Singapore International Foundation

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the super late update about my 2 week experience at Singapore International Foundation. Rather than bore everyone with words. I shall let the pictures do the talking as well they do say that pictures tell a thousand words.

The office where I 'worked' in for 2 weeks. I was posted to the Corporate Communication Department.

The first thing i see whenever I step into the office at 9am every day.

Irene and Stella ( from left)

Two NUS interns who joined me in my second week. I learnt so much from them as they guided me through writing articles and keeping me company during long meetings. It was really awesome to have these two around as I was feeling a bit lonely during my first week as I was the only intern there.

Irene, Me and Stella

All 3 of us had to help around as much as we could in preparation for the charity toy drive ( 11-12 dec)the CC department was organizing. Meetings during the 2nd week ( 7th to 11th) were often long and tedious. While the two of them spent most of their time writing articles, ( I contirbuted one too! ) for the website the staff were maintaining, I did mostly the minor things like buying name cards and keeping check of stock.

Posters near my cubicle


Daisy, Irene, Priscella, Stella at the Bishan Library Toy Drive


There were 9 people (excluding interns) in the Corporate Communications Department and all of them are very friendly! They mostly deal with media and publicity. Needless to say, they are very creative and sociable ( a very important skill they need to have as they interact with people all the time) There were so many projects ongoing when I was there and the environment there was very encouraging and supportive.

My cubicle!

I was given my own cubicle and computer the very first day i arrived! I did a lot of research on the computer! I had to look for various charity organizations that were interested in collaborating in the toy drive project plus make 50 over calls to Singapore Publishing Holdings and Mediacorp to enquire and update the corporate database. I do not like desk jobs =(

Toy drive at Bishan library !

If you have tuned into 91.3fm during the 7th-12th of december, you would surely have heard trailers regarding this toy drive! It was even on Warna 92.4fm and the trailer on the malay radio station was done by me (:

I was really happy that my Malay language skills were put to good use! During the meeting one day when they had to translate the trailer from english to Malay, the Malay staff weren't quite sure of it ( all of them admitted to only being fluent in english!) so I volunteered to help! Although I had to refer to my classmate for help at times ( thank goodness for MSN, and yes we are allowed to log in during office hours) I am proud to say I made changes to it and translated it MOSTLY by myself (:

I'm glad the toy drive was a success! I still keep in contact with Irene and Stella and hope to meet up with the rest one day!


I also hope to volunteer with SIF as I have first hand knowledge of the programs they offer and they are quite meaningful as well!


That's all from me. Happy new year everyone!


Melanie Tan. 09A04.

Work Shadowing at NUH, Nursing

(ZiHan 09S05)

Hi all! This is the speech I prepared for my presentation for my last day for nursing tomorrow and i have decided to post it here for you all to see too! (: Enjoy!
And please pardon me if my English is bad. Thanks!

5 days ago, if you were to tell me the word nursing, the first thing that comes to my mind would be: bathing sickly patients, changing soiled clothes, cleaning dirty stools. But during the course of my work attachment here, when I see nurses obtaining medicine through highly sophisticated machines, nurses busy all day long buzzing like busy little bumblebees and nurses who keep their sunny-side up despite their real tiring roles, only then did I realize that nursing is not as simple as what I use to think.

One of the things I observed during the last few days is that to be a nurse, you must be really responsible. You have to give the right patient the right drug at the right dose through the right route and at the right time. To give the wrong patient the wrong medication could lead to disastrous consequences and you will be held responsible for it. Also, you have to remember to turn bed-ridden patients routinely to prevent them from getting pressure ulcer and to ask patients to sit up every morning to expand their lungs to prevent Pneumonia. How fast your patient recovers, whether complications will occur, will largely depend on the nurses in charge.

In our work shadowing experience as nurses, we are not required to do anything except to observe, ask questions, and be curious. So, I am actually quite happy poking my head into all the unfamiliar stuff around me, throwing random questions at the nurses and staffs.

