NUH - Hospital of Choice?

OK I know I was a pioneer of the hospital ( Employee #2; I even kept the badge after I quit) but having admitted my mum there three times over the last 4 months I think the hospital has somehow "matured" into something very different from what we planned it to be 25 years ago. The systems really need to be looked at. I'm talking about both the nursing and non-nursing aspects of running the hospital. The waiting outside the A&E is something that has to be addressed. Family members wait outside the A&E while the patient is attended to inside. The Hospital does not allow anyone to accompany the patient unless the patient is a child then one person can accompany the patient into the A&E. So the family waits outside sometimes for hours, not knowing what's happening to the patient inside. The waiting area is a sham. A row of uncomfortable plastic chairs line the walls outside the A&E. After the doctor decides that the patient needs to be warded it takes hours for the patient to be wheeled up to the ward.
Nowadays the patient's medical record is accessible no matter which hospital he is warded in. Thats all very nice however its based on the last hospital visit so if the person was last warded 2 years ago he wil be treated as of the last record. Let me explain. Based on my mother's medical record she was warded last year for a stroke so she was put on a low salt blended diet so thats what she was given wen she was first admitted. We had to tell them to take her off that diet because that was one year ago and she has since gone back to a normal diet.
My aunt was warded 2 weeks ago. She had neurosurgery done and was in the high dependency ward. After 5 days the doctor said she could be transferred to the general ward however there were no single rooms aailable in the general wards so she had to remain in Ward 25. I called a few days later to find out if she had been moved. The person who took my call asked me for her identity card number which I obviously did not have so I gave her my aunt's full name both married and maiden name. After a few minutes , she came back on the line and asked me for my aunt's address because there were several patients with the same name. I doubt this very much because my aunt does not have a very common chinese name ( Irene Wee Hee Niong - well , you decideif that's a common name ) . Anyway after giving her my aunt's address she was still not able to trace my aunt and said that there was no such patient; this was inspite of me giving her my aunt's ward and room number ( Ward 25, Room 4 ). As it turned out my aunt was still in that ward and room!!
I am lucky that I still have friends who work at NUH so I have the luxury of calling them whenever I hit a brickwall with the system or if I want to go around the system. What about all the rest of the majority of patients who don;t have any strings to pull at NUH? They are at the mercy of a system that is full of faults. These are only a couple of examples of "breakdowns" in the system which I encountered; there are so many more which would take many more pages if I was to write them all down......the horrific parking situation, the terrible location for the foodcourt at the Kent Ridge Wing, the rude nurses etc
BUT we did encounter some exceptional nurses like Anne in Ward 76 and Zoo in Ward 78; Assistant Directors ( Nursing ) Mabel and Mona and Doctors Koh and Sun and some wonderful cleaners like Joyce ( Ward 76) . SO will I go back to NUH ? probably; only because I know people there and its the closest hospital to us . Would I recommend it to someone else ? Probably not.

Crock Pot Beef Stew / Soup

Ingredients
2 lbs of beef brisket ( stewing beef ) cut into cubes
( This can be replaced with ox tail – about 6-8 large pieces )
1 carrot diced
2-3 potatoes diced ( not too small or they will disintegrate in the crock pot )
1 stick of celery diced ( optional – I don’t like celery in this because it has too strong a flavour )
1 onion diced
1 can of button mushrooms cut into halves
2 cloves
Handful of black peppercorns
2 beef buillon cubes
Dash of soy sauce
Salt to taste

Method
Place all ingredients in the crock pot and add enough water to cover it all. Add half a cup of corn starch mixed with cold water if you like it more of a stew consistency rather than a soup. Cook for 10 – 12 hours ; the meat gets more tender the longer you cook it.
* If you an get your hands on a couple of beef bones , throw it into the crock pot; it adds flavour to the stock.

