Vietnam Trip

            Vietnam has always held a certain allure to me being a culture that has some elements of the Chinese culture I was from. I took my trip there as an opportunity to understand the rich culture of the Vietnamese.

I reached Vietnam on a cold rainy Friday. Not much different from Malaysia. Though so, the buildings were definitely different. It had elements of French influence and the architecture especially the older buildings definitely reflected a colonialist heritage.

When I reached the hotel, I was feeling peckish and decided to sample the food that Vietnam was famous for, Vietnamese Coffee and Pho Bo.

            The Vietnamese Coffee came with it’s own drip mechanism and it was definitely a brew you can’t drink anxiously. While waiting for the coffee to finish dripping, I tucked into the Pho Bo and it was superb. Vietnamese dishes that I know of absolutely try not to overcook the vegetables and Pho Bo is an example of a dish that the vegetables are best served raw. Mixing the raw vegetables in the soup broth brought around a new appreciation of the crunchiness of the vegetables mixed with the heartiness of the soup. The coffee kicked like a mule. Vietnamese like their coffee strong and this was a monster. It immediately awoken me and prepared me for the adventure ahead. 

           Next I went for a briefing by the Malaysian Education Attache, En. Helmy Sulaiman, he talked about the characteristics of the Vietnamese student and urge us to expand this market.

 

            The education fair began the next day at the hotel itself and we are deeply honoured to be graced by the presence of Tun Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. She was here on an official visit with her husband and decided to visit the Education Fair also.

I presented her with a souvenir from Vision College

 

         Then the students came in and they were in all manner of people. From High schoolers to University Graduates, they were there to find out what Malaysian education had to offer.

          We also had visitors from a very interesting clan from Vietnam, Malay Muslims who have set up they own enclave and heritage in Vietnam generations ago. They spoke very little Malay but were absolutely fluent in Vietnamese.

 

Then the next day, we did a visit to Education Malaysia’s office in the heart of Ho Chi Minh to visit En Helmy.

          Taking a break before the next meeting, I went and had coffee again, I saw allot of the chain shops of Trung Nguyen Coffee, definitely more than the Starbucks chain in Vietnam, and decided to have a look. 

 

They served many types of coffee but the one that caught my eye was their concoction called Legendee Coffee.

After reading further, I realize it was made from the Weasel’s droppings after they consume coffee beans similar to the concept of Kopi Luwak from Indonesia. Having tried Kopi Luwak before, I was not at all squeamish about drinking animal droppings and promptly ordered it.

        I was quite surprised. It didn’t taste at all like Luwak. Very strong and acidic. It had a hint of ammonia that made me think the beans they used to make mine wasn’t washed properly. Oh well, I still finished it.

I visited a few agents then went back to get ready to explore the nightlife of Ho Chi Minh.

One thing I notice while walking in Ho Chi Minh, the citizens love to sit in low slung chairs with tables facing the road. Their enjoyment is watching the world go by while enjoying sweet mixed fruit juices.

 

Also the Vietnamese were mad about phones like we are. This mega phone shop was still opened at 11pm.

 

Visited their night markets and sampled their foods.

The next day, I met up with Alex and Kevin, NGO partners in Vietnam, and they took me to sample some rice wraps.

 

So Vietnam definitely was interesting. The food was amazing. Very diverse but with taste that were familiar to my palate. 

Will definitely come visit again.

By,

Hoh Wing Onn

Director Admission

Myanmar Trip

        I last went to Myanmar 6 years ago just weeks after the Cyclone Nargis hit. The amount of destruction wrought was still evident then with roofs blown off and windows shattered and not repaired.

       The country was still very much under junta rule and government control was very evident. A sim card was impossible to get, you would need to deposit USD1,000 and give various documents and the military was everywhere.

       Fast forward 6 years and Myanmar has changed in warped speed. It was evident when you step off the plane. The people were more bouncy, in that they had more bounce in their steps. Everyone was looking happier. There is a sense that the future belongs to them and they knew it.

         Wow, it was totally a different country. Along the way we saw new cars and evident of new wealth. Our representative says that the hotels are doing roaring business. In some hotel halls, there is a wedding every two hours!

         We stayed in the hotel New Leaf, cozy place.

Then we proceeded to find lunch.

Lunch was around the corner at a local Myanmar Restaurant.

Sour and thick. I didn’t really enjoy it.

Fried eel. Fantastic

Some greens. Overall a great lunch.

Then we went to visit the swankiest new shopping mall in Yangon, Junction Square. Comparable to the top malls of Malaysia.

We went to the supermarket, and was surprised by the offerings.

Fried crickets. Yummy!

The next day we visited Bogyoke Market (Formerly Scotts Market).

 

Bogyoke market is famous for selling precious stones, rubies, diamonds, jade… all girls best friend.

 

Antiques also sold here.

Oh… also the ever present delicacies.

Crickets again… seems to be everywhere.

We then got to work. Ultrasound Workshop in Parkroyal

Even the local press came. Wow! We are famous!

 

It was a fruitful trip and changed my perception of Myanmar. I will definitely come back.

By,

Hoh Wing Onn

Director Admission

Vision Goes Pink For October Breast Cancer Awareness Month

         Vision Diagnostic Centre Tawau goes PINK in October in conjunction with October Breast Cancer Awareness month. As one of the leading diagnostic centres in Tawau Sabah, Vision supports the call for creating awareness among the people of Tawau. 

In collaboration with Kinabalu Pink Ribbon and Tawau General Hospital, Vision aims to introduce its services to the public in the process of fighting breast cancer by diagnosing and early detection. In order to materialize this, Vision collaborated with Kinabalu Pink Ribbon to encourage people around Tawau to join the awareness campaign known as the Tawau Pink Run (D’feeting Breast Cancer), organized by Kinabalu Pink Ribbon. 

