Posts

Reality Bites As Coronavirus Spreads

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Confronting The Reality Of COVID-19

Reality Sinks In

Workplace Woes

They say that time will tell. It’s true, that not only are stories revealed with time, but various perspectives of the same emerge. For instance, we initially soaked up the novelty of working in modular teams over extended hours in make-shift tents, as if on an overseas medical mission together. As the weeks wore on, exhaustion and monotony devoured us. Tempers flared over small things like taking team photos or what time we ate dinner. It was the oddest thing. [Read on…]

Hearts Of Gold In DORSCON Orange

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Valentine’s Day 2020

Hearts Of Gold

Hearts & kisses: Welcome to Week 2 of DORSCON Orange which kicks of with Valentine’s Day! This was a most unusual Valentine’s Day, happening in a period where DORSCON Orange Is The New Black. For a start, my gifts were from strangers in the community and my Valentines were my healthcare colleagues. [Read on…]

DORSCON Orange Is The New Black

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Welcome To DORSCON ORANGE

Orange Is The New Disease Situation

Here we are in Week One of the new national code DORSCON Orange in response to COVID-19. Essentially, the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition reflects the current coronavirus disease 2019 situation. In DORSCON Orange, disease is severe and spreads easily from person and person. The restrictions that come with DORSCON Orange could cause moderate disruption, such as temperature screening and visitor restrictions at hospitals. In addition to the social advice to stay home if one is sick, maintain good personal hygiene and look out for health advisories which should surely be a daily standard, the only new one is to comply with control measures.

[DARE Programme Director Dr Jade Kua is also an Emergency Medicine senior consultant at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Read on to find out her experience…]

Get An A* STAR For The Future Of Everyone!

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The Future Of Everyone

#OneNorthFestival2019

I was thrilled to discover that the theme for One-North Festival 2019 (13-14 September), was The Future Of Everyone. Organised by A*STAR, the One-North Festival is an annual celebration of research, innovation, creativity and enterprise. This year, my DARE team had a coveted booth in this prestigious festival to teach CPR & AED skills. In addition, I was invited to speak about my experience in tech & healthcare. [Read on…]

Reply To Letter About Compulsory CPR Training

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Compulsory CPR Training

16 August: Letter To The Straits Times

Recently, the Straits Times published a letter in the Forum page asking for CPR to be made compulsory in schools. This letter by Ms Lam Yin Yin starts by acknowledging how useful a CPR course she took at the Red Cross was. She then shares how Singapore’s survival rates for cardiac arrests are relatively low. As she suspects it may be because of a lack of knowledge, she asks if the Ministry of Education might consider making CPR training compulsory. Finally she suggests that domestic helpers too receive compulsory training since they are often home with dependents. [Read on…]

Resuscitation For Children With Cardiac Arrest

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Educating The Community About Resuscitation

Last Friday I leapt out of bed before daybreak, in anticipation of my presentation at the CEO-CMB Forum. I had 15 minutes to discuss resuscitation for children with cardiac arrest. Why is this ground-breaking? For the past five years, my team has been industriously promoting DARE, a community education programme. However that focuses on resuscitation for adult victims of cardiac arrest. We even launched an app to teach this because At The Heart of The Matter, whatever reaches the largest audience works. [Read on…]

Speaking At A Chinese Conference About Cardiac Arrest

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Telephone-Assisted CPR

One the coolest things to share with my Chinese audience is our successful dispatcher-assisted CPR story. Essentially, our cardiac arrest survival rates doubled when the emergency dispatchers stayed on the line to coach CPR while the ambulance was on its way.

AEDs Everywhere

At the same time, I was proud to recount to these Chinese professors tales of how we populated the country with AEDs. Other than having them in schools, we also have them in government flats and public spaces.

[Read on…]

Kindergarten Kids Dare To Save A Heart

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DARE X My Little Campus Bishan

Whomever thinks that kids are too young to learn CPR, hasn’t seen kindergarten kids dare to save a heart. On 30th October, my team and I visit My Little Campus on Bishan Street 23. On my way over, I’m delighted to find an AED at the nearby lift lobby.

As my team sets up, I wonder how the session will go. Recently, I had taught a small group of young parents and kids How We Save A Heart Together in a mall and that had gone very well. However that was an intimate session with only accompanied kids. Today I am expecting 40 Kindergarten 1 & 2 kids without their parents. Hence we decide to start by reading from my book, How We Save A Heart, and take it from there. [Read on…]

How We Save A Heart Together

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How We Save A Heart

When we unveiled our DARE app in May, we also launched the accompanying children’s book. Called “How We Save A Heart”, the book is key to our campaign At The Heart of The Matter. After all if we teach children to be brave & kind, they might grow up free of fears many adults currently have that hinder them from starting CPR. Hence, when Mummyfique invited me to speak to parents & children about the DARE app & book, I accepted gladly. [Read on…]

Dare To Save A Life

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At the Heart of the Matter

About Cardiac Arrest

Mahna Mahna

I grew up watching The Muppet Show. One of my favourite skits is a song-and-dance with the refrain “Mahna Mahna”, that ends with an old muppet philosophising, “The question is, what is a Mahna Mahna?” His buddy cantankerously retorts, “The question is, who cares?” I couldn’t help but think about this as I reflected upon DARE. DARE is our community education campaign that teaches laypeople to resuscitate victims of cardiac arrest, launched 2 weeks ago at Toa Payoh HDB Hub. I wondered, who cares enough to be a part of this movement. [Read on…]