1. Mentors

• Dr Peter Moey

2. Project Details

• discover more about the site of the new Eunos polyclinic which holds the former Still Road Outpatient Dispensary and Jamiyah's Children Home
• source for information about the site by doing research, interviews etc
• find out how the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary used to run their operations

In this project, my group aims to

• find out some historical information about Eunos
• find out relevant information regarding the community of Eunos
• find information about the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary and Jamiyah's Children Home
• find out about life in the polyclinic back in the day

After doing these four steps, our group decided to come up with three final products

• two posters (one about Eunos itself and another being about the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary)
• a 3D model of the old still road polyclinic)

3. Background Information of the Project

The steps to completing this project were first, to dig out resources to find out more information about the site which holds the new Eunos Polyclinic. Our group decided on three different ways to obtain information about the site of the new Eunos Polyclinic. One being researching on it online; second being through researching about it in the National Library; and, third being through interviews with ex-nurses and patients who had experiences in the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary.

After completing these three steps, we then compiled these information onto a GoogleDocument to be included in our final product. The final product seeks to help the public understand more about the Eunos community and the role of the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary in its development. This was because little was known about the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary. It was later torn down to make way for the new Eunos Polyclinic.

4. Elaboration of the Activities to be Accomplished

We arranged interviews with former nurses and patients of the Still Road Polyclinic. These nurses are now based in Punggol Polyclinic. In their interviews, the nurses shared their experiences at the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary and how polyclinics have changed over the years. Some lamented that the patients' respect for the nurses has declined over the years. Others shared interesting experiences at the Outpatient Dispensary, saying that floods used to occur frequently and patients had to visit the polyclinic using a sampan. A nurse also shared how she helped a woman give birth to her baby while waiting for her turn to visit the doctor. Through the interviews, we learnt how vastly polyclinics have changed over the years, especially with the aid of technology. Patients’ information and medical details once recorded on paper and stored in physical files, are now stored in computers equipped with advanced software. Nurses' jobs were also quite tough back in the day. As most of the tools were not disposable, they had to clean and disinfect it each time to be reused.

Besides conducting interviews, we also headed down to the National Library to dig out information regarding the Still Road Polyclinic. We found out that the Still Road Polyclinic was divided into two parts, the Still Road Outpatient Dispensary and the Still Road Maternal and Child Health Clinic. Through the process, it was challenging to source for information as there were many archives and articles about the Still Road Polyclinic. Some of these articles were inaccurate and thus it makes it even more challenging to obtain information that were accurate and relevant for our project.

I found the process very interesting as the things that I found at the National Library could not be easily accessible on the Internet. It was very interesting seeing newspapers of the past and also the way the articles were written back in the day. However, the challenge would be taking down the information, as the Library would not allow us to print out the articles. It was also challenging as we could not take the pictures of the materials we found at the National Archives. However, after a few hours, we managed to dig out enough information to start our project

As for Jamiyah's Children Home, we found a speech regarding the opening of the Home given by a Minister via the Internet. It was very confusing as we were not sure which home moved in first - the home for the children or the home of the aged. We decided to email Jamiyah's Children Home to clarify the information, but to no avail. Through this process, we learnt that we must not be disheartened and instead find other means to find information.

5. Elaboration of the Work Done

As mentioned previously, after digging out relevant information, we decided to design two posters and a 3D model of the Still Road Polyclinic as our final product. For the two posters, one will be focused on Eunos itself while the other will be focused on the history of Still Road Polyclinic. As for the 3D model of the Still Road Polyclinic, we used the sketch that the ex-nurse gave us and the information we gathered to come up with the model itself.

6. 3 Content Skills Learnt

• One lesson that I have learnt is how the advancement of technology has brought us greater convenience in the medical industry and also in our everyday lives. The nurses back in the day did not have disposable gloves and masks. Now, with advancements in technology, nurses can dispose gloves and masks without the need to wash them. Moreover, the nurses now can key in the patient's information into a computer while back in the day, the nurses had to manually write down information on notepads which was very troublesome. Flooding around the area will make this process even more troublesome, as the water might soak this notes which will make it harder to retrieve a patient's information.
• Another lesson that I have learnt is that people these days are a lot less grateful for what they have. Back in the day, patients were very respectful to nurses. For example, patients would listen to the whatever the nurses advised and would also give up their seats to them. Patients nowadays however will always like to challenge whatever the nurses say. Patients are also less cooperative and will always make a fuss over minute matters. We should learn how to be grateful to healthcare personnel as they are doing their best to make sure we recover in time.
• Over the course of this programme, I have learnt to be be more creative especially when creating the final product. We had to come up with many sketches for our 3D model and our posters. Although it was quite challenging to design the poster, with ideas of everyone from my group, we eventually came up with good designs for our posters and 3D model. I learnt how to think out of the box and be more creative through this WOW programme.

7. 2 interesting aspects of our learning

• On the first day of our WOW! attachment, our external mentor gave us an insight into how a polyclinic works. Throughout the tour, we saw many activities which took place behind-the-scenes in the polyclinic. For example, I got to see how medicine was dispensed and how an X -ray machine works. Moreover, our external mentor also shared with us the new features of the new Eunos Polyclinic such as an eldercare and a PMA-friendly level. These insights really deepened my understanding of how a polyclinic actually functions as a whole to provide affordable and convenient healthcare for Singapore.
• Another interesting aspect I have uncovered is how polyclinics have changed over the years in Singapore. Through my research, I found some pictures of polyclinics in the past and realized that polyclinics in the past were all one-floor high. Another interesting finding was that cough medicine was collected in beer bottles as polyclinics did not have enough plastic bottles to give away to patients. Pills were also manually counted by nurses. The cost of visits was also very cheap, ranging from 50 cents to a dollar. I felt that it was very interesting to find out how healthcare in Singapore has changed over the years but also knowing that polyclinics have always provided affordable healthcare to all Singaporeans.

8. 1 takeaway for life

• I think my takeaway from life is that I have to have an inquisitive and curious mind. Throughout this attachment, I learnt to be like a detective and pieced together all the pieces of information to find out what the Still Road Polyclinic is like. With an inquisitive mindset, I could dig out more information and in the process understood more of what I had been researching about. I will now try to be inquisitive about the topics discussed in school to have a deeper understanding of a subject. With this, I learnt that learning goes beyond the classroom and I really appreciate the opportunity that the school has provided me with to learn more about the society around me.