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The Medical School’s Dr. Romhányi György Aula was filled with cheerful, happy students on 8 April when the 5^th anniversary of the YourLife@ÁOK programme was celebrated. Some were playing games, some were bustling about in front of the folding screens, and some were waiting for their healthy drink. To celebrate the anniversary, the YourLife team offered students and staff members various activities: a photo exhibition of the past five years, free delicious juices at the Smoothie Bar, exciting tasks, and the chance to share the experiences they gained from YourLife events. The informal get-together in the morning was concluded in the afternoon with a mini-symposium entitled “The first 5 years of YourLife”.

The health programme of the Medical School in Pécs was created to help students and staff members feel good about themselves. To this end, they not only organise various programmes or provide services, but also strive to ensure that health as a value is an integral part of all educational, operational, and decision-making processes.

Written by Rita Schweier

“In a place where we are training medical students and where the focus is on healing, we should also pay more attention to healthy lifestyles. But with all the stress, studying, and work, neither students nor teachers eat properly or exercise enough. YourLife aims to create opportunities for a healthier life and to raise awareness of the fact that everyone can do the most for their health”, emphasised Professor István Kiss, Head of the Medical School Department of Public Health Medicine, in his welcome speech at the mini-symposium, expressing his gratitude to all those who have worked towards this goal over the past five years. He added that there is still room for improvement in organisational culture because health is not always the focus of decisions.

Dr. Zsófia Duga, Head of the Marketing and Communications Department, said that the YourLife@ÁOK programme is part of the Well-Being concept of the PotePillars strategy of the Medical School in Pécs. During its communication, the challenge was identifying and assessing the target groups with different needs and expectations and mapping which communication channels to use to reach them.

“The greatest value of the programme is that the events are now spread by word of mouth and have a strong community-building effect,” she added.

Dr. János Girán, senior lecturer at the Department of Public Health Medicine, said that they are continuously collecting data to monitor the attitude of each target group towards YourLife programmes. Assessing these data helps them plan and organise more accurately and better understand the expectations and ideas of students and staff members.

“We want YourLife to become a platform and interweave the life of the School. Our surveys show that thanks to the organisers’ activities, more and more people are coming to work feeling more satisfied, and the number of people who think they can and do and also actually do something about their health is growing,” he said.

“I am especially proud of my colleagues, who worked hard with me in the past years and persevered even in difficult times,” said Dr. Andrea Horváth-Sarródi, assistant professor at the Department of Public Health Medicine, coordinator and driving force of the YourLife programme, leader of the Well-Being concept’s working group on physical health. As she said, citizens of the School know where to find them, and many of them come to the various consultations. They have succeeded in creating a tradition with events such as the Grand Medical School Stair Run, spinal and body shaping exercises, and different food preparation workshops. She emphasised that this joint work has also led to closer links between departments and to the formation of communities, which are precious results of the past five years.

Photo:

Dávid VERÉBI

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