We are also allowed to see the “behind the curtain” scenes when the nurse draws the curtain. While attached to ward 57(oncology-dealing with cancer patients), 56(cardiac) and 54(bones), one of the most interesting thing I see is on Thursday morning when the surgeons are making their rounds.

While the surgeons are opening up a patient’s dressing to check her wound, I actually saw two deep holes on her chest, like those that are made by the drills along the road works. There’s one on her thigh too! And when the surgeon presses hard on her chest, some squishy, bloody stuff will ooze out. The shape of her ribcage is quite visible as well.

When I enquire about the patient’s condition, Nurse May told me that the lady had just done a by pass surgery due to a blockage in her heart’s blood vessel and they had to take a blood vessel from her thigh and put it in her heart. Something like when the PIE is jam, you use KPE. Doctor Charlie also told me that they sort of sew up her ribcage with wires to let the bones grow back together and the 3 surgeons on their rounds seem rather please with the lady’s improvement…

Nursing has many essences, healing patient, to change their dressing is one of them, but there’s also compassion. I guess everyone would prefer a cheerful, smiling nurse to a “frowning-all-day” nurse. During my attachment, I see plenty of nurses smiling at patients, assisting them with courteous, and even joking around making their patients livelier.

In fact, even the doctors are rather humorous as well! While making their rounds, one of the surgeons told me that it’s really great that I want to work shadow the nurses because most Singaporeans nowadays would shun nursing. He added on saying that nurses are really great people that have really big houses in heaven for doing so much and he only have a small house in heaven… (:

In conclusion, throughout my few days here, I have realized that to become a nurse requires a great deal of passion as they have super long working hours which can last up to twelve hours and very heavy work load. In most of the wards I went to, you can really feel the passion, the motivation and the drive they have for nursing. To me, nursing is a very special job and nurses are very outstanding and noble people. They have always been over shadowed by doctors despite their hard work and effort. I feel that for me, it is very difficult to walk in their shoes. However, I will always respect this team of white shirt “guardian angels” and I feel relieve to know that we have all these really great people who will take care of us when we are in need.

THANK YOU NURSES! :DDD

pictures of the crossroad youthcentre

the youths was watching a movie organize by us:) we made popcorns too!

with the youths:)

Work Shadowing Programme at World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd

Hi all, I'd like to blog about my personal work shadowing experience at World Scientific Publishing Company.

Day 1

We started our work shadowing programme with an orientation and a brief tour of the entire publishing company. It was a surprise to see how many departments and manpower are needed to run this company. I learned how the pre-press and accounting departments operate and the type of expertise needed. This allowed me to look forward to my attachment at the various departments the next day.

Day 2

There was more hands-on learning experience at the editorial and marketing departments. It was really novel to try being an editor or marketing personnel. Today's learning experience had allowed me to understand that no department is isolated from one another as everybody has to work together to ensure the smooth operation of a company. Applying this to real life, one must understand the essence of teamwork and that it is imperative for all to work together and stay together, even in times of difficulty.

Day 3

Today was our last day of attachment and it was probably the most enjoyable day.

One of my favourite attachments was at the Global Publishing department. Our task was to think of ways to promote and sell some Chinese books. A friendly mentor explained to us more about their department and shared some interesting facts. Also, she introduced some Chinese books we (youth) may like to read. I truly appreciate her sincerity and warmth.

Another memorable experience was at the WS Printers department. We interacted with very nice and friendly staff who were open during their sharing. Moreover, they were concerned about how we feel thus far and their genuine interest in interacting with us really struck a chord in my heart.

Conclusion

Although the programme eventually came to a closure and it was sad to bid farewell to everybody, I feel that I have acquired valuable knowledge and learned life skills which would allow me to hold them close to my heart and venture into the working world in future with my head held high.

The cross application of skills and knowledge across various disciplines is so important as it will allow one to be a better problem solver. In addition, no man is an island and all careers would require people to cooperate with each other.

