Reflection

Started work at IMH this week, really good experience! Well, got to learn alot of new stuff, new software and gained new lessons in life. It’s really saddening to see some patients there. Just this old mother of perhaps 70+ years old, white hair and walks with a hunch, has to hold her daughter’s hand (who’s the patient and not the old mother) when they visited the hospital. They came at 12 plus, but since they do not have any pre arranged appointments with the hospital, they had to register themselves as walk-in cases, and so they waited for almost 4 hours before they could see the doctor. I walked past the waiting area, and saw only the mother waiting silently in front of the door, while her daughter was not seen. It just pains you to see such cases.

Another case: one old woman sat outside the medical social worker room, with my estimate, a period of at least 2 hours, so that she could see the MSW to obtain some financial aid to offset either her medical costs or that of her family member. She was just there sitting, stoning and waiting patiently for her turn, without any choice but to see the MSW; if not she has to forsake the visits to the hospital.

I guess such scenarios are so striking to me because I have a grandfather and grandmother to relate to. I thought of the scene where they would be the ones sitting alone in the clinic instead of those patients that I saw over the past few weeks. I thought of the inevitable days when my parents they themselves grow old and require people to bring them along to the clinic, to the doctor, to anywhere. Would I be there for them? Would my siblings be there for them? Or would we be just be too busy with our own lives and ignore them or would we be like the one of the many happy and touching cases which I witnessed daughters and sons bringing their elderly parents to the clinic for a visit.

Some patients are just too financially incapable of paying the medical fees, that’s why the MSW room is always the most crowded. It’s a stark reminder of how fortunate and worry-free my life is now, I don’t fret over not having enough to eat, I don’t fret not having money to pay for medical fees. For if I so choose to dwell on all the misses that I lack of in my life, it is just a pathetic side of me which choose to drown myself in a pool of self-pity.

Mum and Dad have told me to resign, said I haven’t been normal for the past week since I started work. Hmm, I guess it’s just the acclimatization to my workplace. Like the interviewers said, I must be mentally prepared to work in IMH, I thought I was and indeed I do, when it comes to facing patients having relapses and stuff; but to witness really heart wrenching cases, I guess I am not and will never be so.

The 9pm Channel 8 show ended recently, though it’s rather clichéd and predictable, it’s still appealing to me. I really like the olden days where everything seemed much simpler and less complicated than the modern days…

Putting work aside, had a really great s37 gathering at Jed’s place yesterday! Woohoo, had a good time talking and witnessing the girls and guys failing at Rock Band and stuff. Hahahaha. Cabbed home with cz and ly before everyone else left, lol. Those two need to work on a Saturday, lol. Was talking to the taxi uncle about roads and cars while the two behind were in cahoots about something else LOL. Ahh, it’s almost February soon and plenty of my friends are enlisting soon, which means an end to those frequent gatherings and stuff! Oh man…. Soccer tomorrow and FTT on monday!

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