Complaining

I was really upset when I was recently told that I was a complainer. Wow! that home truth really hurt. I never saw myself as a complainer. I only do it when things do not go the way they're supposed to. Take my mother's recent hospital stay as an example. My mum had to be fed her supplement by Ryle's tube. On the second day, she vomited right aftr her feed so I ran out to call the staff nurse who immediately screamed at me " What have you all been feeding her?" Excuse me! I asked her to look around the room to see if there was an food there. anyway after a couple more instances of rudeness I wrote an e-mail to the Director of Communications & Patient Relations. The next day , the nurse noticed that my mum's feet were swollen due to water retention so she said she would tell the doctor about it. One hour later there was a knock on the door and this intern who looked all of 15 years old, pops in and says, " So whats the problem? What are you all complaining about now? " Excuse me!! I was starting to see a trend here...........
I was too stunned by her remark to have a quick retort but my cousin who was in the room asked the houseman in her most sacarstic voice " Are you having a bad day , doctor?"So complaint e-mail #2 was sent that aftenoon.
A couple of days after that I got some feedback from a friend working in the hospital that I had gotten a "reputation" for being a complainer.............wow! I was so hurt since that remark came from an ex-colleague working in the hospital and she said she heard it from another ex-colleague who did not want to come see me because of that!!
Was it wrong of me to have complained about those incidences of rudeness and bad service? I really don;t think so. I think they felt that since I was an ex-staff f the hospital I should have been more forgiving and let things slide. I think as an ex-staff ( a member of the pioneer team that set up the hospital) I have an even bigger responsibility of pointing out things that are not working. Singaporeans have always been accused as being a population of complainers and I really don;t want to be one and then again if we don't say anything we're accused of being an apathetic lot........you just can;t win!

Waiting for Death & letting Go..........

Have you ever sat at the bedside of a loved one who was dying? I have; several times. I asked myself on all those occasions that if I was the one in that bed , who'd be sitting by my side keeping virgil ? Will there be someone there holding my hand or stroking my brow telling me everything is alright or will I be all alone and wondering where I am and why no one is doing anything about my pain and lonliness. That thought scares me. When Bill was first diagnosed with cancer he told me that his biggest fear was dying alone. I gave him my assurance that I would be there holding him when he passed on the the other side. I kept that promise and he died in my arms. I have told everyone that I would not want to lie in bed hooked up to any machine that was keeping me alive. No life support for me. which also means no resuscitation if I should get a heart attack. I believe in euthanasia. I think one should not be allowed to suffer in the last days or hours of one's life. Its so much more dignified to go out on a morphine high or even in a deep deep sleep with sleeping pills. I always jokingly tell my friends to leave the bottle of sleeping pills next to me and tell me that they're M&Ms. As I sit here and watch the nurses clean my mother I wonder about the indiginity of having someone clean up after you. How terrible it must feel when you;re told "just go in your diapers and we'll clean you up afterthat!" Bill resisted letting me clean him until I told him I really did not mind it at all afterall I had cleaned both my God children when they were babies. It must be so hard to let go of control of your most personal functions. I only hope I have someone I know and trust to let it go to when the time comes.

