Australian Chinese Community Association, ACCA has successfully held a “Wise and Safe Use of Medicine” seminar on 6 July 2011 at ACCA Clubhouse, 2 Mary Street, Surry Hills. The speaker for the seminar was Dr Chen Xing Hui from Healthpac Medical Centre who explained to more than one hundred elderly people presence on how to use medicine wisely and safely.

Mr. Mark Coure, MP for Oatley who also attended the seminar mentioned that more than 14 thousand Australian, mainly from the non-English speaking background, are hospitalised due to misuse of medicines.

ACCA General Manager Mr. Ted Seng told the media that our organisation has provided such seminar to the Chinese community for the last three years. As medication and general health knowledge is an important issue, it is crucial that the information on safe usage of medicine can be pass-on to the Chinese community.

In the seminar, Dr. Chen explained actual cases and specific issues faced by the elderly people. He mentioned that most of the elderly people with chronic diseases have to take more than 5 types of medicines everyday. So it’s very important to take these medicines on time and with the correct dosage. He suggested that all the medicines that need to be taken should be written on a piece of paper and carried by the patients. This will make it easy for paramedic to identify the medicines used in an emergency situation.

He also mentioned some precautions to be aware of while on certain medications. For example, some medicine cannot be taken with alcohol as it will affect the efficiency of the medicine. When taking medicines for osteoporosis, patient is advised not to lie down and drink a lot of water to prevent stomach upset.

Dr. Chen also suggested that elderly people over 70 can apply for “Home Medicines Review”, where a pharmacist will come to their home and make a medicine plan for them. This service is free and it is for elderly people who is on 5 medicines a day and from non-English background. It is limit to one application per year per person. (One person has one chance every year to apply for this service.)

To increase awareness on the safe use of medicine, General Manager, Mr. Ted Seng said that ACCA will hold another two health seminars on “Pain Management” in Pennant Hills and Hornsby centres on 12 August and 26 August respectively. For further information, participants are advised to refer to ACCA webpage and also from the community section of the Chinese newspapers.

The seminar ended with a free luncheon for all participants.