Parkway Day Surgery

The first time she saw bed sores so bad they revealed the hip bone of a patient, she passed out. Then, Victoriya Garbrel was a 15-year-old St John’s member and was at Alexandra Hospital to take care of patients.

Currently a Staff Nurse at Parkway Day Surgery and Medical Centre (PDSMC), Victoriya is no longer the faint-hearted girl she was 20 years ago. Since the day she first joined Singapore General Hospital as an assistant nurse, she has served patients of all ages and backgrounds. Throughout her 17-year nursing career, many have been touched by her selflessness, passion, dedication, as well as her positive outlook to life. Today, she is still as passionate and committed as ever.

Asked about why she has stayed in this profession for such a long time, Victoriya said, "If you treat nursing just like any other job, when you look at the pay slip at the end of every month, you only have one day of satisfaction. For me, I choose to feed my soul with my service every day. Nursing is in my blood. I cannot imagine myself doing anything else." That is why she enjoys every moment of her work and her interaction with her patients.

Victoriya is always on the lookout for opportunities to reach out to patients and non-patients who are in pain or in need of help. "I do not sit in my comfort zones… Patients look up to nurses for help and support. I want to be there for them."

Outside her day job, the mother of two is also an active volunteer for charitable courses. As an active Singapore Red Cross member, she was involved in a volunteer group which helped 2004 tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. She also went on a mission to help earthquake victims in Jogjakatra, Indonesia in 2006. Now, she volunteers at Assisi Hospice at Mount Alvernia on a weekly basis, bathing and lending comfort to critically ill cancer patients.

"These people are alone and just need to know that someone cares enough to listen to them. I do feel pain at the thought that their time in this life is at an end, but knowing that I bring comfort is enough for me to want to continue to do this," she said.

A person with a warm heart, Victoriya lends her assistance and support to her friends, acquaintances, and strangers whenever she can. For example, when a co-worker who had just delivered a baby, called her at 10 pm one night crying for help, Victoriya rushed to her home without hesitation. On another occasion, after reading about a female road accident victim in a local newspaper, Victoriya approached the stranger in the hospital, introduced herself and offered her help. She cleaned the injured woman, brought food for her and her children, bathed her children and gave them clean clothes. She even scolded the nurses in the hospital for not providing the patient with a proper diet.

"Everyone is busy with his/ her own life. If a person could just pause for a moment and show his/ her care for others, the world would be a better place."

Victoriya is grateful that she is well-equipped with nursing skills which enable her to help and care for others.

"Nurses are patients’ advocate. Doctors treat, we care. We have many roles to play. We play the role as mother, teacher, friend, and counselor. We listen to patients and provide them with every support we can. We have to be strong and be there for them."

Nonetheless, there were times when she felt that she was not as strong as she had to be. She recalled a past encounter with a patient who was dying from bone cancer. It was an extremely painful memory as it was the first time she felt so vulnerable and emotional that she broke down in front of the patient and her family.

She said, "That’s why it’s important for me to ensure that I am not overloaded with patients’ problems and emotions all the time." She makes effort to ensure that she has her personal time and space whenever she needs a break.

Victoriya still sees much opportunity for her to grow further in Parkway as well in this profession. Today, she is one of the few nurses at Parkway who are specially trained to assist neurosurgeons in gamma knife procedures.

"I am grateful that Parkway has given me much opportunity to grow and learn with the nursing courses they have. I would like to develop my skills in nursing. I want to reach out to the community and inspire more to do care and help."

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Gleneagles Hospital

"I am very happy with what I have achieved in life." Few people are able to ever make such a claim. Or many would only do so much later in life, but 46-year old Ibrahim has already achieved his life’s goals. As Nurse Manager at Gleneagles Hospital, Ibrahim is passionate about his work, has an active community life and still finds plenty of time to spend with his family.

Taking on a career in nursing is something Ibrahim decided at a very young age. As a teenager, he was a member of St John Ambulance. There, he picked up basic skills in nursing and found great fulfillment in helping others. To him, nursing is a self-rewarding career as it is not the recognition from seniors or supervisors that he seeks. It isn’t even the appreciation from patients. Instead, what gives him the greatest satisfaction is to see someone, whom he has nursed, get better.

In nursing school, it was obvious to Ibrahim that he had joined a profession largely dominated by women. However, an optimist as he is, Ibrahim saw this as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. In fact, he recounts that he was given much more attention in school precisely because he was the minority.

Throughout the 30 years of his career, Ibrahim has held many interesting positions including working in the criminal ward of Woodbridge Hospital and being part of the pioneering team of nurses for SAF Ward at Alexandra Hospital. However, it is in the intensive care unit (ICU) that Ibrahim thrived and where he spent a large part of his days as a nurse. Ibrahim admits that working in the ICU is a highly challenging and very intense vocation. Every patient is different. It is vital to remain vigilant and to be observant to the condition of each patient. But work is interesting there. It is also extremely rewarding to see patients go from very ill, to being able to walk and talk again.

Although Ibrahim no longer works in the ICU, he continues to hold the same passion and dedication to his job. In his current role as Nurse Manager (Night), Ibrahim ensures the smooth running of the Gleneagles Hospital through the night, from 9pm to 8am. Departments under his care include nursing, security, admissions, A&E and customer service. He even holds the keys to the pharmacy and patient records office.