Lending and Borrowing $

You’ve been doing a lot of changes to improve your financial health. You’re proud of your accomplishments and your friends could tell that you’re doing well. Then one day, a friend confides that he’s been having money problems and hopes that you could help him by lending him some cash. What do you do? Do you immediately dig into your pocket and help your friend? Or do you simply keep quiet and pretend you didn’t hear anything and change the topic of the conversation?
It takes a special bond among friends before they could comfortably talk and be open about each other’s financial problems. If you find yourself in this situation with someone you barely know (which I’ve seen happen), then the best advise is to simply say, “I’m sorry, but as a rule, I don’t lend money to friends.” This statement is straightforward and gives your message without attacking the character of the person.
But how about those friends you’ve known for years? Do you treat them the same way or do you give in to their request for the sake of friendship? You say to yourself, “Friendship is more important than money; it takes time to gain friends but money, you can easily earn with your income.” I believe that this is true, but I also believe that in most cases, allowing them to borrow your money is not the best way to help your friend. So how do you know when it’s best to lend out your cash? And how will it affect your personal finances?
When a friend wants to borrow money from you, ask where it’s gonna be used. Be serious with the question but genuinely show concern over his financial troubles. You want to get the most honest possible answer. After he relates his situation, it’s best to say that you would have to consult your budget if you can afford to lend him the amount he needs. Wait it out for at least two or three days. This will give your friend time to look for other ways to get the money while you try to learn more about his situation from other friends and his family.
Your first judgment call is to decide if your friend deserves the loan. The harsh truth is that sometimes, the money is simply being used to fuel an addiction. This does not necessarily mean illegal drugs but more often a frivolous obsession like keeping up with fads or maintaining a hobby that’s too expensive for him. If you find your friend complaining about his financial woes while he’s drinking a Starbucks frapuccino, then there’s definitely something wrong there.
Special situations involve medical emergencies and business proposals. With the first case, I know that it’s really hard to refuse when the life of a person is involved, but immediately giving in to the request is like buying on impulse. There could have been a cheaper alternative or the situation was not really serious in the first place. So it pays to take stock of the situation and know you and your friend’s options first.
When a friend is asking money from you to start or expand a business, then you would have to clarify if he’s asking you for a loan or he’s inviting you to be an investor. The first one, you’re expected to be paid back but the second one, you’ll be sharing in the company’s profits instead. This situation calls for more extensive evaluation specially if you’re being asked to be an investor. In general, the fastest way to give a judgment call whether your friend deserves the loan or not is to examine his entrepreneurial skills. Does he have what it takes to make this business successful? Did he do extensive studies and carefully planned out this venture? If the answers are yes, then I think that it’s worth giving your friend more attention and consider a business partnership.
If your friend has valid and acceptable reasons for borrowing money, then your next judgment call is to determine if you can afford it or not. If you don’t have a working budget for your expenses. Then I suggest that you make one before you lend out your money. By having a clear picture of your own financial situation, you do not risk having money problems of your own in the end. It’s best to take out this expense from your entertainment budget. Be sure on the amount you could afford to give, this is more important than how much your friend really needs. In the end, no matter the amount you gave, a true friend will deeply appreciate the sacrifice.
Before you say YESAre you ready to give the money to your friend? I suggest that you ask yourself first some questions. First, can you picture what would happen if your friend doesn’t pay you back? How will that affect and change the relationship? Could you live with the possible consequences? If he comes back to you to borrow more money which you could no longer afford to give, are you prepared to say “no” this time?
Congratulations, you just prepared yourself for the worst case scenario. If you cannot find resolve with the previous questions, then I suggest that you reconsider your decision and perhaps try to help your friend through another way. It may also help to be honest and open with your friend and ask how exactly is he planning to pay you back. Where will he get the money? Will he be paying through installment or as lump sum? What will be the payment schedule?
When the amount is considerably big, it’s best to get everything in writing. A lot of people get “amnesia” whenever they borrow money. It’s not rude to ask for a collateral or ask them to issue post-dated checks. Specially if this is a business transaction, it is necessary to get all legal documents ready to avoid future conflicts in the partnership. In the end, when everything goes well, you can use that contract as a testament to your genuine friendship.
If you have to say NOI think that it would be far worse to hound your friend for the money than it would be to say NO from the start. Make your friend understand your situation and explain to him your own financial goals. If you think that your friend’s reasons for the loan is capricious and unfounded, then try to help him understand this. Be calm, diplomatic and most importantly, offer to help in another way such as teaching him how to properly track his expenses so he won’t run out of money regularly. Both of you could also explore possible income opportunities to augment your earnings.
It takes much character to resist the temptation of giving in to unreasonable monetary requests from friends. Be firm with your decision and believe that a true friend will not hold it against you if you choose to keep your money to yourself.

WHY?

I just got back from visiting a friend's son in hospital. The 20-something suffers from a muscle disorder that affects his walking , breathing and every motor skill that requires the use of muscles. The disease is hereditary and his father died of it at the age of 50 five years ago. The last time I saw Charles was when he and his mum visited my mum in hospital in August last year. He was fine then but was diagnosed with the disease a month later. From that point on it was down hill all the way. So one year later, he's lying in hospital hooked up to a machine which basically breathes for him. His mother Jo is half her already skinny self, from worry. She worries about her other son. I wonder how someone can go thru life with so many burdens. How resilient is the human spirit? How much can one take before breaking down? I'm not sure if I can go thru the emotional and physical roller coaster Jo is on. So I ask myself why does someone like Jo who seems the most Christian and good person have to go thru such difficult hardships in life ? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in all this? If he has a purpose for making good people suffer , what is it? He gave Charles intelligence ( he was an A star scholarship holder ) who went into teaching after he completed his studies in England. So what was that for? Harold Kushner writes in his book " Why do bad things happen to good people" that God doesn;t make bad things happen to people . Bad things just happen. God's presence is felt in the way one copes with the "bad" situation. Even then I question why some people seem to be given more than their fair share of bad situations in their life and others seem to sail thru life without a care in the world. I know life was not meant to be fair. Were these people really so bad in a previous life that they now have to "deal" with all this hardship in this life? So religion expects blind faith. Even with so much bad happening in your life , one is supposed to trust that it will all come out good. How does that work? How many times have I heard this at wakes...." he's gone to a better place"......really? how do you know? Because the bible tells you so ?........the bible is a collection of short stories passed down by word of mouth from one person to another until some people decided to write it down. It was also the decision of one person / organization who decided which stories were to be included and which were to be excluded. OK I digress.....getting back to the hardships some people face. So there must be some purpose to all this. There must be a reason why some people seem to attact more sorrow than others. I really wish I knew the answer to this. My only prayer is that I don;t find myself in a position to start asking the question " why me?"

