SINGAPORE: Every day, as part of her job, Ms Lynn Ho slips into a full-length wet suit and jumps into a heated pool filled with colourful rubber toys.
Her task is to coax the unwilling and uncooperative among her patients – who include all manner of dogs – to swim and exercise with her.
It’s a far cry from her previous jet-setting life as an air stewardess where she was scooting off to exotic countries like Egypt, Paris and London every week. But after flying the skies for 14 years, she gave it all up to pursue her passion for helping animals instead.
Today, Ms Ho, 42, is one of a handful of hydrotherapists in Singapore who specialises in treating dogs afflicted with chronic conditions such as hip dysplasia, stroke and paralysis, using hydrotherapy.
“Swimming is totally non-weight-bearing. It’s a very low impact form of exercise. So, any dog would be suitable to do the swimming treatment,” said Ms Ho, who founded the Canine Wellness and Rehab Centre in 2012.
These dogs are treated in a heated pool, where the warm water improves blood circulation to the muscles, reducing pain and inflammation.
The buoyancy of the water also provides support and allows the dogs to exercise without stressing their joints and muscles.
WATCH: Because how can you not? (2:35)
Ms Ho is featured on the programme On The Red Dot along with two other individuals from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society. They talk about why they left their respective well-paying jobs to focus on animal welfare. (Watch the episode here on Toggle.)
Ms Ho, who has six dogs herself according to her centre’s website, dug into her savings to do a two-week intensive course at Greyfriars Veterinary in the United Kingdom in 2012 as hydrotherapy courses were not offered in Singapore then.
“They introduced a fast-tracked course for us. What they did was to condense everything so you can learn as much things as possible in the quickest time,” she said.
The centre currently offers two types of swims – hydrotherapy and fitness swims. For hydrotherapy, “every time they do a swim, there’ll be a record taken to monitor the progress of the dog. We do light manual physical therapy under the water,” she said.
Each 30-minute hydrotherapy swim can cost up to S$75.
With only a handful of centres offering such treatments here, owners have to schedule these swim sessions months in advance. And each 30-minute hydrotherapy swim can cost up to S$75.
“There are some dogs with chronic conditions like hip dysplasia and arthritis. Usually, the owners are not very keen on surgery because there are certain risks involved.
“So, they always look for any conservative management that can help with and deal with the conditions that these dogs have,” she said.
WHEN HER PATIENTS DIE
One of Ms Ho’s strongest memories is of working with a sweet-natured Rottweiler named Tyson that was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a cancerous tumour in a bone.
He was swimming and undergoing treatment at the centre until the very day that he died.
She still finds it painful to talk about Tyson today. “The toughest part of the job is not about meeting dogs who are aggressive, who will bite, or who are not cooperative.
“The toughest part is to see them leaving us,” she said.
On The Red Dot’s latest series,Work In Progress, explores various careers. Catch it onFridays, 9.30pm on Mediacorp Channel 5.
SINGAPORE: With a growing number of buildings with novel designs and complex structures, cleaning and maintaining them has become quite a challenge.
Take the Esplanade for example, its cleaning crew is trained and certified to work at height but the uneven facade of the “durian” structure makes it difficult for workers to manoeuvre up and down the building.
According to the Ms Carmen Choo, key account director of facilities management company UEMS Solutions, which helps maintain the Esplanade on an ad-hoc basis, workers have to stand and balance on the edge of each panel to clean the surfaces.
The panels are also pointed downwards, which means that workers have to squat to clean the glass surfaces and the underside of the panel above them.
Ms Choo said such buildings pose a safety concern for cleaners who have to work in tight spaces, and at height – which is why industry players have welcomed plans by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to introduce a new design-for-maintainability framework. It will provide guidelines on designing buildings that are safe and easy to maintain.
“The designs of today definitely look great, but (they) present a great challenge for the cleaning and maintenance team,” Ms Choo added. “And what happens is ultimately, (the maintenance) team will be the ones taking over and maintaining the infrastructure.”
Those that Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that the framework would also help the maintenance and cleaning sector cope amid the tight labour market.
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT FLOOR MATERIAL
Another maintenance solutions firm that specialises in cleaning building interiors said it hopes the framework can also tackle the issue of flooring materials.
