The mood was sombre as staff nurse Liaw Lay Kian arrived at 78-year-old Phang Kim Yong’s Housing Board flat in Tanjong Pagar for her weekly visit on April 25.
Banter and laughter usually filled the spartan three-room flat as Ms Liaw, 61, went about her routine
– checking blood pressure, measuring capillary blood glucose and body weight, packing medication and following up on Madam Phang’s diabetes.
Madam Phang previously revealed that she is usually reticent and opened up only because she sees Ms Liaw as her confidante.
Confiding in Ms Liaw, the elderly woman said, relieves her stress because she also suffers from caregiver fatigue. Her 87-year-old husband is a stroke victim who needs help with daily activities.
But April 25 was Ms Liaw’s final visit as she was leaving her job as a home care nurse at Yong-en Care Centre in mid-May to work at a nursing home that allows her more flexibility to better care for her own mother.
Even though Madam Phang was informed of Ms Liaw’s departure beforehand, she was still crestfallen and teary. Her spirits lifted a little after Ms Liaw comforted her, and she managed to say her goodbyes.
Their bond is evident even though Ms Liaw has worked with Madam Phang for only about two years.
The elderly woman describes Ms Liaw as her “beloved missy”. Older Chinese people in their 70s and 80s often call nurses “missy”.
CARING FROM HOME
Madam Phang is one of the 146 patients under Yong-en Care Centre’s home care service.
Each home care visit costs $12.40, but Yong-en provides it free of charge for Madam Phang.
Yong-en supports the elderly and the disadvantaged in the Chinatown area with community care and social services.
Located in Smith Street, the charity also runs a dementia daycare centre – which currently has 36 patients, a food distribution programme, support groups for low-income single parents and families, and offers financial assistance, among other services.
The charity started in 1986 as an outreach by Fairfield Methodist Church in Tanjong Pagar to serve the underprivileged in Chinatown.
It was registered as a charity in 1997 and has since grown to become an organisation staffed by professionals and volunteers.
Volunteers such as Ms Yip Lai Kuen, 52, play an important role in the charity. The fluent Cantonese speaker has been volunteering as a befriender to the elderly for the past seven years.
One of the first elderly people she befriended through Yong-en in 2017 is Mr Lee Wong, 91, who used to operate a garment stall at People’s Park Complex before retiring in his 60s.
Mr Lee has been living alone in an HDB flat in Chinatown since his wife’s death in 2020.
Ms Yip visits him at his home at least once a month, but she also calls him regularly to check in on him.
During one such visit, she discovered that Mr Lee was a prolific freelance photographer who contributed to the Chinese-language newspapers in Singapore in the 1970s.
Today, some of his works are featured at Maxwell MRT station under SMRT’s Communities in Stations programme.
Yong-en has so far helped 111 elderly through its network of 60 befrienders.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH
However, not all beneficiaries of the organisation are seniors.
The charity also has a children and youth arm to cater to the young in the neighbourhood, offering free tuition, activities such as outings during school holidays and a weekly games session called the Wednesday Social Club.
Yeo Zi Hui, 10, started joining the Wednesday Social Club two years ago. She enjoys playing board games and basketball with the other children.
While her best friend and schoolmate Nur Elfa Ellysyah Helmi, 10, is not underprivileged, she has also been welcomed into the club.
Yong-en programme executive Tammy Lim, 26, who oversees the Wednesday Social Club, is part of a team of six youth workers at Yong-en who run the programmes for children and young people.
Zi Hui’s attachment to Miss Lim is clear – the young girl frequently holds Miss Lim’s hands and hugs her.
Zi Hui even says she aspires to “become a Yong-en youth worker just like Tammy”.