Eleven teams participated in the Pharmleague 2009 which took the form of a Paintball Challenge at Red Dysnasty @ Bottle Tree Park.
These participating teams hailed from various hospitals and comprised of a mixture of pharmacists and technicians. It was a full 3 hours of action and fun. Players had to don non-so-pleasant (and odourous) face masks to enter the fields to start shooting at one another. What an avenue for MRSA to spread, I tell you!!
The briefing was carried out before the games started. The players were inundated with a whole host of instructions and safety advice. As a result, they mostly looked skeptical and little apprehensive at the start. However, when they all got into the swing of things, not only did they start getting more and more “garang”, the time they took to “capture” their objectives were done in a shorter and shorter time! The end-result? A whole bunch of excited, screaming people!
While waiting for their next turn, players were talking to each other, and we hope, have made new friends. Or they stood by the fence, often forgetting the staffs’ somewhat vain instructions to stay 1 meter from the fence, jumping and cheering and screaming excitedly. Having organized this so that everyone can mix around and network, the event was a resounding success. All the players took home door gifts and “souvenirs” – bruises and scrapes – but we could tell from their facial expressions that they enjoyed themselves immensely. Some of the players came out of it being able to boast to everyone that they have tasted (literally!!) paint from the paintball! Though it threatened to rain on us, we managed to finish the whole event before the rain could hit.
CGH, who sent 3 teams, came out tops. They walked away with Crabtree & Evelyn hampers, courtesy of our canvassing subcommittee. Second was none other than one of the SGH teams who walked away with a pedometer each.
I came away from the event feeling hot, sweaty and drained (also because I had to entertain my three kids who were there with us). But I also do remember thinking to myself that all the hard work and coordination was worth it; just because everyone enjoyed themselves. Afterall, there is a Chinese idiom that says the forerunners will plant the trees just so that the people who come along later can enjoy the shade. I wish to congratulate the Hospital Chapter for a job well done. We hope that all who attended did indeed enjoy themselves, and will encourage their friends to join us in PharmLeague 2010.
--
Best Regards,
Doreen Tan Su-Yin
BSc (Pharm), BCPS, CGP
Senior Clinical Pharmacist, Alexandra Hospital
103rd Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) Council Member
Ex-officio, PSS Hospital Chapter
**********
