Fiske (pictured far right) shows astounded villagers the human anatomy model.

Article by Kathy Dunker with photos courtesy of Patricia Fiske

The idea began following a 2007 rotarian “group study exchange team” which involved five young professionals trading places between China and Colorado. The goal at the time was to bring the 9 News Health Fair concept from Villa Park, Colorado to Sheung Shui, China where there were numerous cases of AIDs and other health concerns. Castle Pines resident and Rotary Club Assistant Governor Patricia Fiske made a decision to try to bring health fairs to China. A grant was later written, and a team of rotarians and translators left for the Yunnan Province in China on April 3.

The Yunnan Province has 25 of the 56 national minority groups in China who are the “poorest of the poor” in that region, says Fiske, and who are in desperate need of medical care. Some baseline medical screening was done on the Lahu minority while the remainder of the trip was focused on education.

The Rotary Club’s goal to build relationships and bring people together was expanded to that of creating a self-sustaining enthusiasm for health fairs to Chinese areas hit hard with illness. The enthusiasm did in fact spread quickly. What started off on the first day working within a hospital, expanded overnight to a desire by the locals for a mobile health fair to reach the more remote villages which are high on hills and far apart from each other.

Although there were some communication issues due to differing dialects between the Shanghai medical students who were there to translate and the LinCang villagers, additional translators were brought in to help get the messages across. The locals were educated about anatomy through the use of a human body model. They were also taught about nutrition, the negative effects of smoking and alcohol use, and they learned CPR.

In addition, the LinCang area has an extremely high mortality rate for breast cancer so the women were taught about self exams. The interactive education was very lively and full of laughter for everyone involved. Fiske found the locals, especially the elderly ladies and young children, to be “exceptionally curious and simply charming.”

Fiske, finding this first health fair trip “extraordinary” and very well received by the people of LinCang, will return to China in October along with a group of Castle Pines rotarians. The next visit will be to Longchuan, near the Myanmar border, and will focus on drug and alcohol abuse as well as maternal care and child care.

If you would like to learn more or get involved with the Castle Pines Rotary Club, please contact Patricia Fiske at 303-229-5698.

From left to right: Health fair administrators: Larry Liang and David Hao; rotarians Edwin Ngoi, Patricia Fiske, Frank Yih and Roberta Simonton, translator, Yilin Zhang, senior medical students, Stella Li, Sophie Liu, Zoe Zhao. Team members were presented with blue bear replicas of the Colorado Convention Center big blue bear sculpture.