Dr. Thomas Mok1 and Dr. Loretta Yam2
- President of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society
- Chairman of the Hong Kong Lung Foundation
A Respiratory Health Walkathon, organized as part of the celebration events for the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Lung Foundation, was held successfully on the 5th of November 2006. More than 300 doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and patient groups turned out in full force to join the event which aims to raise community awareness of the importance of lung health and to educate public on various respiratory diseases
The walkathon started from Hong Kong Coliseum, through footbridges and ended at Centenary Garden in Tsimshatui. We were honored to have Dr. Leong Che Hung, GBS, JP, Chairman of HKSAR Elderly Commission, accompanied by Dr. Loretta Yam, Dr. Thomas Mok and Mr. Alan Chan, Chairman of The Hong Kong Asthma Society to be our guests of honor and took part in a simple ribbon-cutting ceremony. At the opening ceremony, guests and dancers performed a ‘Respiratory Health Exercise’ to promote the benefit of exercise on lung health. To demonstrate the many ways to fight respiratory diseases, all participants also read out the following “Respiratory Health Declaration”:
確保胸肺有健康，預防感染是良方；戒除煙癮是上策，空氣清新你有責；
食物素質應注重，勤加鍛練肺能量；肺病無須心氣餒，趁早診治最應當。
After the ceremony, citizens attended health check and exhibition booths to learn more of lung health and various chest diseases. These included booths on ‘Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA)’, ‘Smoking cessation’, ‘Lung function testing and health check’, ‘COPD & Asthma’, ‘Pneumonia & Influenza and Avian Influenza’, ‘Teach you how to read a chest radiograph’, and “early detection of respiratory diseases”.
The walkathon was very well received and widely publicized by the media.