That's all! : )

Maria Ng of 09S25 xxxxx

Workshadowing In SGH-Mel :)

(Melissa Tan-09S06)

Firstly,I would like to warn everyone that I have no pictures as all pictures are with my other SGH buddy,Arif. I'm really thankful for the school providing us with this wonderful 3 days of experience in SGH which provides me enough information to help me make decisions for the future.

Day 1:Occupational Therapy and Radiology

I was firstly attached to ZiXian, an occupational therapist(OT). Despite the early hours in the morning,she has already attended to no less than 8 patients. Most patients come into the clinic with work injuries and are undergoing occupational thereapy to be able to regain their regular living and even going back to their old jobs. There was a patient who didn't regularly exercise his fingers as he was suppose to and hence got a earful from ZiXian. I was also taught the basic exercises to do for a hand injury and had to make sure that patient was consistently doing it for 30mins. There are also various machines which plays a part in recovery(eg Fluidotherapy). There are also some patients which have mental barriers and the OT have to be creative and flexible to remove this barrier.
The second OT is a senior OT specializing in renal and respiratory departments. What I have experienced was an eye opener. Moving through the wards, I realised how difficult a simple action,such as moving from a bed to a chair. The OT has to regularly check on these patients and provide useful advices.

Its was really fascinating on how the radiographers operate the 2 machines. The program was really sophisticated and the radiographers were kind enough to explain what the numbers and figures were. Moving onto the MRI scan, it was a different story. Instead of using xray, magnetism is used. As there were no patients then,I got to experienced how strong the magnetism was and even had the opportunity to go into the machine. It was really enclosed and very compressing. Fortunately I'm not claustrophobic.

Day 2: Institute Of Medical Simulation And Education

We had a briefing by Dr.Fatimah from the Emergency Medicine. She gave an overview on the various situations that happen in the ER and how mind boggling, think-on-your-toes each situation has to be. Its a matter of life or death.One wrong move may result in the death of an individual.
Next,we were brought around to view state of the art mannequins which can be used for doctors to train and update their surgical skills. We were able to also bombard Dr. Fatimah on medical questions and what to specialize in if we were to enter the medical field.

Day 3: Internal Medicine and Wounds

Arif and I had made our way to Ward 57-Internal Medicine. While we were at it, Prof Surrun (HOD of Internal Medicine) was teaching a group of medical freshmen. What struck me the most was the high expectations which the Prof placed to his students. He expects every answer to be given immediately and more proactiveness. I was also impressed on how he was able to draw diagnosis on a patient just by looking at her. This shows how knowledgable and insightful he is in his field. The doctors there were also warm towards us and even invited us back to visit all of them again.

Next we were also given the opportunity to follow a senior nurse clinician to various wards to change the wounds and check on the patients. due to the biohazardous nature, we had to suit up first. It was really eye opening and stomach-churning. The wound was badly infected till the bone and muscles were exposed. the bacteria had to be removed. As the wound was covered up for 2 weeks,there was a terrible smell.

Indeed,it was not all smooth flowing to be a doctor. Everyone knows how difficult it is to enter med school,how prestigious it is to become a doctor. But it requires alot of commitments,compassion and you must really be passionate about it. As each and every doctor has mentioned to me -

" A lawyer or a broker is just a normal person out on the street,
But a doctor will always be a doctor everywhere he goes.
To be a doctor is not a job,
It is a commitment "

Thank You.

What to do if you are unwell and cant make it to work during WSP!?

Dear all...

If you are unable to make it to 'work' for any day during your attachment, I should think that you are responsible enough to inform the liason officer regarding your reasons of absence. If you are feeling unwell, besides informing the person i/c in the company, you should see a doc and provide the MC to your company's liason officer. Do let teacher mentor or myself (Ms Chen, 92979261) know about your absence too.

The reason being that you are now representing our college to participate in 'work shadowing program', and you are expected to behave just like anyone of the employee in your office.

I do hope that you understand the purpose of this 'work shadowing program', which is to expose our students to actual working environment and experience the working life that is very different from schooling...

