Thirty-three years ago at my medical school admission interview, four professors asked me why I wanted to be a doctor. I replied, "I just want to be of help." Four quizzical brows and steely gazes bore into me as I recounted the unexplainable joy I felt when I handed out plasters to my teammates, as the medic for my Gunung Tahan expedition team in my junior college days. The privilege to help made my day, even after a gruelling day of ascent through the unforgiving Malayan forest. The professors soon beamed at me with knowing smiles.
Founding CaringSG
Today, I treasure this privilege as a helper in a more precious way. Emulating the courage of esteemed predecessors who are both mothers and caregivers (eg, Dr Audrey Looi of iC2 Prephouse and Dr Radiah Salim of Club Heal), I founded CaringSG in 2020 amid the fire of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our vision is to have "Every Caregiver Well and Empowered" and our mission is to connect, enable and empower fellow caregivers for persons with special needs by building an inclusive, compassionate and supportive community through innovative solutions. With a founding community of fellow physicians and more than 80 caregiver leaders and allied health professional friends, CaringSG embarked on Project 3i to serve caregivers of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and children with special needs. Thanks to the tireless work of 20 dedicated staff, of whom half are caregivers like me, supportive grassroots, community partners, public stakeholders, private companies and generous donors, CaringSG has grown into an amazing community with more than 4,000 members. We attained the status of an Institution of Public Character in a phenomenally short time of just two years. In little ways, CaringSG has helped to turn the hearts of Singaporeans towards the caregivers.1
Supporting caregivers
Our flagship programmes in Project 3i are: CAREconnect, CAREbuddy and CAREwell. The CAREconnect programme aided 1,700 caregivers in finding peer support from other caregivers within the CaringSG Alliance Network of 23 caregiver support groups for major disabilities. With three physicians, Drs Ngiam Xin Ying, Ann Toh and Kao Pao Tang, anchoring as leads for the CAREconnect webinar team, we have conducted 36 webinars thus far that reached more than 4,000 participants. Many doctors, allied health professionals and exemplary caregivers have stepped forward to be speakers to share their wealth of knowledge, lived experiences and wisdom. This equal partnership that features balanced perspectives from both professionals and caregiver speakers is unique to CAREconnect webinars and is valued greatly by caregivers. Thus far, the monthly webinars have covered wide-ranging topics including COVID-19 vaccination, mental health and behaviour management, management of puberty and gynaecological needs, school transition, and future care planning, with contents and discussions uniquely tailored to the needs of PWDs and caregivers.
On the ground, we have organised 73 CAREconnect events in six pilot constituencies (ie, Boon Lay, Kampung Glam, Bukit Batok East, Telok Blangah, Nanyang and Pioneer) and later across the whole of Singapore at the National CAREcarnival and CAREconference to reach more than 3,000 caregivers and families. 81 grassroots volunteers (CAREkaki) were trained by CaringSG in disability knowledge and etiquette, as well as inclusive event planning and outreach skills. NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine's students from Project Empower were similarly trained as CAREambassadors to join our caregiver volunteers, CAREchampions and CAREkaki, in the community outreach efforts. We helped PWD families have a whale of a time in the S.E.A. Aquarium, exciting laser tag shootouts in the Singapore Discovery Centre, and paddling fun in the sea by Sentosa. While some caregivers enjoyed leisurely trishaw rides along the tranquil Jurong Lake with the charity Cycling Without Age Singapore or relaxing yoga sessions, others preferred chatting with fellow caregivers over cups of fragrant coffee and crispy kaya toast in the Ya Kun Kaya Toast flagship store. At the yearly Purple Parade, families, volunteers and friends of CaringSG gather for a rowdy stroll down Temasek Boulevard at Suntec City and a fantastic CAREcottage sale. For ageing PWDs and aged caregivers who could not leave their rented HDB units to join us at the community centres for CAREconnect events, we distributed bags of festive goodies through house visits, bringing them immeasurable joy. CaringSG's joy climaxed in 2023 with the National CAREconference and three large-scale CAREcarnivals in three heartland locales over three weeks in November, attended by more than 3,000 participants.
For the shyer caregivers, CaringSG provided one-to-one peer support by trained caregiver volunteers, the CAREbuddies. For those with higher needs, a transdisciplinary key worker from the CAREwell programme provided professional needs analysis, social health service integration and optimisation, as well as trauma-informed emotional support.
In helping caregivers navigate the complex social and health services, we received tremendous guidance and support from fellow physicians in mental health, primary care and paediatric practices. Notably, eight specialists and family physicians, including Dr Tan Jit Seng, Dr Djoni Huang and Dr Leong Choon Kit, helped CaringSG to conduct Lasting Power of Attorney runs for caregivers, as well as mental capacity assessments for deputyship applications for high-needs PWDs and aged caregivers in their own homes. Fellow doctors at Mount Alvernia Outreach Medical and Dental Clinic, Hidoc, Minds Clinic and the Happee Hearts Movement also stepped up to offer support to CaringSG caregivers and PWDs with discounted or specially arranged consultation sessions. In addition, Doctors Anywhere, International Baby Child and Adolescent Clinic and many other paediatric practices helped us in our outreach and fundraising efforts as well.
Expanding our reach
To date, CaringSG has impacted more than 3,000 caregivers and families. Formal programme evaluation showed unequivocal strong benefits of the 3i programmes for caregivers of PWDs and children with special needs. However, there are at least 350,000 caregivers of PWDs and children with special needs in Singapore,2and we have only reached 1% of them.
In my three years with CaringSG, I have counted my blessings and shed tears of gratitude many times. I am grateful for the many fellow doctors who share CaringSG's dream, and who have stepped forward and stood with me. We have succeeded not as individuals, but as a community, with all hands on deck. CaringSG has taught me what it really means to help. Compassion is empathy in action. We have accomplished the unimaginable, not by our own might, not by the power of numbers, but by the power of compassion which led us all to be doctors in the first place. We chose to be doctors because we want to be here for our fellow beings, no matter the differences, no matter the disabilities. To reach the other 99% of caregivers in Singapore, we need many more doctors, nurses, professionals and the public to step forward.
Without us, they suffer. With us, they flourish.
CAREcottage sale at Purple Parade 2023
To find out more about CaringSG and the work they do, visit https://caring.sg/.