You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea: The True Story of Kellie with the Institute of Health Education

It is hard to believe that we have been here for three weeks already. Our time in China is going by very quickly. My summer internship at the TJCDC is structured a bit differently than Keith and Jeff’s. I will be rotating through several departments throughout the summer. This will give me a great overview of different public health issues facing China and the methods used to address them.

Due to the trouble with our visas, we arrived in China a week later than planned. This shortened my time with the first department I was scheduled to visit, Institute of Health Education, to only three days. But these three days were packed full of activities and visits around the area. We traveled to Jixian County, which is about an hour and half drive from the TJCDC. There were activities planned for two days, so because of the distance, we spent the night at a local hotel. It is a rural area with beautiful rolling hills which are lush green at this time of year. We passed many freshly planted tree fields and small enclaves of houses and farms. While in Jixian County, we visited the County CDC and met with officials working there. Next, they took us to a high school to do some interviews with students and teachers. We wanted to find out what health issues they thought were important. We also did interviews with students and teachers at a primary school a couple miles away. Everyone received an incentive for participating – a cool pencil case. Although I couldn’t communicate with anyone directly, my interpreter translated every word for me and relayed my questions. I had a fabulous interpreter from the Health Ed department, Wang Gang (pronounce Wong Gong). After the interviews, we toured a local village health clinic. Then after a long day of work, we had a fabulous meal at a restaurant that specializes in sea food. The food was fantastic, even though I didn’t know what I was eating most of the time.

For the next day in Jixian County, we had several activities planned. Along one of the main roads in the area, there is a large market. Vendors are packed inside a large open area and even along the road itself. It was bustling with activity and people shopping for food and odds and ends. If you needed or wanted something, I’m sure you could find it here. We sent up several tables and displays promoting AIDS awareness and other health issues. As people passed by, we handed them health information brochures on eating healthy, avoiding stomach pain and diarrhea, and hand-foot-and-mouth disease. There have been recent outbreaks of this latter disease, so people were especially interested in this information. I received many quizzical looks while I helped distribute the brochures. People were very kind and smiled and waved back at me. (This was my only way of communicating with the people.) Some small children said ‘bye, bye’ and ‘hello’ as well; we all had a lot of fun with the kids.

After a couple of hours, we moved our supplies to a smaller market area set in the middle of a thinned tree grove. We set up our supplies for a game involving health questions and prizes for answering the questions correctly. This was a lot of fun. Here’s how it worked: a person would take an index card from the signs hanging on string stretched between a couple of trees and then take the card with their answer in mind to the table where the TJCDC workers were. Once at the front of the line, the person would give their answer in hopeful anticipation of receiving their prize. Most often people were right, but sometimes they didn’t have the answer. They could come back and try again and also answer as many questions as they wanted. Some people really made a killing on the prizes. We gave away small bags of iodized salt, which helps prevent Iodine Deficiency Disorders, and a measuring spoon and bars of soap. Again, even though I couldn’t communicate with anyone, I handed out the prizes. I think this was the most fun part anyway. It was great to see people’s faces light up when they got the right answer and smile as I gave them their prize. And they loved the prizes. After another excellent lunch of Chinese pizza,we headed back to Tianjin. I took full advantage of the car ride home and dosed nearly the entire way back.

My last day with the Institute of Health Education proved to be just as busy as the first two. First, we went to the Hexi District CDC. This is the same district where my apartment is located. This CDC is completely smoke-free complete with no smoking signs strategically placed throughout the entire building. This may sound a bit strange, but many buildings, including some hospitals and even CDCs, are not smoke free. You can often detect a slight smoky odor when you walk into a building. So the Hexi District CDC is really making progress on tobacco control and prevention. Next we went to a women’s and children’s hospital to speak with some doctors on how they provide health information to their patients. One very interesting and unique way they do this is by hand writing messages on what we would call dry-ease boards. These messages are very elaborate and involve detailed pictures of Disney and other cartoon characters. They really get your attention and are an excellent way to draw people in so the messages are not ignored. For lunch, we had Peking duck at a great restaurant. Peking duck is famous in northern China, especially Beijing. Basically, you dip the roasted duck in a brown sauce and put it in a thin flour tortilla along with cucumber strips and a few sprouts. Very delicious. On my trip to China in February, I also had Peking duck. So I’m getting very good at wrapping the tortilla so the goods don’t fall out. :)

After lunch, we went to one of the prestigious high school in Tianjin, Xin Hua High School. This high school has existed for over 90 years and is one of the best in the city and the area. Many of the graduates go onto famous universities as well, including Peking University in Beijing and Nan Kai University in Tianjin. Due to the pressure and competition, the school has established excellent mental health services, including group and one-on-one counseling, activities for students to relax and have fun and various ways to distress. There are about 3,000 students at the high school, ages 13 to 18, and 4 doctors provide the necessary care. In the opinion of one doctor I spoke with, poor eye sight and being overweight are the major health issues facing the students, along with the pressure of succeeding in school. It was great to speak with the doctors and I was honored to meet the Head Master as well. He presented me with an amazing gift, a commemorative gold plate marking the 90th anniversary of the school. I have a special place for it on my desk at the CDC.

This pretty much concludes my three days at the Institute of Health Education. It was an extremely busy three days. All of the activities we did were planned especially for me. It is very humbling and I greatly appreciate all of their hard work and preparations. I hope this gives you a small glimpse into the work they put into planning for my arrival. It is unfortunate that my time with them was so short. I know they planned many other activities that because of our delayed arrival had to be cancelled. After the Health Ed. department, I worked in the HIV/AIDS and STD Control and Prevention Department; the same department that Jeff is in, for two weeks. So now I am working with the TB Control Department for one week and after this week I will be in the Chronic Disease Department.