I went to Sentosa to help out in a Sunday morning (27 Aug) 2km walk for 700 NKF patients and staff. The initial target for the walk was 500 people but the actual turnout was 700 people due to overwhelming response. Luckily, Sentosa agreed to accommodate the increase of 200 people.
NKF held regular Sunday morning walks for its patients for about 2 years in parks around Singapore such as Labrador Park and Bedok Reservoir. This is the first time NKF is visiting Sentosa and the turnout is one of the largest in 2 years.
I think the turnout speaks volume for Sentosa of its progress over the last 5 years, which was the number of years I had been its account manager in DBS until 3 months ago.
5 years ago, the reputation of Sentosa was one of boring, expensive and out-of-date attractions. I think this reputation is so deep-rooted in the minds of Singaporeans and many foreign visitors even until now. Some of my friends still think lowly of Sentosa.
I would agree with my friends that Sentosa “was” what they thought of. However, the new management of Sentosa has made many conscious efforts and initiatives to not only bring new attractions but also to project its image positively.
Sentosa has recovered from its failed attractions of Fantasy Island, Volcano Land and created new fun rides such as the Luge and Sky Tower. I remember that the old hawker centre was expensive and both the quality and quantity, yes, quantity, were bad. It now has many new food outlets ranging from Delifrance, Subway, Coffee Bean, Sakae Sushi to Nogawa in the Sentosa Golf Club. My favourite is the American/Mexican Food at the Steword's Riverboat where you can get really fresh caesar salads
Sentosa is also now a hip place for beach goers and you can see a lot of bikini babes (wolf whistle please) there. I remember my ex-boss’s boss always visit Sentosa with his family. Sometimes, I joked, which family?
The island now offers a lot more than its past and the future is going to be more exciting with Sentosa Cove and the Casino (I hate the word IR). Go find out for yourself.
NKF is now like the old Sentosa, which was a PR disaster. I have many friends who have negative thoughts about NKF. People were pissed off by its over-aggressive campaign such as the TV shows, donation letters, and donation cards for school students. I was one of the angry donors who cancelled my monthly donation. In fact I cancelled the GIRO one year before the scandal! I have foresight!
I started the exercise classes for about 15 NKF patients after the saga and began to learn a lot about the organization and the disease. Firstly, kidney failure is a serious chronic disease and patients need to go for dialysis 3 times a week for about 4 hours each (with some patients up to 5 hours). I visited some of my patients during their dialysis and I can’t imagine myself sitting on the chair for 4 hours receiving dialysis. This is not to mention complications such as leg cramps and unstable blood pressure after each dialysis. I think I am blessed to be healthy.
I am also lucky to meet those patients training under me. These patients are positive and energetic despite their sickness. I have seen other patients in the dialysis centre who have almost given up and I think this is very sad. It is not easy to stay positive after you have been diagnosed with kidney failure.
These patients training under me are actually part of an advocate group setup by the “old” NKF. Despite the misgivings of the management of the “old” NKF, I think this is a very good scheme. These advocates serve as mentors to other patients and help solve their individual problems. Patients who are suffering would often rebut that caretakers do not understand their pain, but they would be speechless against the advocates who are fellow patients.
The “old” NKF also setup a Centre for Exercise Medicine and Nutrition for its patients. It encourages its patients to exercise regularly as exercise is beneficial for them, physically and more importantly, the mental aspects. It is not easy to run such an exercise centre with 3 staff (in the old NKF) to service 23 dialysis centres around Singapore.
One of the Centre’s initiatives was the Sunday morning walks in parks including this walk in Sentosa. I hope the new NKF can continue this good work and beef up the staff strength. 3 staff is definitely not enough manpower to handle 2 thousand patients and run around 23 centres.
I also hope the new NKF management would be able to follow the current Sentosa management in turning around its image. While it is now taking in more and more patients, it should also not forget about the hardwork of its staff and take care of the mental well-being of the patients.
My patients have been telling me that the nurses are so busy taking care of the increase load in patients now that the patients’ rapport with the nurses was not as good as before. This is sad but I think this may be typical of the Singapore healthcare system, which takes care of quantity and not quality. I am a firm believer that patients must be treated not only with the physical aspects but more importantly, be able to improve their mental well-being. You can be treated with the best doctor or medicines but if you have given up on life, what is there to fight on?
Sorry for my readers that this has been a long blog but it is something that I have thought about seriously. I am in no way related to NKF / Sentosa nor receive any ‘goodies’ from them. While it is in our human nature to criticize (as in the case of the "old" Sentosa and "old" NKF), we must also always remember to give credit when it’s due.
