A Walk To Remember...

By Hong Choon Chiet

Eusoff Hall resident, 4th-year, Medicine

Exchanging his stethoscope for a headphone

It is a difficult task to pen one’s thoughts about life and even more so for the lamentably short years one spends in NUS. For medical students such as myself, life in NUS seems to revolve around endless medical postings to hospitals and exams after each posting. Life can be a little bleak for us medical types but as soon as I find myself descending into self-pity, there is inevitably a knock on my dorm room door – a neighbour standing before me with a packet of tehpeng from Fong Seng. With a pat on the back for encouragement, he would leave me to find my way through my work.

This simple act of kindness prompted me to think about the other part of my life; one that I started three years ago in Eusoff Hall. It is not just a hall of residence for me. Clichéd as it sounds, it is my HOME away from home -- my family in Singapore. Being an international student, I came to NUS without any expectations but with a real fear of not being able to fit in.

Supper at Eusoff B Block, a joyous affair.

This fear was allayed when I was met with warm smiles and friendly handshakes at Eusoff Hall. Slowly but surely these handshakes have become very solid friendships. There are simple moments from shared meals to the evening basketball games as well as conversations in the corridors of Eusoff’s B Block. These are the people and the memories I will always treasure and cherish.

NUS has given me the opportunity to study medicine – my passion. Eusoff Hall has helped me to become a better person and hopefully, one day, a better doctor. It is here in the Hall that I have become more involved than I could have ever imagined. There are a few things that are particularly close to my heart in Eusoff Hall. The Eusoff Voluntary Corps (EVC) is one of them. EVC is an umbrella organisation for several social service initiatives performed by the Hall. These include providing tuition and friendship to the children at The Haven, Salvation Army; helping disabled communities at MINDS Clementi, and the Elderly Service, which takes care of 28 eight elderly in the Chinatown area. Over the last three years, I have been a part of the Elderly Service alongside my wonderful hall mates. Every Saturday, even during the school holidays, we visit the elderly folks in our care at Chin Swee Road. There are small gestures of friendship like bringing them a weekly meal, sitting and talking with them and helping them with household chores that bring some small comfort to their lives. Many of them have no next-of-kin or have no one to care for them. Many live alone, and these visits bring some cheer to the people around us.

Mid Autumn celebration with the elderly.

During my time as Head of the Elderly Service in 2007, I was deeply affected by the death of two of our elderly persons. Securing funding from Eusoff Hall, we launched a Health Management Program for the Elderly to enhance the welfare and quality of life for these old folks. What frustrated me more than anything was the fact that many of these old folks were not even aware of their often serioushealth problems. Despite exhibiting symptoms ranging from severe arthritis to unchecked diabetes mellitus, these elderly folks simply did not have the financial or physical capabilities to seek treatment. With the experience gained from the annual Public Health Screening organized by the NUS Medical Society, I initiated a Health Management Program which identifies basic risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood glucose and BMI which could predispose the elderly to chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart diseases and stroke. We purchased equipments like sphygmomanometers, glucometers and weighing machines to facilitate the screening programme.

I am thankful that through this programme, we discovered diabetes in two elderly folks and brought them to the polyclinic to receive proper treatment. We have also successfully provided treatment options for an osteoarthritic lady within the group, arranged checkups, scans and planned for a cataract surgery for an elderly man who suffers from a displaced lens and cataract in both eyes. We also managed to enroll two elderly persons into the public welfare scheme so that any medical fees are waived whenever they need medical attention.We were genuinely surprised to have received the National University of Singapore Student Achievement Award on the 29 October 2007, thanks in no small part to our nomination by our supportive Hall.

Hall life has also given me a chance to fulfil one of my childhood dreams - manipulating sound through mixing consoles. It was by a stroke of luck that Eusoff Hall has a very comprehensive and elaborate audio system capable for indoor and outdoor sound support under Audio Works. I have learnt a lot from my seniors and now able to do a variety of sound setups which involve planning, installing speakers, and sound mixing during a show. Audio mixing has taught me a lot of applicable life skills such as communication skills, events management and technical skills. It has also given me many fond memories with my fellow team mates that will forever be etched in my heart. One of those memories that I would like to share is the production of my block’s winning talent time performance. I would like to share them with you:

• B Block Talentime Ver3
• Talent Crime 0809 - B Block EuTube

Receiving the NUS Student Achievement Award in 2007.

Despite a tight schedule and endless exams, I love medicine and I cannot imagine having any other career. I aspire to achieve intellectual enrichment and use this knowledge to help those in need. However, it is definitely hard to juggle my priorities namely my passion in medicine, volunteering and audio mixing. There are times when I feel down, tired and exhausted from a long day in hospital and still having to attend to my responsibilities as Head of Audio Works and volunteering. Amidst all these, I still find the will to smile because of the never-ending encouragement given to me by fellow hall mates and Dr Mark Emmanuel, a Resident Fellow at Eusoff and a History professor at NUS, who has been ever present in EVC since his induction into the hall two years ago. He is always willing to share with me his life experiences, words of wisdom during dinners at his house with my fellow students. A coffee session with him fills me up with not just caffeine but strength to move forward in this hectic lifestyle.

My journey in NUS would have never been as fulfilling as it is now without this group of beautiful people I am living with. I am truly blessed, and for that I am eternally thankful and humbled.

With all these blessings, Life in NUS? I’d say bring it on!