By Ryan Chan
A role model, teacher and mentor, Harbhajan Singh is still going strong at 74 years old (young).
He is one of the workers who has enjoyed reemployment as part of the Labour Movement’s push for companies and organisations like Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) to continue employing mature workers beyond the current reemployment age of 65.
TTSH, which is unionised under the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU), has a 97 percent reemployment rate and productivity initiatives in place to promote work longevity.
With the hospital for over half a century (that’s 56 years in total!), Mr Singh, a Nursing Service Administration Officer, has been through major crises like the tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in the 1960s and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003.
Experience And Knowledge
Mr Singh understands the demands of the job better than anyone else. In his own words, experience is something that cannot be bought, and his younger peers look upon him as one that can ably provide guidance and advice to them.
Young nurses have very deep knowledge of their job, but two things that experience has helped to serve patients better are patience and communication, he shared.
“If I am a patient, I would want to know what is happening to me: my diagnosis, treatment and follow-ups. As nurses, we have to help them understand and put their fears at ease. The human touch is after all always a better cure than all the treatment in the world,” he said.
A Changing Industry
Medical advances in technology have led to better treatment for patients and increased productivity for nurses and doctors, things that Mr Singh has had to adapt and learn on the job.
For example, nurses no longer need to regularly monitor the temperatures of in-ward patients who require monitoring. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to a patient’s groin now does the job for them, alerting nurses if temperatures get too high.
“I initially came in with zero experience and knowledge of computers. I used to take 10 to 20 minutes typing something out, but you improve with practice. Today I’m just as well versed as the younger ones in Microsoft Word, Excel and other software programmes,” he said.
For Mr Singh, learning is lifelong, and feels that one must be open-minded and self-aware to what they can learn every day.
“Hard work is the key to learning. Never be afraid to ask or seek help if there are certain things you don’t know. Help is always available, you need only ask,” he said.
The Driving Factor
Mr Singh believes that while he is still healthy, he can still be productive and share his knowledge and experiences with his younger peers.
As for how he continues to keep going each day, he offers these words of wisdom:
“Working helps you stay physically mentally fit. Walking about and having a purpose each day helps you with that. We also have to keep learning. While we may be able to impart our knowledge on the younger folks, we can also learn plenty from them,” he said.
Source: NTUC This Week