Enjoy the rest of the attachments!:)

Ms Chen

shadows

yo hi all...

i feel that this work shadowing thing has a great benefit to my life.
thinking about it, it showed the other part of the society,
the part where the gov had done well keeping in check.
i mean lets face it,
that part is and always will be present in society...
but to actually get first hand experience.
thats.. cool i guess, in a way..

anyways, the only regrets i have so far is that i wasnt there on internship
cant do much.
and i am looking the very forward to sitting in into one of their counselling session to see how to how its being done.. i am full of curiousity

so... that will be all for now..

kelx

Care Corner Family Service Centre( social work)

The staff enjoying themselve; playing table soccer

The friendly staff members with stitch:)

hey everyone:)

Let me share with you about my experience at the crossroad youth centre as a student attachment:)

Work shadowing in crossroad youth center( YC) has been a great and enjoyable experience. we not only get shadow but we also get to carry out jobs ourselves!

In the YC, we get to meet friendly staff members who are really fun to talk to, and this allow us to ask questions without hesitations. our main job was to handle the youths that come in from tuesdays to fridays to play (chill out). The games in the YC includes X-box, pool, table soccer, air hockey and also computers for youths to use. We get to engage with the youths, play with them and get to know more about them so that they can slowly open up and tell us their stories or problems they face.The youths who come here to play are mainly from the low income family. i have learnt that many of them often go hungry because they do not have enough money to buy food. This made me realise that we human beings should not take for granted the things we have because there are people out there who have less than us yet they are living without complains. they have parents out there who cannot earn enough for their child to even own a pencil case.

Getting on to the brighter side, i get to learn how to play pool during this period of time and i realise that many of the youths can actually play pool really well! while we take 30 mins to finish one game, they take like 10 to 15 mins! a whole day of chatting and playing can actually wear our brains off! It is very fun yet tiring! Last friday, we brought this boy name danial to causeway point, a friendship band that i bought for him could make him so happy. as we walk, we realise that he does not have alot of things that normal kids have. he does not have money to even buy food! and so i wanted to make him happy for once and got him french fries. i hope that made made a bit of difference in his life:)

On mondays, the YC has this guidance programme for youths that have police cases and are given a second chance for thier actions. They have to attend this programme to learn their mistakes and reflect on themselves. We are very fortunate to be given a chance to interact with them and to participate in the activities. We get to talk personally with them or in small groups so as to let them share their past with us and how they feel. we also gather feedbacks from them after the session and share with the fellow staff. It is emotionally painful to hear their stories and to see a 13, 14 year old teen becuase of one wrong action, have their names on the black list.

Besides all this, we get to chit chat with all the staff members during our free time. we also get to pack logistics and case filing for the youths in the guidance programme. we also get to attend meetings and join in discussions and throw in new ideas. lunch was always foward looking because we get to eat at different place evryday:) we get to ride in staff cars so we do not have to get burnt under the hot sun!:)

i am looking foward to next week in YC!

fransiska:)

Work Shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics

Mr Jolovan Wham, Ms Valli, Esther Yen (myself), Tay An na and Wei Yang Mr Jolovan's Desk and workplace.

4 of the mainland chinese workers who lives in H.O.M.E
Wei Yang helping Xu Yue Ming translate a Chinese document into English

Work shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) has been a remarkable experience. Words cannot fully describe how i feel towards the 4 days form 23 nov - 26 nov, when i was attached to them. HOME is a very humble, warm and caring social centre that helps migrant workers who are too frequently neglected in the goverment and citizens' eye. Till now, i am very apalled and emotionally affected by what these migrant workers face. Their struggles are incredibly hard to bear and i do not know how they still press on and fight with a positive mindset.

I have come to realise that almost all the chinese migrant workers doing jobs such as construction, factory work and food stockpiling work were all cheated to come here. They have to go through an agent in China to help them find a job in Singapore. These migrant workers have to pay a huge sum of 20,000 - 45,000 RMB (S$4,000 - 9,000) to their agents in order to come to Singapore to work. In ALL CASES which came to report to us, they said that the contract signed with the chinese agent was right before the time when their about to board the plane. Therefore, they did not have time to read the contract succintly and trusted their agents. The contents in the contract are totally unparallel to the employment act laws in Singapore.