NKF held regular Sunday morning walks for its patients for about 2 years in parks around Singapore such as Labrador Park and Bedok Reservoir. This is the first time NKF is visiting Sentosa and the turnout is one of the largest in 2 years.
I think the turnout speaks volume for Sentosa of its progress over the last 5 years, which was the number of years I had been its account manager in DBS until 3 months ago.
5 years ago, the reputation of Sentosa was one of boring, expensive and out-of-date attractions. I think this reputation is so deep-rooted in the minds of Singaporeans and many foreign visitors even until now. Some of my friends still think lowly of Sentosa.
I would agree with my friends that Sentosa “was” what they thought of. However, the new management of Sentosa has made many conscious efforts and initiatives to not only bring new attractions but also to project its image positively.
Sentosa has recovered from its failed attractions of Fantasy Island, Volcano Land and created new fun rides such as the Luge and Sky Tower. I remember that the old hawker centre was expensive and both the quality and quantity, yes, quantity, were bad. It now has many new food outlets ranging from Delifrance, Subway, Coffee Bean, Sakae Sushi to Nogawa in the Sentosa Golf Club. My favourite is the American/Mexican Food at the Steword's Riverboat where you can get really fresh caesar salads
Sentosa is also now a hip place for beach goers and you can see a lot of bikini babes (wolf whistle please) there. I remember my ex-boss’s boss always visit Sentosa with his family. Sometimes, I joked, which family?
The island now offers a lot more than its past and the future is going to be more exciting with Sentosa Cove and the Casino (I hate the word IR). Go find out for yourself.
NKF is now like the old Sentosa, which was a PR disaster. I have many friends who have negative thoughts about NKF. People were pissed off by its over-aggressive campaign such as the TV shows, donation letters, and donation cards for school students. I was one of the angry donors who cancelled my monthly donation. In fact I cancelled the GIRO one year before the scandal! I have foresight!
I started the exercise classes for about 15 NKF patients after the saga and began to learn a lot about the organization and the disease. Firstly, kidney failure is a serious chronic disease and patients need to go for dialysis 3 times a week for about 4 hours each (with some patients up to 5 hours). I visited some of my patients during their dialysis and I can’t imagine myself sitting on the chair for 4 hours receiving dialysis. This is not to mention complications such as leg cramps and unstable blood pressure after each dialysis. I think I am blessed to be healthy.
I am also lucky to meet those patients training under me. These patients are positive and energetic despite their sickness. I have seen other patients in the dialysis centre who have almost given up and I think this is very sad. It is not easy to stay positive after you have been diagnosed with kidney failure.
These patients training under me are actually part of an advocate group setup by the “old” NKF. Despite the misgivings of the management of the “old” NKF, I think this is a very good scheme. These advocates serve as mentors to other patients and help solve their individual problems. Patients who are suffering would often rebut that caretakers do not understand their pain, but they would be speechless against the advocates who are fellow patients.
The “old” NKF also setup a Centre for Exercise Medicine and Nutrition for its patients. It encourages its patients to exercise regularly as exercise is beneficial for them, physically and more importantly, the mental aspects. It is not easy to run such an exercise centre with 3 staff (in the old NKF) to service 23 dialysis centres around Singapore.
One of the Centre’s initiatives was the Sunday morning walks in parks including this walk in Sentosa. I hope the new NKF can continue this good work and beef up the staff strength. 3 staff is definitely not enough manpower to handle 2 thousand patients and run around 23 centres.
I also hope the new NKF management would be able to follow the current Sentosa management in turning around its image. While it is now taking in more and more patients, it should also not forget about the hardwork of its staff and take care of the mental well-being of the patients.
My patients have been telling me that the nurses are so busy taking care of the increase load in patients now that the patients’ rapport with the nurses was not as good as before. This is sad but I think this may be typical of the Singapore healthcare system, which takes care of quantity and not quality. I am a firm believer that patients must be treated not only with the physical aspects but more importantly, be able to improve their mental well-being. You can be treated with the best doctor or medicines but if you have given up on life, what is there to fight on?
Sorry for my readers that this has been a long blog but it is something that I have thought about seriously. I am in no way related to NKF / Sentosa nor receive any ‘goodies’ from them. While it is in our human nature to criticize (as in the case of the "old" Sentosa and "old" NKF), we must also always remember to give credit when it’s due.
2 comments:
Hi mui tee, guess you now csn dee things in s better perspective than us who are slaving in the office 8 to 6. Agree about the sentose facelift but can't identify with the NKF situation.... Still shell shocked about His backpay anf leave encashment, hahah
Just in many organisations, the top people earn obscene money while those below work like dogs. I was just trying to highlight the plight and good work of the staff in NKF, although I am equally pissed off by his 'peanut' pay.
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