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THE Penang Adventist Hospital (PAH) has launched the Community Health Ambassador (CHA) programme for the second consecutive year.
PAH chief executive officer Albin Phua said the CHA programme is a state-level volunteer initiative programme that was started by PAH last year in line with the hospital’s ‘Wholelistic Approach Wellness’.
“The main objective of this programme is to recruit the public to be our health ambassadors in order to create public awareness of common health issues.
“The beauty of this programme is that it creates a direct path to community and state promoting awareness, and encouraging health-related activities.
“This is an effective channel for the hospital to make an impact in our community. In turn, members of the community who are positively impacted by the outreach can also join the CHA programme as well and get involved in the activities,” Phua said in his speech before Penang Youth, Sports and Health Committee chairman Daniel Gooi Zi Sen officiated the programme in Komtar yesterday (Feb 22).
According to Phua, the CHA programme will closely collaborate with various government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate companies, universities, colleges and schools for outreach initiatives.
“The potential to prevent numerous diseases through simple lifestyle changes or early detection is significant.
“By educating the public on the importance of health screening that will lead to early detection, we are essentially saving lives as we give people a higher chance to combat the disease.
“I have great hopes that these efforts will ultimately lead to a reduction in non-communicable diseases through health screening, health talks and health education.
“In short, I am greatly optimistic about the outreach at every level of society through the CHA programme,” he said.
Gooi commended PAH for its noble initiative.
“I hope that the Community Health Ambassador programme will shine like a beacon, spreading health awareness in the community,” he said.
During the same event, the Health Equity Project was also launched by PAH.
Phua explained that the Health Equity Project is a testament to PAH’s commitment to reducing healthcare disparities.
“This project is a noble pursuit that will work hand in hand with the CHA programme where volunteers will be allowed to conduct health screenings for the underprivileged groups within their community, promoting health equity for all.
“Thus, I would like to encourage more partners and the public to join this initiative in creating health awareness in our community together,” Phua added.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Law Suun Ting