Ms Adelyn Ong, co-founder of A1 Cleaning Services, said that certain materials such as marble are more difficult to maintain as it requires special liquid surface cleaners to remove stains. Wet spots are also hard to detect on marble, which means people are more likely to slip and fall if they walk on a marble surface, she added.
She suggested that the use of tiles should be encouraged: “It’s easier to remove stains on tiles. They require only an ordinary floor cleaner to remove the smudges.”
If one wanted the floor to have a “marble look”, they could install marble-like tiles instead, she added.
GUIDANCE FOR LESS EXPERIENCED ARCHITECTS
ADDP Architect’s associate architect Tang Kok Thye told Channel NewsAsia that maintenance is already an issue that building designers are aware of and plan for, even for the ones with more complex structures.
Giving the example of a project he designed, the Tree House condominium at Chestnut Avenue in Bukit Panjang, Mr Tang said he planned ways to help gardeners easily prune and water the plants at the development.
The private development is home to a 24-storey vertical garden and has access platforms installed at every two storeys behind the green facade to help gardeners.
Tree House condominium at 60 Chestnut Avenue in Singapore. (Photo: ADDP Architects)
“You know that the gardeners are not people used to the gondolas and high-level areas, so we design platforms for (easy access to the green wall), and (so that they can) maintain the plants at a very cost-effective manner,” Mr Tang explained.
He added that, nonetheless, the framework will offer a common set of ground rules to the industry, and provide more guidance for less experienced architects to design with the maintenance of the building in mind.
KUALA LUMPUR — Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia has slammed an editorial by the Utusan Malaysia newspaper on the changes to the Republic’s Elected Presidency scheme, which carried “several baseless and mischievous allegations”.
These include the claim that in Singapore, “meritocracy was always being used as an excuse to discriminate against Malays”, “meritocracy was also open to manipulation”, and that “Malays became weaker and marginalised from the corridors of power”, Mr Vanu Gopala Menon wrote in a letter to the Malaysian newspaper which was put up on Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
Adding that he wished to “set the record straight”, Mr Menon said: “Singapore’s meritocratic system has never been ‘manipulated’ or ‘used as an excuse to discriminate’ against Singapore’s Malay community, or any other community.”
The editorial in question, President Melayu ke-2 (2nd Malay President), looked at the upcoming presidential election in Singapore. It was written by Awang Selamat, the collective pseudonym of the newspaper’s editors, and published in its latest Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia.
Among other things, the editorial said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had started to take steps to pave the way for a Malay leader to assume the Elected Presidency. While lauding the move, it also noted that some quarters in Singapore had opposed the move to reserve the election for Malay candidates since they would prefer a President to be elected based on merit. The writer then offered his views of meritocracy in Singapore.
In his letter, Mr Menon said: “Meritocracy is a key pillar of Singapore’s system of governance. Our citizens have access to equal opportunities, regardless of race, language, or religion, and our policies are tailored to that end. Singapore’s Malay community has made significant social and economic progress over the past five decades, not because of privileges, but because of the community’s efforts in a fair and just society. Malay students have also excelled and topped national examinations.”
“We strictly prohibit our people, including the media, from using the issues of race, language, and religion to divide our society,” he added.
Mr Menon said that the editorial may have misunderstood the amendments made to the Presidential Elections Act, noting that a candidate in the reserved election must meet the same qualifying criteria as any other candidate who stands and wins in a non-reserved election. “Second, as the Head of State, the President is the symbol of the country, and represents all Singaporeans, not just his ethnic group. These are important facts which ‘Awang’ has conveniently omitted in his editorial,” Mr Menon said.
You see them at dragon boat races and during the Dumpling Festival too – long, sleek water vessels with a painted dragon head helming the front of the boat.
These dragon boats, which can seat up to 22 people, are ubiquitous to the Chinese culture of dragon boat racing. Today, dragon boat racing is a sport that is taken up by many teams and companies too.
But who are the ones behind the making of these boats that have become a fixture in our waterways today?
Meet Uncle Meng, the only dragon boat builder from Singapore, who works at a boat-building company called Seagull. The company, which is under Kim Tuck Huat Boat Builder, builds speedboats, kayaks and also dragon boats.
