COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE NEPHROLOGY

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH and PREVENTIVE NEPHROLOGY

Joseph Michael P. Abcede, MD

‘In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

More than a year into the pandemic, the challenges in our medical practice remains. The thrust that the members of PSN Committee on Public Health and Preventive Nephrology wanted to achieve this year is quite daunting given the uncertainties of our present situation. But there is always a silver lining in every difficulty as our committee started the fiscal year with worthwhile projects.

Our activities commenced with the celebration of the Kidney Month last June with the PCP-PSN Health Forum held last June 15, 2020 together with the National Kidney and Transplant Institute as the lead coordinator thru Dr. Mel Hatra-Arakama. A lay forum lecture was conducted by Drs. Marichelle Pile-Coronel and Michelle Cacayorin followed by an engaging open forum.

One of the PSN highlights every year is the Family Day. On June 20, 2021, the 19^th annual Family Day was celebrated virtually thru Facebook Live with the theme: “Matatag na Bato sa Kapanahunang Ito.” The program started with a short lecture about Covid vaccination amongst CKD, HD/PD, KT patients. It was followed by the educational Vlogs presented by the different PSN Chapters promoting the Eight Golden Rules for Kidney Health.

The main program was ably hosted live by our energetic colleagues Dra. Agnes Cruz, Dr. Erick Verano, Dr. Gene Angcao and special guest host, DJ Chloe of 96.3 FM. They kept our virtual audience excited and entertained with the presentation of the two major contest: the Tik Tok Dance Challenge contest of the different Hemodialysis units and hospital training institutions of the country wherein their terpsichorean skills were showcased, and the  Panata ng Kidney Warriors vlog in which the optimistic and heart-warming stories of our renal patients and their families made us teary eyed but very inspired. Likewise, multiple generous raffle prizes were given away making the virtual attendees happy. It was a success as shown by the following numbers: a) people reached = 9,765, b) engagement = 13,732, c) comments = 840+, d) share = 243.

In order for the committee to fulfill our mission of promoting preventive nephrology, it was agreed upon to strengthen our social media platform for lay people (thru Facebook) by launching the following: 1) Kidney Corner FB Page– created for information dissemination of the PSN Cluster on Patient Care committees. This page is headed by our webmaster, Dr. Carlo Trinidad.  2) Kidney Tik Talks – monthly virtual lay fora activity thru the Kidney Corner FB Page to be held every 4^th Wednesday of the month, coordinated with the PSN Website team and our PSN Media Relation Officer. The topics each month are usually in conjunction with the Department of Health calendar. Lectures would also be made in collaboration with the different medical societies/organization. The first Kidney Tik Talks was held last June with the topic on Diabetic Kidney Disease. It was followed last month with: “Gulay para sa Batong Buhay (A Health Forum on Kidney Health and Nutrition), and for the month of August: ‘Leptospirosis at Kidneys: Ugnayang Kayang Iwasan.”

Despite the unpredictability brought about by the pandemic, we do hope that the lineup of mostly virtual activities that our committee have prepared would reach more people nationally and bring about better awareness about kidney health and renal disease prevention.