TCM Wellness Seminar, Inheriting Chinese culture
TCM Wellness Seminar, Inheriting Chinese culture
November 23, 2017
On 23 November at Marsiling Branch while the patients were waiting for consultation, a special lecture on Traditional Chinese Medicine wellness conducted for the teachers from the Chinese Language Dept of Nanyang Primary School. 34 teachers visited Sian Chay Medical Institution to integrate Sian Chay and TCM into their learning journey, which greatly inspired us and made this lecture special.
The lecture began with introduction of Sian Chay’s history. Founded in 1901, Sian Chay has been providing consultation and medication to the needy and the vulnerable for over a century, regardless of social status, race or religion. It opened its first neighbourhood branch in 2012, under the leadership of Mr. Toh Soon Huat. Today, Sian Chay 15 branches island-wide with the strong support from all social sectors.
Sian Chay people uphold the core values of “Forgiveness, Universal Love, Compassion, Gratitude and Blessings” and actively promote the belief of “Nation Progresses, Family Prospers; Family Harmony, Successful Endeavours”, “Forward with the Nation, Bonding with the People”. It has served 770,000 patient visits in total in the past three years (2014-2017 August). The estimated otal number of patient visits will be 2.5 million for the next 5 years (2018-2022), with a total of 4.8 million dosages of prescription.
“We welcome you teachers to come to Sian Chay for treatment. We hope you to help us promote and let more people to know about Sian Chay’s public platform. Let all be generous and work together to make Sian Chay’s charity cause bigger and last longer.”
Later on, our Physician Dr. Liao delivered a profound but easy-to-understand lecture on TCM wellness for all the teachers. Teachers are usually in trouble with pharyngitis or voice-loss due to occupational reasons. Dr. Liao explained how to prevent or treat according to TCM philosophy. Copies of food therapy recipes were distributed to teachers, such as, “Lily & Green Bean Soup” for inflammation due to hot weather, or “Scaphium Seed Tea” for cold syndrome. The teachers asked Dr. Liao for tips on wellness and Dr. Liao demonstrated on the spot and making wonderful interaction.
Dr. Liao emphasized, “TCM focuses on the balance of Yin and Yang. Besides treating the symptoms, it is important to nurture one’s physique to cure the disease. Nurturing physique should be focusing on balancing Exterior-Interior, Hot-Cold, Deficiency-Excess, which are based on the core concept of TCM, Yin-and-Yang. Diseases can only be cured once the body is balanced.”
A teacher commented on this lecture, “We not only learnt knowledge on wellness from this lecture, but also feel Sian Chay’s passion on promoting TCM and its care to patients.” Another teacher praised, “The lecturer explained the TCM consultation process in details and answered our questions carefully and thoroughly, showing his profession.” Quite a few teachers agreed that the lecture was fruitful for deepening understanding of Sian Chay and TCM.