Ms Ike Handayani has only one day off a week, and she spends it taking care of elderly patients whom she affectionately calls "Ah Ma" and "Ah Gong" at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Integrated Care Hub (TTSH-ICH).
The 38-year-old domestic helper from Indonesia said that when she is caring for the elderly, she feels as though she is caring for her parents, who are in their 70s, and that the patients treat her like their daughter or granddaughter.
She is a volunteer under TTSHICH's Para-Nursing Volunteer Programme, and had chanced upon the programme online and joined to "deepen her knowledge" on caregiving.
She is among the more than 90 regular volunteers - aged 18 to 45, and including nursing students, domestic helpers and housewives - who have joined the programme, which was rolled out in December 2023 with an initial group of 14.
On April 28, the programme was slated to welcome 30 more volunteers, said senior nurse manager K. Patmawali, paranursing volunteer lead and one of the programme's initiators.
According to TTSH, it is the only hospital here with a para-nursing volunteer programme, where non-professional volunteers work with nurses to provide care for patients, allowing nurses to focus on higher-risk activities such as providing medication and invasive procedures.
This story is from the April 29, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the April 29, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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