MMSA NEWSLETTER
message from the president Dear friends, This short break will quickly fly by ! I hope that everyone found some time to rest and refresh so that we restart. The Board of Directors has been busy finalising the year plan with their coordinators. Covid-19 restrictions have challenged every event however, as MMSA we will surely adapt accordingly to this volatile situation. It will be a learning curve, however, we are growing as an association as we will be collecting feedback and improving accordingly. The month of September always hosts our Planning Week. Needless to say, we organised an interactive session regarding Mental Health since this is MMSA’s theme this year. To follow up, I will be sharing with you a quote a month (refer below) - if only one student would feel inspired, feels better or spreads awareness, MMSA is already making a difference. Should
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president@mmsa.org.mt Good luck !
Mental Health is MMSA’s theme this year, What is Mental Health ? State of wellbeing in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.
- WHO
message from eb VPe EMSA e-Autumn Assembly From the 11th-13th of September, the EMSA Autumn Assembly was held online. During these 3 days, MMSA attended pillar session, training sessions and workshops on mental health and on Covid-19, in relation to the pillars of EMSA which are: Public Health Medical science Medical Education Health Policy Medical Ethics and Human Rights European Integration and Culture MMSA grasped a lot of useful information which can be implemented to our own campaigns. Furthermore, the plenary sessions will be taking place between the 2nd-4th of October. Here important decisions for our organisation and for the European Medical Students’ Association will be taken.
message from eb VPe IFMSA European Regional Meeting
This year this meeting was supposed to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania. However due to the unfortunate circumstances, this meeting had to be organised virtually by the European Regional Team. Even though the MMSA delegation didn’t get the opportunity to meet the other international IFMSA organisations in real life, they still managed to do so virtually and great feedback was received from this virtual meeting. This meeting was held during the last weekend of September, where the team attended Standing Committee sessions and training sessions, while the Head of Delegation attended the Presidents’ Sessions and the Plenary. Next up on IFMSA’s meeting agenda is the March Meeting 2021 happening in Macedonia so keep a look out!
VPi 1st Place in Room Allocation Report (RAR) Tangible results speak for the successes achieved during the past term. For the 9th consecutive year, MMSA has successfully retained its first place in the RAR ranking - confirming our status as the most active organisation on campus. Most importantly, we would like to thank YOU - our members because such a fantastic result wouldn't be possible without you!
VPi
MMSA Online Monthly Feedback Forum
For September’s Edition, the VPi Office collaborated with SecGen, to focus on innovative ways in increasing the engagement of our international students during MMSA’s events and activities. An open discussion, was chaired by Prof Isabel Stabile, Rector’s delegate for International Medical Students, tackling various strategies that MMSA can use to enhance the experience of our international medical students - helping them feel more at home in our student-centred organisation.
We highly encourage all members to keep the feedback forum as a monthly appointment and have their say on different topics that they deem interesting ❤
SecGen
September was focused on the re-introduction of the Student Spotlight initiative in collaboration with the Supervising Council. The aim of this initiative is to showcase our members' talents as well as show how being a medical student is not just about the books! Student Spotlight will be based on monthly themes whereby the October edition was based on COVID-19 volunteering. Watch out for the MMSA main page on the 15th of October to find out who is this month's Student Spotlight! Additionally, the SecGen took care of organising the Planning Weekend during which each officer gave an update as well as took part in numerous discussions. The SecGen office has also took part in the VPi's Feedback Forum, this one on Internationals Engagement!
