A second home away from home. (Samenvatting gesprek ziekenhuis Singapore)

En jahoor, hier is ons verslag van het gesprek in het ziekenhuis in Singapore. 

GENERAL HOSPITAL SINGAPORE: ‘A SECOND HOME AWAY FROM HOME.’
1 OKTOBER
Finally we can share with you our first hospital visit.

We visited General Hospital Singapore, the National Cancer Center Singapore in particular.

We got the opportunity to speak to some staff of this center, Debbie Tan. She gave us loads of information about support groups for patients and what the vision of the hospital is related to cancer patients.

They have support groups for cancer in general or other cancers, 5 to be precise. (The Revival Connection, a support group for patients with advanced and recurrent cancer,  Nose Cancer support group, grief-in-recovery support group for the bereaved,  Malay support group and mandarin support group for Malay and Mandarin speaking patients respectively ,Living Well  Through Diet, Nutrition and Exercises, a programme that help educate patients on diet, nutrition and exercises)

These groups hang very close together and really enjoy their time together.  NCCS also encourages caregivers to attend the support group activities together with patients (For example, the Malay support group celebrated New Year together with their families).  In the similar vein, the medical social workers (MSW) in NCCS are starting a support group for caregivers.  They are also working with the nurses to start a Breast Cancer Support Group which will be very beneficial to Breast Cancer patients as it is one of the most common cancers in Singapore.  

They also have a “3days-2nights” residential program once a year, called The Enreach Retreat. At this retreat, patients and caregivers are provided lots of information, and taught for to manage and cope with the illness that they are experiencing by professional, sharing sessions also take place. Alongside with the main programmes, they have a wonderful initiative concerning children of cancer patients. It is called HeArts where children attend some sort of art therapy, which aim to help them better make sense and cope with their parent’s illness. 

We are very grateful for this informative interview and it is obvious that the focus of this centre is guide the patients and their family and help them to cope and manage the illness.