Meng has been making dragon boats for more than 30 years. Working from a factory based in Johor, Meng puts his talent at drawing to good use, by breathing life into his dragon boats.
“I used to be a jack of all trades. Construction, car repairs and what else? I can’t remember. I used to do many things. In the end, I came here to make dragon boats and small speed boats.
“I did quite well in art while schooling and was talented at drawing,” laughed Meng.
Singapore’s only dragon boat builder spent 30 years making boats
He added that he would go through various magazines and photographs to draw inspirations for his colour schemes. Sometimes, he would recreate them. Other times, he would come up with his own.
Making a dragon boat is not all about drawing and colouring though. Meng will think about the boat’s design, how well it can carry people and how much weight it can hold.
“I have to know all these things. It takes a week to make a dragon boat from scratch. This takes patience, without patience you wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything.
“When people find my dragon boats flawless, that’s when I feel the greatest sense of accomplishment. I’ve made a successful product,” said Meng.
The boats made by Meng will be used for the upcoming DBS Marina Regatta held from 1-4 June at Marina Bay Sands.
SINGAPORE: A total of 22 unlicensed food handlers were arrested at Geylang Serai Bazaar on Tuesday (May 30), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said.
Responding to a media query from Channel NewsAsia, MOM said the food handlers were working illegally and were detained during a joint operation conducted by the police, MOM and the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The illegal workers were arrested by MOM.
Photos of bazaar workers being handcuffed made the rounds on social media on Tuesday afternoon, as netizens speculated on why the stall was raided.
Responding to a post on the Halal Cafe and Restaurants’ Facebook page that sought clarification on the raid, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Zainal Sapari posted a comment to explain that the crackdown had been on unlicensed food handlers.
“When I heard that there were rumours that there was a stall at the Ramadan bazaar not selling halal food, I checked through my internal sources and found out that there was a joint operation conducted today,” he told Channel NewsAsia, adding that the unlicensed food handlers did not have a work permit.
SINGAPORE — Checks by security personnel will take place at this year’s Pink Dot to ensure attendees are either Singaporeans or permanent residents (PRs), said event organisers on Tuesday (May 30), in light of recent policy changes.
With nearly a month to go before the annual event will be held on July 1 in support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, its organisers have added that it will be a barricaded event.
The measures were a result of negotiations with the authorities, following amendments to the Public Order Act, which came into effect on Nov 1.
Noting that previous proposals which they had offered to ensure that event-goers were Singaporeans and PRs — including the setting up of checkpoints in specific areas of the park — were “rejected” by the authorities, the organisers said they had to put in place “preventive measures that were foolproof”.
“The set-up of barricades and check points around the park was the only measure deemed acceptable by authorities; this was a decision taken out of our hands and is something we do not readily agree with.” said Pink Dot SG spokesperson Paerin Choa.
Earlier this month, Pink Dot organisers said that only Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) were allowed to attend the event.
In previous Pink Dot events, foreigners were allowed to assemble at Hong Lim Park but not to participate. They were, however, able to observe from the sidelines. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY
One of the amendments to the Act states that event organisers must ensure that “only citizens of Singapore or permanent residents of Singapore participate in the assembly or procession”.
In previous Pink Dot events, foreigners were allowed to assemble at Hong Lim Park but not to participate. They were, however, able to observe from the sidelines.
Individuals caught illegally participating in Speakers’ Corner events can face a fine of up to S$3,000 for their first offence, and up to S$5,000 if found to be repeat offenders.
If found guilty, organisers could face a fine not exceeding S$10,000 or a jail term not exceeding six months or both.
The new regulations also mean that from this year, foreign companies cannot sponsor the event.
This year’s Pink Dot has attracted the sponsorships of 116 local companies so far, said the organisers in an update on Tuesday evening.
This year’s event ambassadors are Singapore paralympian Theresa Goh, local singer Nathan Hartono, and actor Ebi Shankara.
Sip, sip, hooray! Starbucks will be having a Happy Hour 1-for-1 Summer Frappuccino from 31 May – 2 Jun 2017, 3 – 7pm! Buy one Venti-sized Irish Cream Coffee Pudding Frappuccino or Matcha Earl Grey Jelly Frappuccino and enjoy another on the house
