In brief
Students raise funds for refugee health literacy
More than 120 students channelled their inner-game show host as the Parkville
Postgraduate Association (PPA) held their annual trivia night, raising funds for
The Water Well Project, a charity with a special link to the faculty.
Founded in 2012 by alumna Dr Linny Kimly
Phuong (BPharm (Hons) 2002) (MBBS 2009),
The Water Well Project is a registered not-for-profit
organisation which aims to improve the health and
wellbeing of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
by improving their health literacy.
Dr Phuong who is currently an Advanced Paediatric
Trainee at the Royal Children’s Hospital, founded
the charity after observing a need for greater health
literacy in refugee and asylum seeker groups.
“I became increasingly aware of the barriers to
access while working as a pharmacist and now
as a doctor. Also, my parents were refugees so
it was both personal and professional experiences
that motivated me to create The Water Well
Project,” she said.
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Katrina Hui who is the Secretary of the PPA said
it had always been a conscious decision to raise
funds for both local and international charities and
was proud to announce that more than $1400 had
been donated.
“This year we wanted to support a cause closer to
home and when we came across The Water Well
Project on Facebook, the connection was obvious.”
“It was founded by a graduate, a number of
pharmacists volunteer at the project and improving
health literacy is something we all learn about
during our degree. We also wanted to inspire
students and graduates by showing them another
way of how pharmacists can make a real difference
in the community,” she said.