Yap High School Student wins Lab Open Day Speech Contest in Hawaii

Yap Health Services and indeed all health services in the FSM are proud of the efforts of Dyanna Keiji, a senior from Yap High School. She won the regional Laboratory Open Day Speech Competition held in Hawaii on February 8, 2013, which was sponsored by the Pacific Island Health Officers Association and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Open Day events took place in each FSM hospital laboratory last year. Competitions were held to select state winners in speech and poster presentation categories. State winners were then brought to Pohnpei to compete for the honor to represent FSM in the regional competition.

The FSM winners were sponsored to travel to Hawaii, along with counterparts from other US Affiliated Pacific Islands. Other jurisdictions represented included finalists from Palau, Marshall Islands, Guam and CNMI.

Nelsin Mack, a junior from Madolenihmw High School represented FSM in the poster category, and Dynna, a senior from Yap High School, represented FSM in the speech category. While Nelsin Mack submitted an impressive poster, Janette Loeak from Ebeye SDA School in the Republic of the Marshall Islands won the poster competition.

The judging panel for the speeches included: Dr. Ursula Bauer, Director of the CDC Chronic Diseases and Prevention Unit; Dr. Chris Whelan, the Director of the Hawaii Public Health laboratories, LCDR; Dr. Tai Chen HO, CDC’s Department of Quarantine and Immigration; Dr. Ian Rousse, the Dean of the School of Medicine, FNU and Alicia Sitain from PIHOA.

Dynna spoke clearly and confidently as she told a story of a young woman who was grateful to her Drs and Nurses for saving her life after life threatening bleeding after giving birth to her son. Dyanna explained that although the Doctors and Nurses did indeed play a very important role in saving the patient’s life; the behind the scenes work in the laboratory, in performing the blood tests to help with the diagnosis, in testing the donated blood for infectious diseases and in making sure the donated blood was compatible with the patient is often not appreciated. She explained the importance of the many unseen actors in health care who support our doctors and nurses.

Senator Raglmar was moved to make a floor statement at the 6^th Session of the 3^rd regular session of the 8^th Legislature of the Yap State of February 14, 2013 when he heard the news of Dyanna’s win. He begged the indulgence of the legislature as he read an excerpt from her speech:

“In the words of Benjamin Franklin, ‘by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’. It is our responsibility to prepare a brighter future for the generations to come. Medical Laboratory Science can help build that better future for your friends, family, community and country. Be a hero in the medical laboratory. ‘Don’t just make a difference. Be the difference.’”