SINGAPORE: Going to the National Heart Centre to seek treatment for a heart condition can be intimidating, so senior nurse manager Tina Teo always takes the time to speak with patients and allay their fears and anxieties.
Ms Teo’s dedication to her patients did not go unnoticed. For her efforts, the 52-year-old received a “Superstar” nursing award, the highest accolade under the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards for healthcare professionals.
The awards, which honour those who have delivered the best care and made an impact on their patients’ lives, was presented by Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong at Mediacorp’s MES Theatre on Tuesday (Jan 30).
More than 3,500 healthcare professionals and institutions were recognised at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards 2018. (Photo: Dawn Ang)
“When you lie on the (doctor’s) procedure table, everyone will feel some sense of worry. So we explain to the patient what we will be doing, what they can expect. This makes them feel calmer during the process,” said Ms Teo, who has been in the field for 35 years.
This may seem like standard practice but consider that she does this on top of managing a team of more than 40 nurses and assistants while assisting doctors on a daily basis.
Ms Teo knew from the age of 11 that she wanted to be a nurse. It was at that time that her father had kidney failure.
“He needed to go to the hospital every other day to do dialysis,” said Ms Teo. She and her six siblings took turns to accompany their father on these sessions and she saw how he struggled to prepare himself for the procedure.
“I felt quite pained when I saw that he had to learn all the (dialysis) techniques, so I thought ‘I should learn so I can do it for him’.”
Award winners senior nurse manager Tina Teo and volunteer management executive Mohamad Sharil Abdul Rahim. (Photo: Dawn Ang)
SUPERSTAR VOLUNTEER MANAGER
Another award recipient in the “Superstar” category was Mr Mohamad Sharil Abdul Rahim, a volunteer management executive at the Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital.
Together with his 100-strong team of volunteers, Mr Mohamad Sharil plans the week’s activities and therapy-based programmes for the hospital’s patients, such as seated tai chi sessions or karaoke sing-alongs.
“I believe that happy and active patients recover faster,” he said.
Managing volunteers can sometimes be challenging, especially with differing schedules and commitment levels. “(But) I gain my strength from my volunteers and my patients. My patients, especially, they keep me grounded,” said the jovial 33-year-old.
“Sometimes they tease me for my weight … but you know they are joking so you just tahan (“endure” in Malay)!” chuckled Mr Mohamad Sharil.
Sharil with patients at Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, during a cat-assisted therapy session. (Photo: Singhealth)
As a cat lover who owns five cats, Mr Mohamad Sharil also started a volunteer group, Cat-Assisted Therapy Singapore, to run monthly animal-assisted therapy sessions at the hospital.
It did so well that he expanded the therapy programme to three other nursing homes and a student care centre.
The “Superstar” awards were eight of the 3,582 given out to both individuals and institutions in healthcare at the ceremony, organised by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre.
Into its eighth year, the awards saw 30 healthcare institutions participating this year, the highest in its award history.
Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong presented the awards and thanked the professionals for their dedication, noting that many had gone “beyond the call of duty”.
“You make all the difference to the patients,” said the Health Minister to an audience of more than 1,400 healthcare professionals.
