Community engagement 2022

• Eskom Expo for Young Scientists

  E Anirudh, Y Benade, Dr A Mostert, Dr R de Wet, and Dr P Maass served as conveners and on the judging panel in the categories Biomedical, Medical and Social sciences at the annual Eskom Expo for Young Scientists that took place from the 28 – 29 July 2022.

• School projects

Under the guidance of  S Singh, chair of the community engagement committee, an easter egg donation, and cake sale project was successfully completed in 2022. Proceeds and donations were delivered to Dr C F Visser Primary School. Staff members involved in the school project were Dr S van Niekerk, Dr A Mostert,  A Kalicharan, Dr C Ntsapi, Dr S Gordon.

Singh was also the project leader of a successful honours poster project. Posters will be displayed at local high schools. Titles of the posters are as follows:

• Student M. Venter: Title: Snooze, don’t lose

• Student U Hlunza: Title: Are you constantly dieting in order to maintain a healthy weight?
• Student Gaopalelwe Keetse. Title: Take charge, fight unhealthy fat!

Honours student project supervisors include : Singh, Dr C Vorster, Dr S van Zyl, Dr R de Wet, Dr A Mostert.

• MBChB medical student’s community project

Drs A Mostert and S van Niekerk supervised undergraduate medical students’ medical history-taking skills during a visit to the Striata Old Age Home in Bloemfontein.

• World Anatomy Day (WAD)

The first International Anatomy Day was celebrated on the 15^th of October 2019 and provided anatomists with an opportunity to celebrate anatomical advances, as well as convey the need for more research and development in the field. In celebration of World Anatomy Day on the 15^th of October 2022, the department hosted an anatomy art competition. The best artworks were also submitted for the art exhibition that formed part of the 3rd ASSA WAD online symposium that was held on Thursday, 13 October 2022.
The following represent some of the artwork submitted for the 2022 ASSA Art exhibition:

Community engagement 2021

Dr Petra Maass presented two workshops – Introduction to Human Osteology and Forensic Anthropology, and Forensic Osteoarchaeology & Excavation Theory and Practice – to second year students from the Departments of Forensic Genetics and Basic Medical Sciences in May 2021.

Staff from the department again took part in the annual Crazy Socks for Docs initiative to raise awareness and support for health professionals dealing with mental health issues. Staff shared photos of their own (and their kiddies’) feet in funky and funny socks, which was shared with a message of thanks to those working during the pandemic.

Physiology community engagement project

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), non-communicable diseases are among the world’s largest killers, with an estimated 38 million deaths annually. Raising awareness in our communities about non-communicable diseases and their risks factors play a critical role in disease prevention, early detection, and management. In the second semester, engagement with the community via an engaged scholarship project that involved both postgraduate learners and the staff of the department of BMS took place. The community engagement team, under the leadership of Dr Jenelle Govender, has recognized the KovsieFM podcast platform as an ideal opportunity to engage with the broader community on non-communicable diseases. The team encouraged and assisted postgraduate  students to make the most of the exciting learning opportunity that allowed them to engage with the community via a podcast (in October 2021) aimed at raising awareness on non-communicable diseases.

Students prepared the following podcasts that were broadcast on the KovsieFM podcast platform:

• Increased risk of developing cardiovascular challenges with lengthened cigarette and vapo use with post graduate student. Student: Nothando Mwendauya
• Breast cancer awareness with post graduate student. Student: Jessica van Onselen
• Harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption/alcohol abuse with post graduate student. Student: Relebogile Thubisi

World Anatomy day 15 October 2021

The first International Anatomy Day was celebrated on the 15^th of  October 2019 and providing anatomists with an opportunity to both celebrate anatomical advances, as well as convey the need for more research and development in the field. In celebration of World Anatomy Day 2021, a small team from the department, under the leadership of Dr Petra Maass,  hosted an anatomy art competition. The submissions and winning artwork were displayed in the Francois Retief building during the week of the 11^th of October 2021. The Anatomy honours students also compiled a video project, where they quizzed students and staff on their anatomy knowledge. 

