“Elderly people should have a well-balanced diet and perform simple physical activities to maintain an active healthy life,” said Prof Dr Zhai Yachun, Head of Department of Chinese Medicine, UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. He was advising the villagers of Pekan Pasir in Perak at a We-Care-We-Act Health Camp on 8 April 2012. He gave a talk aimed at raising awareness among the villagers, especially the old folks, about healthy eating to prevent diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and stroke.
The series of We-Care-We-Act community service projects is organised by the Department of Soft Skills Competency of UTAR Perak Campus as a way celebrate the UTAR 10th anniversary. Thirty-six UTAR students volunteered in the health camp at Pekan Pasir. It started at 8.00am with 12 students demonstrating wushu and tai chi. Dr Zhai and four students from his faculty provided health checkups for the villagers. The students also served them with herbal tea without sugar and artificial colouring to demonstrate a good dietary practice.
“It is a good programme for raising awareness among the villagers on holistic wellbeing and personal health improvement,” said Hew Moke Foo, the village head, after thanking the UTAR volunteers.
Dr Zhai checking a patient’s pulse
