Dental professionals pushing a trolley-load of medical supplies, eager to start serving the elderly patients with their professional skills and bright smiles. Photo by Chan May Ching
Dental syringes, needles, probes, scrapers and mirrors, tooth extraction pliers…… These are all essential tools of the trade for dentists to treat their patients. Following its first dental visit to the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home in June this year, TIMA Singapore’s dental team conducted its fourth dental outreach at the Home on 28th October.
As this was not the usual dental service provided by a general dental clinic, there were elaborate preparations for the complex treatment scenarios involved. Everything, including the varied dental equipment and medications, had to be prepared and packed beforehand prior to the outreach. A major challenge was ensuring that all the required equipment and medications were readily available to the dental professionals for their treatment needs in the mobile clinic setting.
Jennifer Ee, a seasoned dental assistant and Tzu Chi commissioner, commented, “We have to bring our own equipment to the Old Age Home from the Tzu Chi Free Clinic, thus the equipment has to ‘follow’ us along.”
A TIMA member busies herself with preparing dental treatment materials in a small room at the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home. Photo by Chan May Ching
The TIMA dental team provides dental services, such as tooth filling, extraction and oral examination, to the old folks at the Old Age Home. Photo by Chan May Ching
However, not all the equipment was brought from the Tzu Chi Free Clinic. The management of the Old Age Home has kindly provided a small room within the premises, for TIMA to temporarily store some dental treatment materials and medications. In each dental visit, the dental team would arrive an hour earlier to sort the materials according to the treatments needed, such as tooth extraction, tooth cleaning, filling, etc., before placing the sorted items into a trolley. The trolley would then go with the dental team into the wards at the nursing home, to provide essential dental services to the infirm elderly who were bedridden.
This trolley with many shelves bears a “heavy responsibility”, serving as a handy little helper to the dental team. Photo by Pang Lun Peng
Used dentistry equipment must be thoroughly cleaned within the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, before they are brought back to the Tzu Chi Free Clinic for disinfection. Photo by Chan May Ching
With this being the fourth dental visit, there was an added layer of complications compared with previous occasions. Jennifer shared that in the three previous dental visits, the team only served the patients in one ward at a time. If an earlier visit was to Ward A, the following visit would be to Ward B and so on. In this particular visit, however, the patients were spread over different wards. Thus, the accompanying Tzu Chi volunteers had to act promptly on the requests of the medical professionals, and shuttle between three wards to deliver the required items.
This visit involved a total of six dentists and their respective dental assistants, as well as 13 Tzu Chi volunteers. The team treated a total of 25 elderly residents. Li Ying Jia, a TIMA member, shared that things were a bit messy during their first dental visit. It was only later that everyone gradually began to familiarize themselves with the procedures and process, with tacit understanding between one another. The subsequent visits were comparatively smoother with the division of labour within the team.
Ms Li, who had taken part in each of the dental outreaches, said modestly, “I have personally benefited much from serving the elderly. I personally witnessed the careful patience of the doctors, in gently coaxing some of the elderly patients who had difficulty opening their jaws to slowly open their tight jaws, so that they could examine their oral cavities and resolve their dental issues.”
TIMA member Li Ying Jia (middle) and her teammates busy preparing the dental equipment and supplies before the start of the dental treatments. Photo by Chan May Ching
Echoes of Nostalgic Songs Fill the Air In the Wards
As the familiar tune and lyrics of a Hokkien hit song from the 70s echoed through the ward, the once austere space was suddenly filled with a lively atmosphere and joyful laughter.
“What song do you want to sing?”
“Can you sing in Cantonese?”
Some volunteers with iPADs, mobile speakers and microphones had migically “transformed” the ward into a lively KTV room and solicited song requests from the elderly residents. Some of the elderly residents started singing to the music, while others quietly listened along. The lively atmosphere even inspired some of the home’s nursing staff to hum along to the tunes or clap along with the music.
The lively music and singing by the Tzu Chi team brought much cheer to the elderly residents in the nursing home and gave them temporary respite from their illnesses. Photo by Chan May Ching
“Sickness and death are inevitable, so we can only gladly accept them as facts of life,” Tzu Chi volunteer Tang Boon Chong, who took time out of his tight schedule to sing for the elderly, said stoically.
Even though he had to face a grueling Traditional Chinese Medicine exam after the completion of the activity, yet upon receiving an invitation from fellow volunteer, Jennifer, to take part in the dental outreach, he agreed without hesitation.
He shared further: “From the life experiences of others (the elderly patients), we know that this is a necessary path in life -- we will all grow old one day. What shall we do in our old age? We can learn to count our blessings through witnessing others’ suffering; this is the best lesson we have received through our efforts.”
Dr. Eugene Tang, the head of the dental team, said that in previous dental visits to the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, volunteers gave the feedback that they could bring some entertainment to the elderly. Thus, the team decided to inject a singing segment into the activities planned. Dr. Tang felt that such an arrangement was like an icing on the cake, and the team had truly livened up the home’s atmosphere.
Smilingly warmly, he added, “One of the elderly patients teared up when he was listening to a song while another started singing. He sang not just one song, but two.”
Dental team leader Dr. Eugene Tang (left) commented that as the doctors could not divert their attention to the elderly patients’ limbs during treatments, they had to depend on the aid of volunteers, to hold and comfort the elderly by their bedsides. Photo by Chan May Ching
A strong fragrance of love and warmth filled the air at the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home throughout the warm and humid afternoon. From the gradually weakening bodies of the frail elderly patients, the volunteers not only came to a deeper realisation of the impermanence of life, but also personally experienced the truth of this saying: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”, through their participation in the dental outreach.
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