Heart to Serve

Growing up, I was always curious about the complexities of social issues within a community and wanted to understand them better. In fact, I even considered a career in social work. However, that changed after a close family member was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted a career that would allow me to serve the community in a medical capacity and advocate for the importance of good health. Thus, I chose to pursue medicine.

Today, as a member of the Volunteerism Committee (VC) under the SingHealth Residents' Committee, I am given the opportunity to continue being involved in community service projects within SingHealth. For instance, this year the VC promoted health education at a health screening event for migrant workers. We even organised an outing to Gardens By The Bay for children with intellectual disabilities from MINDS.

Dr Haidah (first row, second from left) with fellow Residency Committee members at a volunteering event.

SingHealth has other volunteering projects for doctors to join such as TriGen and Project GroomOver. We hope to cultivate a stronger volunteerism spirit amongst SingHealth Residents by providing these meaningful opportunities for them to contribute back to society.

It can be challenging to balance my after-work activities with clinical work. Hence, it is important to stay organised to balance work and other commitments. 

For me, I try to be involved in other volunteering projects of my own. But I must be mindful of when the busy periods are so as not to overwhelm myself.