message from internationals For the past few months, the Exchanges-Out team has been working on some major updates to the Points Protocol - the official document all officers must follow when giving MMSA members and coordinators points. This year, the team also received significant input from Supco, our VPi as well as from the student body at large through the Points Feedback Forum. Last week, the Points Protocol was officially adopted by the Board for 20202021. All submitted points forms must now be sent in accordance with this updated protocol. Just a few of the many changes to the protocol include:
A new section with suggested points for most MMSA events and campaigns Updated Leisure and PR Points Updated Class Rep and Group Rep points Details for Points within International Teams Points are now given for BYOB, the GRID training and setting up/cleaning up. And much much more‌
For the first time, all students are able to access the Points Protocol and Points Form freely through the MMSA Website. It is being envisaged that an official feedback system will be set up soon where students will be able to send in quick reports when they do not receive points for particular events or campaigns. Both of these documents can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3iimdW4
message from internationals
The Hospitality/ Incomings Co-Ordinator was in charge of the electives email account. He made sure that the account was run smoothly by answering the emails received so that students interested in applying can have all the information required on time. He was also responsible for guiding foreign students interested in visiting for an elective in their application. Furthermore, processing the applications and inputting the relevant data into databases which assign them to specific consultants was taken care of. Thus, the database was always kept organised and up to date. Outreach Co-Ordinators worked mainly on updating and improving the booklets which concern the incoming students visiting our country in the coming scholastic term. These updates were made on the Incoming Student Booklet and MDH booklet. The Incoming Student Booklet is a guide for all those coming to Malta to take part in an elective about all there is to know before arriving, concerning leisure activities, touristic sites and educational matters, to name a few. The MDH booklet, on the other hand, consists of general information regarding the elective application process, frequently asked questions, information about hospital departments and about their general stay here in Malta.
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message from internationals The Social Programme (Culture Shocked) Co-Ordinator During September, was on charge of the production of the winter programme for the culture-shocked event. She planned all the events that would be part of this programme and made sure to include information about locations and prices so that all the information is easily accessible to foreign students, thus making their transition from their homeland to Malta easier. The Outgoings Co-Ordinator was updating a database, regarding which institutions are still accepting elective applications due to Covid-19, also listing any application dates, fees and requirements, duration of the elective, possibility of accommodation on campus, specialities available and any administrative fees. The process involved sending a total of 26 emails and gathering data from their respective websites for any missing information that wasn’t listed in the email they replied with, or if there was no email address to begin with. Together with the Electives Officer, the programme for the Electives Seminar was planned, and till now the introduction for it has been written. Research has been carried out on how to apply for electives (as it needs to be explained to medical students). .
SCOME September has been another busy month for SCOME with two main successful events and a ton of work behind the scenes. The first event of the month was the MD5 Careers Webinar for our newly promoted MD5s. Over 90 students attended the webinar which tackled the obstacles one finds during the final year of the MD course as well as the approaching FY years. The Practice Makes Perfect team have organised their first Suturing & Phlebotomy workshop outdoors! To combat COVID19 transmission, patrons were sat socially distanced, whilst the wearing of masks was compulsory at all times. The event was overall a huge success and managed to cater for over 50 people whilst maintaining mitigation measures.
SCOME SCOME has also launched a Maltese Medical terms campaign this month. If you haven't seen the posters already - head over to the SCOME Facebook page and see how many of them you knew! Rest assured that the rest of the team has not been idle - a massive amount of work is going on behind the scenes and some big things are coming your way very soon!
SCOpet As MMSA SCOPET, we capped off our Skolasajf campaign on the 26th of August. 6 MMSA members delivered online Teddy Bear Hospital sessions to 5 classes at the Żabbar A Skolasajf centre, reaching a total of 26 children between the ages of 5 and 7.
During September we launched an online course for MMSA’s coordinators, assistants, class reps and BD members. This course, named ‘How to be an Effective Leader? - The Effective Management of an 'NGO’, is professionally developed by Solidarity Overseas Service Malta and Advenio eAcademy. The course deals with a wide range of topics related to MMSA, including planning and organising activities, campaigning and marketing, including social media marketing, financial management, and fundraising, as well as other topics. The course will consist of a mix of selflearning and live online tutorial sessions delivered by professional tutors. We look forward for all 15 applicants to complete the course!
SCOph September was yet another month full of innovation and success for SCOPH. COVID-19 remained one of our focus points and we specifically focused on the use of masks. Early in the month, our team worked on a short video aiming to educate people on how one should wear a fabric mask. To complement the video, an article was written and published through Third Eye. https://thirdeyemalta.com/why-should-we-wear-afabric-mask-mmsa/
Throughout the month of September the Healthy Lifestyles team made sure to keep us active by continuing the fitness training session. A total of 54 members have participated in these sessions. Apart from our weekly Thursday appointment, we started Saturday sessions. The first Saturday session was a morning session held at the beach giving the intense workout an interesting twist. That’s not all for Healthy Lifestyles. The rain right before the event did not stop us for BYOB Chapter III | Tennis at Marsa Sports Club. The sun did shine making it yet another successful BYOB event enjoyed by everyone present. We now look forward to our next BYOB session on the 1st of October which will be rowing held in collaboration with the UM Rowing club.
