Jockey Club MEL Institute Project Online Community of Practice Session (“MEL CoP”) was successfully held on 27 August 2024 (Tuesday)!

A Group Photo of Sharing Speakers and Participants

The sixth MEL CoP, held on 27 August 2024 (Tuesday), was a resounding success and left a significant impact on the participants. A diverse group of 68 attendees from different social service fields and professional backgrounds came together with great enthusiasm.

The event was graced by three MEL alumni, including Mr. Tseng Ka Chun, Program Officer-Team Leader, Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Workers-Kowloon, Ms. Cecilia Choi, Pharmacist and Project Manager, Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Care Foundation, and Mr. Ivan Chau, Pharmacist, Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Care Foundation. Their presence and expertise enriched the session as Mr. Tseng shared the pitching project “Cook Fit-Healthy Cooking Workshop for South Asian Families” while Ms. Choi and Mr. Chau shared “Medication Management Service to Stroke Patients – Service and Learnings”, as well as their experience on adopting MEL knowledge on program evaluation and monitoring with the audience.

Throughout the event, three speakers shared their valuable insights on the effectiveness of their pitching projects to address some social needs. Mr. Tseng’s team conducted a pilot program to explore the causes of obesity within the South Asian community and to change their eating habits by knowledge sharing, shopping practice, and cooking. Cognitive and behavioral changes of those South Asians were observed and evaluated through home visits and social media follow-ups.  

Ms. Choi and Mr. Chau’s team believed poor medication adherence and low medication literacy might lead to subsequent stroke. Hence, a good medication adherence is the key to prevent stroke occurrence. They aimed to enhance personal medication management ability of elderly patients through individual consultation sessions by pharmacists. They shared they extended the service target group to stroke patients and how they performed quantitative evaluations. They concluded pharmacist-led medication consultation was effective in improving medication management behaviour in the community setting.

Three speakers expressed they have gained valuable benefits from the MEL Project. They were inspired by MEL tools they were introduced in the certificate training course and highly adopted them in daily practice. For example, the Airtable facilitates their workflows by arranging appointments with their clients and then, they extended the use to store, share and organize an enormous amount of data. They also learned to use Jamovi, an open statistical software, to analyze descriptive data. The digital tools foster them to complete a paperless process. Additionally, during the mentored practicum, they obtained critical advice from experienced mentors on project design and evaluation, which are greatly useful to their future service planning. Participants gained a deeper understanding of the MEL Project’s components and how it poses positive impacts on the speakers’ work.