These migrant workers are often not paid for their overtime hours, public holiday pay and are deprived of consistent salary. Some even do not get pay for more than 4 months! The companies are also irresponsible for work injury, if the migrant workers are sick or injured and the visit the hospital, they have to pay the medical fee. What is worst is that the company do not cover their medical leave salary! I found it ridiculous, how are these migrant workers ever going to make money? They might as well go back to China, even if the pay is low, they are not mistreated and have the support of their loved ones.

I also visited a dormitory in Seragoon. It housed 20 odd BHCC chinese workers. When i stepped in, i was revolted by the immense stench. The floors, which originally was white and green tiles were smeared with layers of dirt. The trash area was full and insects were crawling all over. Sorry, i wish i had some pictures but i used Mr Jolovan's camera to take. Maybe i can ask him for some them i show you all.

The bunk beds were infested with invisible bed bugs. These bunk beds are hard wooden planks. The toilets were rancid and very digusting. I had to bear that environment for 30 minutes, Mr Jolovan and I sat down with them in one room to talk about their problems as a whole group. I did not show that i was very uncomfortable because i did not want to put down these workers. I have come to realise that the chinese workers are smart and resourceful, they produce evidence with camera and record their working hours down. They even had a laptop! I didnt even have one till this year! haha. After the visitation, Mr Jolovan said that i should jump vigorously to brush of all the bed bugs. I SCREAMED for a while......hahah

Another meaningful encounter was when An na and i followed a man called Gong Furong to court to settle his salary issues. (picture below is Gong Furong)

I helped him tabulate his Saturday (180 over time) and Sunday (303) working hours in excel. All of these were NOT PAID!!!!! Talk about cheap labour! This is deliberate abuse! On top of this he had 2 months unpaid salary, unpaid medical fee and expenses, and was deducted S$1,500 without reason.

In the end, because Gong Furong wanted to return home to China as soon as possible, he did not wanted the court case to drag and settled for S$3181 instead of S$5000+ (actual calculated amount). Poor thing, he was a nice and friendly man who deserves much better. OH, can you believe it??? His boss of Gong Furong in the company he was attached to was a China man himself! Even they themselves do not protect their own fellow countrymen. An na and I had many complains about this court case, i think we blabbered about this for close to 30 minutes!

All in all, i was really glad that i had the chance to interact and understand more about migrant workers. I was completely oblivious to their plight before and now i am aware. I also learnt many employment act laws so next time my boss cannot cheat me of money! MUAHAHA

Thitipat - work shadowing at national cancer centre

just a picture of my name tag! :D

"Seeing is learning"

This is what i felt about work shadowing at National cancer centre (NCC) ( i don know abt other organization )
Though we walk after the oncologist doctors almost all the time, we manage to see what a doctor's life is like;always so busy picking up calls etc. From my point of view, attachment at hospital or NCC is highly recommended for bio students if you intend to pursue your career in medical fields. But i am not saying that non-bio students shouldn't go because it will be an eye opener for you all as well:) even for me too.

It was my first time walking in hospital, not as patients but as student on attachment. We have the priviledges to use staff toilets, staff underground tunnel and even can enter any rooms we want.hahas. Just as i am studying about this whole topic on cancer, being attached to national cancer centre really gave an insight to what cancer is all about. besides the molecular details of how somatic cells become cancerous cells found in the notes, i now know what are the treatments for cancer patients, the symptoms, the CT scan images, the tumour and even chemotheraphy procedures. During the attachment, some of the doctors who are abit nicer will explain the situation of the patients to me and even allow me to see how they examine the patient's body while some doctor will just let u follow him and thank God, most of the doctor i am assigned to are real nice because they explained to me as if i am a medical student. Those terms that i don understand i just have to nod my head and they even treat me lunch and brought me to conference whereby all the oncologist doctors come together to discuss on complicated cases. It was similar to our lecture style and i saw some of the doctors sleeping too! hahas.