SCOph
Mental Health is always a priority for SCOPH and on World Suicide Prevention Day we collaborated with the Richmond Foundation for our social media campaign to continue raising awareness. Our Instagram Story Quiz and Facebook posters aimed to educate the public and focus on the importance of seeking help. You’re Somebody’s Type kicked off our blood donation campaign for the term. We worked with the National Blood Transfusion Service in an effort to promote blood donation and spent a day at the blood donation centre to encourage our members to donate.
SCOph That’s not all, SCOPH biggest event for the month of September was undoubtably the Matters of the Heart | The MMSA World Heart Day Webinar. It was the first time to have such a webinar open for everyone to join in both on Zoom and Facebook live reaching more people than ever. Prof Kevin Cassar talked about atherosclerosis followed by the Malta Resuscitation Council who gave an interactive presentation about Basic Life Support highlighting how this has changed in the COVID-19 era and the use of AEDs found in public places around Malta. If you missed out, we invite you to go on ‘MMSA-Public Health’ Facebook page to watch its recording.
Finally to continue our World Heart Day celebration, on Sunday 4th October we will be in front of the Mellieha Parish Church doing free health checks to people present. We will be accompanying the mobile blood unit making it the perfect opportunity for the public to come to our event and donate blood.
September was a busy month, but October will be no different. We promise to keep working and look forward to sharing with you even more exciting projects. Be sure to like the ‘MMSA – Public Health’ Facebook page to always keep up date with what we’re up to and never miss out.
SCOra This past month the SCORA team has been working on finalizing plans for two big events coming up in November and December; the LGBTIQ+ Lockdown as well as the Sexual Health Campaign.
The SCORA officer and SCORA assistant have been working on revamping the Birds and the Bees session, a new session that was introduced last term. In addition to this, the Peer Education Team have also been working on a session on Safe Sexual Behaviours which will be presented in a workshop format for psychologist patients.
As part of our Social Media Campaign this month, the SCORA team has dedicated the month of September to raising awareness on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome(PCOS). With Pink October coming up next month, stay on the lookout for more awareness campaigns by the SCORA team!
leisure This August, MMSA Leisure organised a car treasure hunt attracting 17 teams with a total of 60 participants. MMSA leisure will look forward to continue its constant outflow of events with the "Mohhok hemm" Pub Quiz in collaboration with MMSA SCOPH coming up in the month of October.
supco The Supervising Council has compiled a document outlining its various roles and responsibilities within MMSA. The aim of this document is to help our present and future BD members, future SupCo members and MMSA members to understand better the functions of SupCo. This document has been presented during the BD Planning Week and approved by the BD members. It can be found in the link below: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13N3d6yhKPVwK_QAJwVuKlG7yPg TTDPkM/view?usp=sharing SupCo has also been compiling changes in bylaws as proposed by our BD members. These were discussed thoroughly during the BD Planning Week and each change shall be proposed by the BD during the upcoming EGM. Additionally, SupCo has also set up an anonymous BD-BD Feedback Form which was shared with our BD members during the said BD Planning Week. The aim of this feedback form was three-fold: to highlight positive characteristics, provide constructive criticism and propose ideas on how BD members can improve their work performance. SupCo noted the main themes which came out from the feedback and discussed them with the BD, obviously while respecting the anonymity and confidentiality of such feedback. Finally, SupCo would like to kindly remind our members that, should any issue arise, they may approach us either through Facebook chat, via email sent on supco@mmsa.org.mt, or through our anonymous complaints form, available on the ‘Contact Us’ section on the MMSA Website.
from our gallery
Image taken during Teddy Bear Hospital
Images taken during phlebotomy and suturing workshop
Board of Directors 2020 - 2021