Date: 25th Febuary 2008
Venue: MPFSC
Duration: 1 hour (1545 – 1645)
People involved: Joseph, Boon Kiat
Today was our first befriending session with Mdm Chia, an elderly living alone in Blk 15, Marine Terrace. Since it was our first visit, we reported to Seow Hong to find out Mdm Chia's address, also we were told that Mdm Chia's hand was scalded by oil, having blisters all over. We were then referred to aunty Qui Lan who was at the Good Life centre.
We went up together with aunty Qiu Lan, eager to meet Mdm Chia. Mdm Chia was very hospitable, inviting us almost immediately into her house. Her right hand was indeed badly scalded with bandage right up to above her wrist. We basically did some self-introduction to know one other better. She is able to converse with us using mandarin occasionally using dialects like Hokkien and Teo Chew which we had a bit of problems understanding exactly what she meant. Even so, we managed to find out that she was scalded by oil while cooking recently and she had two injections.
We also asked about her source of income, learning that she is working as a dentist assistant in a dental clinic. She also receives special financial assistance from the government every month to ease her burden. She is careful with the way she spend her money, even spending scrimply on food; to quote what she said 'Even though its just egg and rice, its still a meal, we still have to eat.' . Before leaving, we briefly asked for probable dates and time slots on when we could visit her.
All in all, Mdm Chia is a fairly independent elderly leading a relatively healthy lifestyle. She do not require any immediate attention, but we will be constantly looking out for her, making sure that the right hand recovers from the burn. Besides that, it was a meaningful and valuable experience for us both and we sure look forward to our next visit with Mdm Chia.
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