It Happened Again - Its whom you know in Singapore , that counts

My mum fell in the shower on Sunday morning and because she had a cut on her forehead I decided to call the ambulance. She arrived at the National University Hospital at 8.30am. Because of the H1N1 virus scare we were not allowed to be with her as they wheeled her into the A&E; so we had to wait outside as they tended to her inside. I tried to recall whom I knew who still worked at the hospital with me 25 years ago when a team of less than 20 people worked their butts off trying to meet a seemingly impossible deadline of opening the first privatized hospital in Singapore in 6 months under the able leadership of Mr. Khaw Boon Wan ( the Health Minister) who was then the CEO of NUH. I was not going to all anyone up for "help" because again I had faith that the systems and processes would be in place to make things move and work efficiently afterall they have been in business for over 20 years now. I could not have been more wrong......... After 2 hours of waiting and not knowing what was happening to my mum inside I decided to ask a very nicely dressed gentleman standing at the entrance of the A&E , clipboard in hand and looking very officious, what was happening. I asked him if he was the A&E Supervisor and in a very unsure voice he said " sort of "..............ok ; I told myself this was going to be a long day........ anyway, I told him my mother was inside and we had arrived by ambulance 2 hours ago and I was worried about not knowing what was happening to her; he said he would check and returned immediately to say that she was lying comfortably waiting to see the doctor. So 2 hours had lapsed and she still had not seen the doctor. Another hour went by and nothing happened so I asked the nice man what was happening and he went in the check again. This time he said my mother would be the next patient to see the doctor. The next person we spoke to was the doctor who came out to explain to us that he would be running some tests and that it would be a couple of hours before he got the results. He also said that there was a high liklihood that my mother would be hospitalized for observation. So my question at this point was, if my mother was to be hospitalized anyway whydid they need to wait for the results before she was even assigned a room? At 12-something a clerk came out to infom us that they had assigned a room for my mother and I went to do the necessary for the admission . I was told that the room was however not ready as the person occupying it had not left yet and the room needed to be cleaned; that would take a couple of hours. The clerk advised that we should go for lunch first. I told her to make sure my mother had something to eat as her last meal was breakfast at 7am. We came back from lunch at 1.30pm and waited till 4pm. I asked if the room was ready and the clerk said we could go to the ward to wait for my mother. She arrived at the room at 4.30pm, 8 hours since arriving by ambulance at 8.30am!!! I called a friend, who is a Head of one of the Departments at NUH the next day and told him that my mother was warded in the hospital. He met me later that day and I told him everything that had transpired. My mother happened to be having a brain scan when he arrived. My friend was the Head of the X-ray Department when we were colleagues in 1985 so we took a walk to the Department as my mother had been gone for over an hour. We found my mother lying on a trolly, in a corridor, in the X-ray department. Her pyjamas were soaked with saline solution and some sticky fluid they had spilled on her when they were doing the scan. She had been lying there for the last half hour waiting for someone to push her back to the ward. It as not a pretty sight. Within 3 minutes of my friend speaking to the department supervisor, my mother was being wheeled back to the ward. He then brought me to see the chief Radiologist , an ex-colleague too who personally read my mother's scan and explained the results to me. I am hoping my mother will be discharged today. If not, I have my friend's cellphone number...........
SO the moral of the story is.........if you have any strings in Singapore; pull it or you will be at the mercy of the system !!

Natural cleaners

Rice
Use it to: Clean the inside of a vase or a thin-necked bottle. Fill three quarters of the vessel with warm water and add a tablespoon of uncooked rice. Cup your hand over the opening, shake vigorously, and rinse.
White Bread and Ketchup
Use white bread to: Dust an oil painting. Gently dab a slice of white bread over the surface to pick up dirt and grime.
Use ketchup to: Remove tarnish from copper and brass cookware. Squeeze ketchup onto a cloth and rub it on pots and pans. They should go back to their coppery color in minutes. Rinse with warm water and dry with a towel.

