• Sunway Medical Centre Velocity (SMCV) organised a Corporate Social Responsibility School programme, consisting of CPR-AED workshops and behavioural health talks specially tailored for youths and educators to educate them on how to save lives – both from a physical and mental aspect.

“Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive”

Did you know that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be done in the tempo of the famous American R&B pop music group the Bee Gee’s hit single – Stayin’ Alive? In musical terms, that means each pump should be in 104 beats per minute.

Coincidentally, CPR is a real lifesaver, and if done correctly, may increase the chances of the person stayin’ alive – at least for another day.

Educating the masses on the importance of CPR, is exactly what SMCV aims to achieve when they organised a CSR School programme for youths and educators at SMK Yaacob Latif. The talk consisted of CPR-AED workshops and behavioural health talks to raise awareness on the on the significance of life-saving skills, as well as mental health.

The programme is in line with Sunway Group’s effort towards promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 and 4 – Good Health and Well-being and Quality Education, respectively.

About 20 employees, comprising emergency physicians, paramedics, nurses and corporate communications team from the emergency department of SMVC guided more than 350 students on how to perform conventional CPR and operate automated external defibrillator (AED) to potentially save a life should a cardiac arrest happen.

“CPR is something that the general public has heard of. However, CPR training is required in order to have confidence to perform it,” said SMCV Emergency Physician, Dr. Wee Tong Ming.

“Majority of cardiac arrest cases occur outside of hospitals, and the survival rate decreases by seven to 10 percent with each delayed minute,” he added.

With the theme, ‘Everyone can learn CPR, IT SAVE LIVES’ Dr. Wee, alongside the Ministry of Health, emphasised the utmost importance for life-saving devices and techniques be taught among Malaysians – knowing that it can save someone’s life.

From physical to mental health

Another subtle, yet equally important topic is adolescent behavioural health, especially with the rise of depression amongst youths. One in five youths are suffering depression (18.3%), two in five anxiety (39.7%), and one in 10 suffering from stress (9.6%), according to data from the Ministry of Health. To make matters worse, the topic of mental health still holds a certain stigma in Malaysia; words like “weak”, “crazy” and “emo” are commonly associated with those battling mental health issues.

SMCV looks to break the stigma. Besides the CPR-AED workshop, SMCV Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Lim Wai Jenn gave a talk on adolescent behavioral health to the school teachers. The talk aims to provide teachers a better outlook of different behaviours and disorders of students who face high pressure in the modern world, with hopes to improve their interaction with students.

Dr. Lim said she feels teachers, due to their pressing schedules and work, could often make the mistake of dismissing underperforming students as lazy or stubborn.

“Instead of reprimanding the students, teachers could look into the intrinsic behavioural issue which often goes undiagnosed, or worse, unnoticed,” she said.

“With early detection and counselling, we want to help teachers detect behavioural health problems to help troubled students,” she said.