Volunteers who help maintain rest facility for loved ones of very sick children are also a source of support.
Darren Ng, 43, who works at a fintech company, spends three times a week last year and once a month this year to volunteer at the National University Hospital (NUH). He helps to maintain the “four-room flat” that the hospital offers as a place of rest to the loved ones of gravely ill children.
He began volunteering about eight months after the time his 12 year-old daughter survived a rare blood disorder and was discharged from the hospital in 2016. He said: “the day my daughter was discharged, I decided to come back as a volunteer to help run the place and encourage other caregivers by sharing my experiences.”
Over the last five years, the Ronald McDonald House has been a place of respite and refuge for a total of about 1,120 family members of critically ill children. The house is funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Singapore and donations from the public.
“In addition to providing a place of respite, we hope they find in this house a sanctum where they can retreat to have privacy, quiet time and recuperate from the long hours of keeping vigil by their children’s bedside,” said Associate Professor Daniel Goh, chair of the paediatric cluster at NUH.
RMHC opened a similar rest facility, but without beds, recently at the Institute of Mental Health.
Data suggests that a child recovers faster and better if the parents are close by, said Prof Goh, adding that it is “absolutely true” that “love and support is as powerful as the strongest medicine”.
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Source: The Straits Times, 4 February 2018