Three of winning artworks of the UFS were also showcased at the ASSA World Anatomy Day Virtual symposium celebrations held on the 13^th of October 2021. The goal of this symposium was to provide postgraduate students as well as registered student members of the Society and opportunity to present any current research. Dr Petra Maass, Dr Sanet van Zyl, Dr Carina Vorster,  Sadhna Singh and Dr Tshegofatso Ramphaleng attended the online symposium.

Community engagement 2020

Despite being apart during the Level 5 national lockdown period, staff in the department still showed solidarity with the Crazy Socks for Docs initiative to raise awareness and support for health professionals dealing with mental health issues, especially during this stressful time. From all corners of the country where staff found themselves, photos of their feet in funky winter socks were shared on social media to share the message.

Photo: The staff again contributed to a successful Easter egg project for

 the Dr. Visser School in April 2022.

Mental Health Awareness 2019

The department also participated in Mental Health Awareness, in cooperation with the MBChB Programme Director’s office, and inspirational and mental health educational quotes were posted on boards in the faculty foyer, lecture venues and in the administrative building.

Dr Arnelle Mostert is the representative  of the SoBMS on the Community Engagement and Service Learning Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Community Engagement Management Committee (CEMC) of the University of the Free State. The department of Basic Medical Sciences was involved in engaged citizenship through community service projects in 2019. The main aim of the committee was to support the CF Visser School and old age homes by providing food and basic products and health information.  Initiatives launched in the department served as fundraising activities for various projects throughout the year.

Donations from members of the department enabled the department to deliver freshly-baked bread loaves every second week throughout the year to the CF Visser School. Cupcakes and sweet treats were sold on Valentine’s Day to raise funds for the winter warmer project in June 2019. Easter eggs, accompanied by an Easter message, were distributed to learners at the CF Visser School. An easter hunt at the pre-primary school formed part of this activity. Soup was sold on three ocasions during May and June to supplement funds for the Christmas project in November 2019. 

The department of Basic Medical Sciences (Dr S van Zyl, A Mostert, M Ferreira, Carol-Lynn van der Merwe, Y Govender and Miss T Ramphaleng) and staff from the skills unit visited “Ons Tuiste” nursing home accompanied by third-year medical students of the MCLI2720 Clinical Skills module from 8 to 16 August 2019 as part of a community engagement project. Students visited patients in the old age home, took a history and recorded vital signs. They also provided information on practical information on sleep hygiene and distributed bars of soaps and face cloths to the elderly during the visit

Visit to “Ons Tuiste” nursing home

Crazy Socks for Docs Day

Members of the department participated in the Crazy Socks for Docs Day on 7 June by wearing some silly and playful socks to work. The initiative aims at raising awareness and support for health professionals dealing with mental health issues.

Staff members Jenelle Govender, Simone Gordon, Arnelle Mostert, Annelize Vorster, Petra Maass and Yolani Benadé wearing their colourful and silly socks for mental health awareness

Christmas project at Dr CF Visser school 2018

Dr Arnelle Mostert was nominated to represent the SoBMS as a representative on the Community Engagement and Service Learning Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Community Engagement Management Committee (CEMC) of the University of the Free State from 2018.

The department of Basic Medical Sciences was involved in engaged citizenship through community service projects in 2018.  The following staff members serve on the department Basic Medical Sciences Community Service committee in 2019: Dr A Mostert (Chair), Ms G Niemandt (Vice chair), Members:  Drs AM Gerber, S Gordon, CO Larson, A Vorster, Ms SM Roux, PC Vorster - De Wet and Mr M Muller.

The main aim of the committee was to support the CF Visser School and old age homes by providing food and basic products.  Initiatives launched in the department served as fundraising activities for various projects throughout the year.

Community service fundraising events and projects 2017

 
Various projects were launched this year to raise funds for community service projects e.g. clothes, food parcels, magazines, books and Sesotho bibles were delivered at a local school and distributed amongst less fortunate families.  Students of the Radiography Department, CUT, visited the museum from 07-08 June 2017 and from 26-27 June 2017 for training purposes, local attorneys groups made use of specimens for a consultation session with a forensic pathologist on 24 March 2017, Camelot International made use of the museum facility on 27 September 2017 for the training of their students and a team from AVBOB, interested in embalming procedures, visited our mortuary and museum on 10 July 2017 and 07 November 2017.