Years of volunteering to serve elderly people and disadvantaged communities have informed medical student Alfred Lam’s approach to medicine, teaching the University of Hong Kong undergraduate to look beyond symptoms and understand the people he may one day treat.
Lam is a finalist in the youth category of this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, which recognise the city’s unsung heroes and organisations whose work might otherwise escape public attention. The awards are co-organised by Sino Group and the South China Morning Post, and Lam was nominated by the NGO HandsOn Hong Kong.
He became more active in volunteering when he was in secondary school through HandsOn programmes that included bread collection, meal distribution and activities for elderly people. Much of his time was spent with older people living alone or experiencing dementia.