Vision as well offered a special mammogram package for participants interested in breast cancer screening. The package will be valid for the whole month of October until the 18 November 2013. 

The event was held in Majlis Perbandaran Tawau (MPT), which started at around 4 pm with a short briefing and welcome speech by the President of Kinabalu Pink Ribbon, Madam Lucilla Pang. 

More than 800 people showed up in pink and some were even dressed to kill. A warming up session was carried out by a group of Zumba fitness instructors where most of the participants joined in. 

The run started at around 4.30 pm when they released the eager runners in pink to swarm the designated route.

    

      The event ended with lucky draws and main prizes give away. It was a successful event where the participants had a great time and enjoyed the activities while promoting awareness and early detection of breast cancer among the society. 

With this, Vision Tawau looks forward to more health awareness campaigns in the area to increase awareness and to educate the public on the importance of early detection and especially prevention.

Vision Diagnostic Centre Tawau, supports cancer awareness! 

By,
Jocelyn Mirasol

Sonographer

DHS (Diploma Health Science)

Pg DMU (Asia)

Exciting New Ultrasound Machines In Vision College

            In August 2013, Vision College became the proud owner of twelve brand new ultrasound machines: the SonoScape S11 Digital Trolley Color Doppler Ultrasound System. 

This state of the art diagnostic equipment is designed for utilization by professionally trained sonographers to evaluate various structures in the human body for various medical reasons, including the abdomen, breasts, testes, thyroid and musculoskeletal system. 

This device is also designed for obstetrics, gynecological and pediatric scanning, as well as neonatal and adult cardiac assessment and endocavity investigation.

The SonoScape S11 was specially optimized for experienced users and ultrasound trainees alike, and therefore a perfect fit for the Postgraduate Diploma of Medical Ultrasonography (Asia) students. 

With convenient patient file management, completely user definable presets, ergonomic keyboard and panel layouts, an optimized software platform and an interface capable of myriad diagnostic purposes and image adjustments, the S11 makes teaching of complex ultrasound techniques to beginners to the field a smooth and enjoyable experience. 

The aesthetic design of the apparatus also complements the modern yet modern   yet relaxing environment of a futuristic diagnostic facility and a 21^st century medical health science college.

             Patients referred by government polyclinic physicians can be assured of accurate and precise diagnoses of any pathologies they may be suffering from with the high grade pre- and post-processing algorithms installed in the SonoScape S11 system. 

The impressive contrast resolution and custom image optimization will ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio that enables students and tutors alike to detect any abnormalities present in their subject while performing an ultrasound scanning session. 

Best of all, included among the wide variety of probes that was purchased with the machines was a hockey stick linear transducer, which has a substantially superior spatial resolution in comparison with ordinary linear transducers, and vastly improves the efficacy of detecting minute musculoskeletal diseases.

             In conclusion, the addition of SonoScape S11 Digital Trolley Color Doppler Ultrasound System units to Vision College has opened a new chapter of learning in this institution and will lead our charges to unchartered frontiers in medical ultrasonography.

By Chris Lai Chiang Wei
Tutor 
Postgraduate DIploma of Medical Ultrasonography (Asia)

My Teaching Experience In Vision College

           Each academician can recount numerous highs and lows in their teaching career. Personally, I have encountered the same experience too. These were the days when my students sometimes seemed uninterested,too talkative or even worse; a blow up occurred and nothing got accomplished. Thankfully, the average combined with the positive days outshine my negative days. Through my almost 2 years of teaching and working in education line, I have learned so much about teaching and dealing with students.

         In this semester, I am teaching a few DMI subjects; Radiographic Pathology and Radiographic Procedures 1. I usually start a lesson by asking my students to translate a few related medical terms to layman words and I must say this really gets them all to be involved. Sometimes, I will offer my help and guidance to some students who are weak by giving extra lesson or tutorial. This has brought significant changes in their attitude and academic results. By doing this, I feel very rewarding.

Students' tutorials to be marked

Books to be read again and again

          For me, teaching is a daily challenging work. It is a very demanding profession and it is worth being committed to it. As an academician, we need to be responsible, hardworking, creative in teaching, self-controlled, organised and willing to share our knowledge with others. That is the reason why we need to increase our knowledge and update ourselves by reading extensively. With all the criteria needed, academician really need to be able to deliver their very best to the students. 

This is how my daily workstation looks like

Preparing the simplest slide as possible so that students can understand well

             To all academian in Vision College, I sincerely congratulate all of you because you are able to face all the daily challenges in carrying out the role as an educator.

By,
Elly Nadia
Lecturer DMI

Thankful For Being A Part Of Vision College

     Launching my career in Vision College after I graduated has been a memorable one. I am glad and feel thankful to be a part of this established academic institution. Without realizing, it has been two years since I worked here. I have gained experiences by handling day-to-day situations as a receptionist in Vision College. I have learnt ways to organise patients' appointments and ensure that the professional trainees have a smooth daily operation in the center.

         This career has helped me to further improve my interpersonal skills by meeting and helping the patients. The trainees and tutors are very helpful and give their full cooperation when I need help to handle the patients. Apart from that, I have gained exposure and an extensive knowledge in types of diseases through ultrasound scan. Vision diagnostic also offers 3D and 4D scan packages to pregnant women. 

      

        Not only that, I also have the opportunity to participate in Vision Diagnostic's roadshow in several states. From there, I have gained the experience to interview some of the prospective students. Besides that, Vision College always encourages the staff to participate in programmes such as Continuous Medical Education (CME). With God's will, I will give my best effort to give a good service in Vision College and Vision Diagnostic.

By,

Nor Zarina
Receptionist