3rd I-Care session of the year 2006

PROJECT I-CARE -- VILLA FRANCIS HOME FOR THE AGED
SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2006

After almost 4 months since the last I-Care session held at SWAMI, we visited Villa Francis yesterday for our 3rd I-Care session for the year. This was the home where Project I-Care was first launched on 19 October 2003. The launch was graced by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. This is the plaque which was presented to the home at that time.

The location of Villa Francis isn't exactly friendly to our volunteers who took public transport. So we got IPP Dalon to ferry our volunteers in the SWA van from the nearest MRT station to the home, after unloading the equipment from it.

By 8.35am, we had most of the volunteers in the home, seated and munching on their breakfast. This time, we had honor of having the company of Rotaractors from Malacca; DRRE Dr Dharmindra, and from Indonesia; IPP Juedi Putri. A few other volunteers were guests of our members. The North West CDC volunteers comprised of regulars as well as new faces which was encouraging. The newbies were also given I-Care T-shirts to change into.

At about 8.50am, Sinti and I gathered the volunteers in the dining hall to brief them on the eye screening process, what to expect and things to look out for. Dr Allan Fong briefed them further on the extra care that should be taken when handling the residents. He then led them into the Therapy room where the screening was to be held. Anny took over briefing the volunteers on the flow of the process and also, gave a refresher's course for volunteers who have experience on the Visual Acuity test at previous I-Care sessions.

Anny briefing the volunteers

As the briefing was being carried out, the nurses had already lined up some of the residents for the eye screening. The moment our volunteers and doctors took their places, the eye screening session began. We had 47 residents to screen. Initially, as observed in all sessions, things were a little slow. This is because the volunteers were familiarizing themselves with the process at the various stations and getting into the momentum. Soon enough they got the hang of things and were more efficient.

Here, some pictures of our volunteers at work...

We were later joined by our Rotarians who volunteered, namely - Felix, Manjeet, Lorinda and her friend. Mr Sam Fong, who visited us at our 1st I-Care session at Christalite earlier this year, came to visit us this time. He stayed on till the end. Dr Lim Wee Kiak too came by and offered his services to the residents there. A few of us managed to spend some time chatting with him.

Dr Lim applying eye drops for one of the residents

The management and staff of the home were very warm and made us feel at home during our time there. They responded to our requests efficiently. The cook also came with a trolley to offer us cold packet drinks towards the end of the session. She asked if she could have her eyes screened while we were still there. Some of the nurses there too had they eyes screened.

At about 11.15am, we closed the eye screening session and called all volunteers to pose for a group photo prior to dismissal.

To our surprise, the cook and Matron of the home prepared and welcomed us a simple yet sumptuous lunch.

Here, I would like to thank each and every one of you volunteers from Rotary, Rotaract, CDC, Anny, Wendy and Lilian SWA and the doctors; Drs Jocelyn Chua, Jean Chai and Desmond Kwek. Special thanks to Sinti for coordinating the admin stuff and for ordering our breakfast and preparing our name tags. Last but not least, Villa Francis for welcoming us with open arms!

There were interesting moments related by the volunteers, and I will have them posted in a separate entry. So do look out for that! :) Do also keep a look out for 1-2 liners by volunteers on their experience.

If you feel that 1-2 lines are too little to share, please do email me your stories and I will post them up here for all to read.

I am contactable at duteam@gmail.com

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all!! :) Without you, Project I-Care wouldn't be a such a success! :)

Yours-in-Rotaract,

Amanda Quek
Community Service Director 06/07
RAC North West

"Don't turn a blind eye to saving vision!"