Nurses go extra mile for patients in their final lap
TTSH nurses get award for going beyond call of duty for patients in palliative care
A cancer patient in palliative care told Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) nurses that her final wish was to see her second daughter getting engaged.
But she was bedridden and too sick to attend the engagement.
So the nurses invited her daughter to hold the ceremony in a hospital conference room that they had decorated.
Recalling the case, assistant nurse clinician, Yang Xiuyu, 36, told The New Paper: "We dressed her up, helped her with her make-up. Even nurses who were not on duty came to help out."
Touched by the nurses' gesture, the family gave them a painting of flowers, which still hangs on a wall covered with thank-you cards and artwork from other grateful patients and their loved ones.
For going the extra mile for their patients, the team of six nurses in TTSH's Ward 83, which caters to patients needing palliative care, received the Distinguished Star Service Team award at the Public Sector Transformation Awards 2018 ceremony yesterday.
The recipients were quick to emphasise that it was a team effort.
Advanced practice nurse Chia Gerk Sin, 31, said: "Here we work as a team. No one sole person is responsible for a patient."
Palliative care, which improves the quality of life for terminally ill patients, demands a lot from the nurses, both physically and emotionally.
The patients in Ward 83 are often unable to do basic tasks like feeding themselves, and it can take a nurse an hour just to feed one patient.
Yet none of the nurses in the 13-bed ward would contemplate the idea of working elsewhere.
One of the award recipients, senior staff nurse, Maricel Erasmo, 33, said: "Besides tending to their basic needs, we are also sources of emotional, social and even spiritual support.
"Because the same patients are often in and out of the ward and spend a lot of time with us, we develop a personal relationship with them."
Ms Erasmo, who has been with TTSH for 10 years, said: "Though it is hard to deal with the emotional roller coaster of treating these patients, seeing even the slightest relief on their faces makes it worthwhile."
Ms Yang said she is driven by the personal relationships she develops with the patients, despite having to deal with the pain and sorrow when they die.
"Here, we treat them not as patients but as people, and try our best to make their final journey meaningful."
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