Community Service... Behind the Scenes today, hahaha...

Dear Diary,

I thought it would just be the usual community service on a Saturday but apparently not so today (24/4/2010). My partner was someone whom I am paired up with quite often and it is always good to have her around. We were joined by two female students (17 years old) who were trying to clock in community service “hours” to fulfil their Community Involvement Programme (CIP) obligations. After a quick introduction, we headed to the first home.

“Knock, knock... Hi, we are from Saint Andrew’s Cathedral (actually, the two students aren’t from SAC though),” I greeted the man in mandarin. I have never visited him before but my fellow volunteer did. We had a nice chat with him. He looked healthy until I realised that he is on a long list of medications for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and the various co-morbidities. Sifted through his medications, observed him... he looked surprisingly healthy with no clear physical deficiencies except for a missing finger, telangiectasia, skin atrophy with striae. Offered to take his random blood glucose (which is well-controlled with his tolbutamide and metformin) and the students were excited about seeing blood... errr... their generation is the camera-toting kind, so you know what happened next. One used a point-and-shoot camera while the other whipped out a SLR. Checked his blood pressure with my sphygmomanometer and stethoscope, and it seemed like the amlodipine and enalapril did not control his pressure well. Gave him some advice and offered to pray for him.

Now, that’s the funny part. I was speaking mandarin throughout the entire 50 minutes or so. Then I asked him if it is okay that I pray (祈祷 – qi dao) for him, he turned me down. I thought he didn’t want me to pray for him which is totally fine for me but one of my companions told me that the man thought I wanted to bathe (洗澡 – xi zhao) him. I was shocked and told him that I never had any intention to bathe him, after which he clarified that he thought I wanted to baptise (洗礼 – xi li) him. Errr... It was a totally hilarious situation! Hahahaha... Eventually, he wanted us to pray for him which we did. The students were not Christians but they were perfectly okay with us praying... so we did! =)

The real big “drama” happened after we completed the visitations for the day. As we assembled at the void deck, a loud cry rang out. A family of Indians were yelling at each other, especially between two brothers (both probably in their early 50s). Then dramatically, their mother fell backwards to the ground. They called me for help. I went over there (with my mind replaying the scene of such an incident when I administered first aid to a bleeding elderly who fell down the escalator in HDB Hub a few years back) and took a quick look. The lady was conscious, murmuring ... ABC (air-way, breathing, circulation clear)... not sure about delicate cervical spine but one of them already propped her up... oh well. I offered to call the ambulance and so today is the first day in my life I dialled 995. Spoke to the operator, telling him the location and the patient’s situation.

The two Indian brothers even quarrelled over whether an ambulance was necessary with one of them insisting he wanted me to help to call. Then the other came over to us (myself and the three girls who were with me) and started talking rubbish. First, he asked me why I am more handsome than him... I was like... huh? Then he asked why life is so unfair that I am a white, while the girls are brown and he is black. White??? I am not that fair lei... I am actually quite tanned now. Weird fella... he continued to harass the girls. One of the girls whispered to me that she was scared. I told the girls to go over to the other block of flats but that guy confronted me and said he meant no harm and why was I getting the girls away. Then he turned to a girl and said, “I have such a sad day but seeing you makes me happy.” No more elaboration needed... the rest were nonsensical speeches.

We managed to walk away to “safety”. The ambulance arrived and I walked back over to just inform the paramedics. The whole Indian family boarded the ambulance. As the vehicle drove past us, that guy waved at me which I so gladly waved farewell back to him, haha... However, I was so wrong! The ambulance stopped at a distance and that fella alighted again. Not again!!! Came up to me saying he had to alight because the paramedics told him that he couldn’t go to the hospital without his identification card. Hmmm, I shrugged my shoulders... Anyway, I had to rush off for military training by then... the other male volunteer was around then so it should be fine that I left first. The last thing I thought I heard was that man asking yet another volunteer why she looked so fierce...

What a good test of our patience and tolerance today indeed, hahaha...

God Bless,

Andrew