'life' and life of medical doctors/ajarns

Last week, I had a chance to visit a Med School and as always, I enjoyed talking with medical doctors/administrators/lecturers and wish to share some little things that mean so much to me ka:

1. I asked one medical doctor/lecturer if he was sick of repeating all the steps on Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). His answer was 'yes' right away but he would continue doing it because it means 'life' of patients!

A little bit later, he said the faculty will introduce 'training for trainers' to increase the numbers of qualified people to teach/repeat! 

I was struck with his passion being a medical doctor/lecturer whose concerns about the quality were obvious plus the drive to lessen the boredom in an effective way.

2. Whenever I meet doctors in medical schools, I feel inspired to work harder, knowing that they not only work real real hard, but they also need deep concentration to save lives. 

Another medical ajarn hurried to have an operation. When asked if he was sleepy, his answer was, 'I can't!' Seems he has no 'right' to feel sleepy lae ka. He then said he had to operate the nervous system of the brain. 

His patients are very fortunate ka.

3. In every institution, there're lots of achievements that may not be recalled right away. External assessors could  help them take more time to think of those successes and record them systematically for effectively repeated processes.

I now will go back to work harder yet smarter ka!

Inspired by Amb. Kasit

Dear All, We were extremely busy with our annual event last week to prepare Thai Fulbright grantees before their departure....exhausted ka! 

In between the busy time, we learned a lot. I personally enjoyed listening to Ambassador Kasit Piromya, who was invited to be our keynote speaker, inspiring our grantees to become more contributive across cultures while being great life-long learners. 

I picked up 3 issues from his talk ka. 

1. Thailand has its own ideology, covering our Nation, Religion, and Monarch. Because of the three, it's our responsibility to protect them all. He noted that there've been internal reforms of the three pillars as years go by too. 

2. We could look at Singapore to see how it has achieved its targeted goals. Singapore is small and highly successful. So if Thailand can become successful, even when we are much bigger, wouldn't it be a greater achievement for us to enjoy? I like his positive thinking and the way he puts it as I heard so many people mentioning about the size of Singapore, which doesn't mean much to our development efforts if we're very serious to move forward na ka. 

3. When asked about the US's perspectives about the most recent coup, he said we need to understand where the US is from. Its democracy has matured for over a century after many struggles, e.g. from discrimination, civil war, etc. Thailand is growing and will become more mature eventually and definitely in different ways. I saw an article of his interview on this very issue in the Krungtep Turakit paper this morning too. 

He also touched upon other matters when he assumed the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was real impressive to see how straightforward he was to the ASEAN group when no one dared to speak up much. We do need our own Thai representatives to dare to speak the truth at the right time to the right group some time, not just far too diplomatic style all the time ka. 

Several grantees said to me that they started thinking more of the world beyond their own fields.......this made me feel very happy and I know that our bright Fulbright grantees have been inspired to research and learn further on their own ka.  

health seminar

A very good Monday morning to you all ka!

Yesterday, my friend and I attended a seminar about chronic neck and back pain to learn more about it as we both suffer a bit ka.

Being an event organizer in a way, I've noted the following ka:

1. Expectations of doctors are even higher as years go by, especially communication skills. The doctor giving us a talk was a great communicator ka. He compared symptoms to some simple things close to our lives, like our small wounds, saving drown people, or flat tires --I couldn't relate the latter as much as those who have cars lae ka:))! It makes me think harder when I address different groups of people jing jing.

2. Many events now outsource organizers who may find it a struggle to find qualified people to work for them, particularly announcer/moderator.

Yesterday, I felt sort of sorry for the MC who didn't seem to go through that much training ka. She wasn't that nervous at all (better than me mak mak!) but she didn't know the sequences of the program that well...which could be from many factors, plus she was asked to moderate a panel. It wasn't so smooth though I don't think people tended to it much ka. I was tempted to go and ask for her address so I could send her a booklet or tell her some tips......now I regret not talking with her laew ka. She has good potential and with some guidance, she would do much better.

3. Real stories, sharing successful cases, turned out to be more interesting than I thought ka. I enjoyed listening to different experiences plus their ways of thinking about life, and of sharing experiences. The only thing was that all the previous patients were male.....55+ up! I asked the doctor if those cases occurred with many female patients. His answer was, 'Yes! the ratio is 1:1 and with all ages...now that the smart phones have caused us to use our neck looking down!'

4. The doctor's direct experience as a patient with severe back pain that had to go through an operation became the best story in my view. His 'torturous' pain and operation made him feel he wanted to seek some new ways to help similar cases. His understanding of the pain is definitely heightened with more realistic advice to offer ka.

5. The keyword to pay attention to is still 'exercise' ka!

Well! lots to learn from such a session....more on the overall logistics too!

from heart to heart

A very good morning to you ka!

Life has been on the busy end and in between, it's been so rewarding!

As a few of our Thai grantees in the US just graduated, some have returned home and so these days, we are happily busy welcoming them back.

Besides his 'caring' experiences, actively helping offer food to the disadvantaged, this new alum came back with a great attitude about 'failure'. He now feels failing is fine especially for the startups and that it's also fine to fail more than once to learn more ka! How he wishes our country would allow failure to be part of our culture ka!

We also have several Thai alumni who wrote or visited. One wrote how her Fulbright/Humphrey experiences led her to initiate a project with her Humphrey friend to set up a student affairs section at Soutsaka College, nurturing spirit of volunteerism in Laotian students.

Another Thai alum came to our office after years staying in the US. She was with her two little kids, one 8-month old and the other around 3. I couldn't imagine how she handled the two while on board the plane especially the long flight (her husband said she is very capable lae ka!) I was touched that she managed to visit us too. The effort to see us was really meaningful to our hearts.

Tomorrow, an American alum will be back to his second home here in Thailand. His love of teaching, his kind heart, and his gentle manner are so precious that all, himself, we here, his Thai friends and students, will find it a wonderful delight to welcome him back but another difficult bittersweet goodbye ka.

Have a very beautiful day na ka.....after all, friendship from people-to-people contacts stays on to for heart-to-heart happiness ka.