I once almost fainted during the chemotheraphy because as the needle pierce throught the skin, the tummy bled and so i faster went out of the room and headed for the toilet. after that i re-enter the room.

after the attachment, frankly speaking, i am quite scare of getting cancer already. so from nowon i will eat more fruits and exercise regularly.hahas. and i once tell myself after this attachment " if i got cancer one day, i would just die on the spot cos i don want to undergo the treatment, it's like everyday have to come back to NCC and get poked by the needle and got alot of tubes going around your body and somemore also will be a burden to the family "

However, after what one of the doctor said that cancer is in a way "good" because patients know when they will die. so they can plan their days doing what they want to do before they die. so now i would rather die of cancer than dying from accidents or heart failures.hahas

cancer patients are not always depressed. some of they know it is curable and even fight bravely with positive thinking. for example, theres this guy who pretend to comb hair in front of the doctor even though he was bald ( due to side effect of chemotheraphy), he was smiling at the doctor and the doctor laugh at him.

" doctor, i know i am going to die of cancer, but my last request is i just want to eat. that's the most impt thing to me now" this comment was the most "touching" during my attachment period. the patient actually develop a throat tumour and he cannot eat. i felt so sorry for him:(

Underwater World Singapore

I'll start the ball rolling!

Work Shadowing at Underwater World Singapore, although short in duration, was rather enlightening. We got to experience behind the scene activities like feeding the marine animals and we also got to help out at the various attractions, such as the Ray Pool. In a sense, we got to be staff members of both the Curatorial Department and the Guest Services Department, though we didn't get to try our hand at everything they had to do. Going into a shark tank to hand feed a huge piece of tuna to a shark, carries obvious dangers. And besides, we didn't have diving qualifications.

Overall, it was a really fun experience. I especially loved part where we got to be Mascots, not an easy job, mind you! Just as Michelle! Though I didn't really get to wear it and go interact with the visitors. But I did get to try on the head gear. That itself was a blast for me.
The Guest Services Officer (GSO) was Nuraini. She was a really bubbly girl and tried her best to make our attachment enjoyable. She thinks I'm in love with the Mascot's head.

Here's myself and Amanda. Hahah!


I've learnt a lot through this experience. One of them is the fact that the divers you see feeding the marine animals don't have it easy. You may think that they have one of the best jobs. But they have to do much more than just... feed the animals. Just like any other Curatorial Department staff, they have to help prepare the food, scrub tanks, stock taking, monitor the marine life and all that.

And, for Underwater World Singapore, or any other organisation to succeed, all sectors have to be performing at tip-top standards. In the case of Underwater World Singapore, both the Curatorial Department and the Guest Services Department have to be good.
Similarly, in our studies, we shouldn't forgo any topics or subjects. I know, cliche, but it's true!

That's all from me.
I hope the other Work Shadowers' experience would be both enlightening and fun. (:

Some comments from your employers

Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME):
"All 3 students were wonderful. They were helpful and dilligent. I'm glad Esther felt the experience was enriching. Apart from talking to the workers, she also visited them at their dormitories and she an Anna helped me take notes during a court hearing between an employer and a worker. Wei Yang and Anna also assisted with written translations from Chinese to English and English to Chinese. I must say their language abilities are quite good!"

PACE Development :
"The 2 students are very well mannered and presented themselves excellently. Hope they will be more warmed up in the coming days, be more vocal, and interact more frequently with the PACE staffs, so that they'll learn more effectively."

Dear all participants of Work Shadowing Program

I am so pleased to hear very good experiences from some of you over this one week of Work Shadowing Experience...I cant help but would like all of you to share your invaluable experiences to other people, other students and of course your teachers...

Hope you guys will conrtibute to this blog, I will grant all of you the rights to create new pages!!

You are welcomed to include interesting pictures/ videos that you've taken during the short attachment!

Ms Chen