NYP student nurses set to give medical support

Other NYP/ Nanyang Poly students create visual content and contribute to post-parade celebrations

Ms Celeste Ho and her team will be working alongside the Singapore Armed Forces medical team at the parade.
Ms Celeste Ho and her team will be working alongside the Singapore Armed Forces medical team at the parade. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

For 20-year-old Celeste Ho, next week's National Day Parade will be a bit more special. She is leading a team which would be in the thick of action if medical issues crop up.

She is one of 34 student nurses from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) who have been roped in for the first time to work alongside the Singapore Armed Forces medical team on Wednesday in providing care and medical support.

For Ms Ho, who leads the team from NYP, the opportunity means she will finally get to fulfil her dream of being part of the parade. The final-year nursing student said: "It also feels very good to be able to contribute the skills I have to such a landmark celebration."

She and her teammates will be monitoring the crowd, looking out for signs of medical conditions such as asthma, as well as heat-induced fainting. To prepare for the event, they had revision sessions to refresh their resuscitation, bandaging and first-aid skills.

In total, more than 60 students from NYP will be contributing to this year's parade.

A team of seven, led by 19-year-old Kelly Tan, will execute the motion graphics and animation designed by their classmates. The project, which they embarked on in February, will culminate in two sets of large-scale visuals to be displayed on The Float@Marina Bay's LED screens and floor.

The interactive displays will complement two sets of performances and last a total of 16 minutes. This year's display will be on a larger scale, and will also be two minutes longer than last year's.

Ms Tan said: "There were many sleepless nights during which we could almost hear the music ringing in our ears hours after, and there was pressure to get every detail right. But it was really worth it when we attended the rehearsals and saw the faces of our parents and the audience around us. The pride on their faces when they saw what their daughter or son had done was really touching."

The polytechnic students will also contribute to the post-parade celebrations. Eleven of them from the School of Business Management are putting together two sets of behind-the-scenes videos. To be screened at the NDP appreciation events, the videos will acknowledge the efforts of participants and sponsors.

The team led by 18-year-old Joslyn Seah spent 10 weeks, from climbing to the rooftop of the nearby Carlton Hotel for good aerial shots to spending hours fine-tuning the footage, to put the video together.

She said: "As a team, we are very proud to be able to contribute video stories for the participants that highlight the very special and memorable moments ."


Correction note: This story has been updated for clarity.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 04, 2017, with the headline NYP student nurses set to give medical support. Subscribe