Kenny Chan from Malacca & Babi Pongteh Recipe

It was only recently that I discovered that I was related ( by marriage ) to the cross-dressing Peranakan stage actor and Master chef Kenny Chan. He has just opened a Peranakan restaurant in Malacca called Kapitan House. The address is 71 / 73 Jalan Melaka Tel 606 2826 525. Kenny also produces and sells ready-to-use rempahs like Babi Pongteh; Garam Assam and Nonya Sambal. They are all excellent and so easy to use. Unfortunately it is only available at limited outlets in Singapore; one of which is the kueh chang shop in Katong called Kim Choo. His Babi Pongteh Sauce is excellent and so easy to use in a crock pot. Use one kg of pork ribs and one pig's trotter chopped up. Add one bottle of Kenny's Babi Pongteh sauce. Using the sauce bottle add 2 equivalent portions of water. Add some bamboo shoot cut into bite-sized pieces and some black mushrooms cut into half. Cook this for 8-10 hours in the crock pot.....YUM!

ELECTRIC EYES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydZHy_KRXE

Nonya Fried Seafood Noodles

Nonya Fried Seafood Noodles
( Serves 4 )

Ingredients
1 lb ( 500 gms )Yellow Egg Noodles; blanched with hot water and drained
( cook one box of spaghetti if yellow noodles are not available)
½ lb ( 250gms) Shrimp with shells and heads on
1 fish cake; can be replaced with calamari chopped shredded
5-6 stalks of any leafy vegetable chopped into bite sized pieces
¼ lb ( 100gms ) bean sprouts
4-5 cloves of garlic chopped fine
1 tablespoon tau cheo
2 Eggs fried omelette style and shredded
Cilantro and shredded green onions and red chilli for garnish


Shrimp stock
Remove heads and shells from shrimp. Place heads and shells into a small pot add one cup of water and a chicken cube and bring to a boil. Keep aside for use later.

Method
Fry garlic till fragrant; add chopped up shrimp and vegetables. Fry till shrimps turn red ; add sliced fish cake or calamari. Add one tablespoon of tau cheo. Fry for a minute and add blanched noodles. Stir all the ingredients with the noodles till well mixed. Add shrimp stock and stir well. If not salty enough add light soy sauce. Add bean sprouts and fry for a further 30 seconds.
Pour out onto a large serving plate ; garnish with cilantro , green onions, red chilli and shredded omellete

Butter Cake Recipe

BUTTER CAKE

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 23 min
Oven Temp: 350 F
Ingredients
· 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
· 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
· 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
· 3/4 cup(s) whole milk
· 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
· 1 1/4 cup(s) sugar
· 3/4 cup(s) butter or margarine, softened
· 3 large eggs
Directions
· 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13" by 9" metal baking pan, or three 8-inch round or two 9-inch round cake pans. Dust pan(s) with flour.
· 2. On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.
· 3. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and butter just until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
· 4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture just until blended, scraping bowl occasionally. 5. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake 40 to 45 minutes for 13" by 9" cake, 23 to 25 minutes for 8- and 9-inch layers, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan(s) on wire rack 10 minutes. With knife, loosen side of cake(s) from pan(s); invert onto wire rack to cool completely

Beyonce's "Fat" single lady

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-67Xt5R8DY

Mariah Carey's Ken Lee !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LTLEVC-sfQ

Beef Rendang Recipe

Beef Rendang
1 kg beef, cut into small pcs
1-2 cup water
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 large onion, pounded
2 lemongrass, crushed
3 cm ginger, pounded
3 cm galangal, pounded
4 tablespoons chili paste
5 small hot pepper
4 tablespoons coconut paste or desiccated coconut
1 cup coconut milk
3 leaves kaffir lime
1 leaf turmeric (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
star anise
2 tablespoons tamarind juice
salt
sugar
Directions
1.
Mix beef, pounded ingredients, curry powder, turmeric powder, lemon grass, chilli paste, water, cinnamon stick, star anise, in a deep cooking pan.
2.
Cover and cook for 30 min or till beef tender.
3.
Add tamarind juice, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, coconut paste, salt and paper to taste and cook for 15 min or till sauce thick.
4.
Serve hot over white rice, white bread or glutinous rice.