Although his current position is more in administration and management, Ibrahim never loses touch with his patients. He takes joy in going the extra mile for them. In fact, he believes that even the little deeds can really put a smile on a patients face and make all the difference. So whether it is satisfying a patient’s craving for mushroom soup or serving strawberry milkshake at 6:30am, if it is within his means, he will get it done.

Working on a night shift also gives Ibrahim more time to spend on volunteer work. On his rest days, he volunteers with COMCARE under the Marsiling Community Centre as Welfare Liaison Officer. His role involves assisting needy families in securing financial assistance. In addition, while working in the ICU, Ibrahim would often come across patients needing blood urgently and has since committed to being a regular blood donor. In 2008 alone, Ibrahim received the gold award for the National Blood Programme for 100 donations.

It’s amazing how Ibrahim has given so much to his patients, the community and yet has time for his family. He takes pride in the fact that his two grown children, age 20 and 23 years continue to "hang out" with him and they often go on family holidays together. Someone like Ibrahim, with such a big heart for others, certainly deserves to be happy, and he is!

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Nurse Manager, Mount Elizabeth Hospital

Siok Peng had always been the caregiver in her family. She was the older sister who took care of her siblings and when she became a mother, she had her own children to care for. She initially took up a course in nursing as she felt it would help her personally, in terms of her role as a caregiver. Eventually, when Siok Peng had to decide on her profession, nursing was a natural first choice.

Siok Peng describes each day as a nurse as a refreshing experience. She is greeted with something new everyday – new patients, new cases. She also loves the continuous learning and training opportunities that her job provides. "Ongoing education is integral in our job as we have to constantly upgrade ourselves and acquire new skills and knowledge."

In keeping with this belief, Siok Peng took up an advanced diploma course in healthcare education sponsored by ParkwayHealth. With this, she is now equipped to provide clinical training to other nurses, an additional responsibility over and above caring for her patients in the day surgery wards of Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

But being there for her patients continues to be Siok Peng’s first love. Apart from all the specialized skills and knowledge that she has accumulated over the years, Siok Peng still believes that the fundamentals of nursing, which is to care for her patients, are still the most important. She adds, "Just holding a patient’s hand before an operation, providing them with words of assurance or just being that familiar face for them throughout the whole process can make a big difference."

In fact, Siok Peng witnessed the therapeutic power of touch in a simple incident which she will remember for years. She was with a patient who was going for an abortion. She didn’t know what to say, so instead, she just held the patient’s hand for 30 minutes before the operation. That calmed the patient down and helped her go through the entire procedure. "There are many things that patients can learn from surfing the Internet, but it’s just not the same. They still have many questions and concerns and it’s important to provide that human interaction and be there for them."

10 years on and Siok Peng continues to be as passionate and enthusiastic as she was the first day she became a nurse. She strives each day to look out for the best interests of her patients and their safety. She has a zest for life and even finds time to take up ballroom dancing with her husband in their free time, despite having two young children.

Siok Peng concludes that the basic attribute of a nurse is being "someone who simply loves people and is compassionate."

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Midwife, Gleneagles Hospital

A veteran midwife with 50 years of experience, Teresa Jodhi has assisted in the delivery of thousands of babies throughout her career.  "I can’t remember the exact number of babies I have delivered as there have been so many cases! What I remember vividly are the joyous moments each time a newborn enters this world. This is the greatest reward of my job."
Teresa started her midwifery career in the 1950’s. She had witnessed and experienced the post-World War II baby boom period in Singapore, during which Kandang Kerbau Hospital (where she was working at the time) handled as many as 100 to 200 new deliveries a day. She recalled the shortage of beds in the labour wards, "Because we did not have sufficient beds to accommodate everyone, some mothers were asked to wait for their turn. It was a tough time."

To mitigate the shortage of hospital resources, only first-time mothers were encouraged to deliver at the hospitals, while midwives were usually sent to respective homes to help mothers with their second or third deliveries. Teresa handled many cases of home deliveries. "Helping to deliver a child at home was very challenging as you had to handle the delivery alone. There were no doctors or assistants around to help. If there were unexpected complications such as breech deliveries or deliveries of twins, you had to be able to handle it on your own. Moreover, there was no high-tech equipment that we could rely on in the olden days. A lot of times we depended on our own experience and judgment. That made the job both challenging and rewarding at the same time."

Given their unique skills and capabilities, nurses and midwives were highly respected and sought after at the time. Teresa was even tasked to train young and newly-graduated doctors. It is evident that Teresa made a lasting impact on their lives. Just walking around the labour ward, Teresa is often greeted with warm smiles and friendly remarks from even the most senior doctors and consultants, many of whom have trained under her at some point in their profession.

Today, at the age of 73, Teresa is currently a midwife at Gleneagles Hospital, a position which she has held since 1989. She applied for this job after she "retired" from KK Hospital in 1986 because she wanted to continue contributing to society. "I have always loved working in the labour ward and I am grateful that Parkway has given me this opportunity to continue helping mothers and their babies."

Teresa acknowledges that it is a challenge for her to constantly keep up with the latest medical technology or knowledge.  Nonetheless, she is not daunted and continues to put in her best in keeping up with the times and refreshing her skills.

When asked about retirement, Teresa said with a smile, "As long as I am physically fit, I will continue to stay in this job."

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