions. The fact that not everyone would be able to see and hear what is happening on stage is being taken into consideartion.

That is why we are going to deploy

• More projectors and larger screens for side views.
• Add more speakers to the already available sound system.
• Ensure all exits and entrances are flung open to ensure free flow of foot traffic.
• Creative ushering measures are going to be crafted out spearheaded by our college officer aunty Tola.

Conflict of ideas between departments

Realising the fact that we are all people of intellect with different mindsets and back grounds we are willing to make the necessary compromise to achieve a record breaking feat. A memorandum of understanding is being crafted out to underlay to each department’s terms and conditions which would be witnessed by trusted and impartial college officers, who shall in any case of breech of agreement wade in to mediate. Decisions will be subjected to voting, wherby a considerable majority will have the final say.  Despite our diffferences we still have a common ground which is health, which is what we are trying to unify for a better cause! Bear in mind that our resolution to success is more important than any other thing.

Slow process in decision making

When such intelligent minds come together for something of such a grandiose nature, it is of no doubt that coming to certain terms might be quite the herculean task. But the more the obstacle the greater the glory in overcoming it.

That is why we set out to plan as early as possible, giving ourselves at least a 3 month head start, as the proposed date for the week is late week of april 2017.

Please be reminded that the suggested solutions are open to more superior school of thought of tackling issues

Coming together is a beginning

Keeping together is progress!!

And sacrificing to work together is success!!

So please vote and tell your course mates to vote.

NB:This voting is for only MEDICINE AND SURGERY STUDENTS.

[polldaddy poll=9606771]

Signed

Adeemabua W.C. Ikpade

Public Relations Ofiicer,AMSA