FINDING HER CALLING – IN MIDLIFE
It was just over a decade ago that Ms Cheng decided to make a career switch.
For years, she worked as an accounting clerk in various companies before becoming a patient service clerk at the Singapore General Hospital in 2008, where she assisted doctors in the consultation room.
There, she discovered that she enjoyed interacting with patients, and felt a sense of satisfaction whenever she could help them.
Equally important was how patients seemed to like and trust her.
“Sometimes patients would get agitated while waiting for the doctor because of the long waiting time, so I would talk to them to help them calm down,” she said.
“They always came back to thank me.”
That’s when she started thinking about becoming a nurse and after her colleagues said she would make a good one, Ms Cheng, at 55 years of age, took the plunge.
In 2011, she enrolled in a two-year full-time nursing course at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
“I was so shy because all the students were so young and below 20, and I was so old already,” she said. “But I liked being with them because they were so full of energy and cheerful … and being around them made me feel young too.”
While on a hospital attachment during her studies, she came across a case that would shape her outlook as a nurse.
A construction worker in his twenties had fallen from a great height, and arrived still unconscious. Despite the hospital’s best efforts, the man died. And the image of him lying on the stretcher, with one arm hanging limply, has stayed with Ms Cheng since.
It was the first time she had seen a young person die.
“It made me realise how important life is.”
ONTO THE FRONTLINE
After graduating in 2013, Ms Cheng joined Ng Teng Fong General Hospital’s emergency department.
Thrust into a fast-moving environment, her first few months were stressful and hectic.
“We would see road accident victims, who were coming in bleeding with lacerations (on their body),” she said. “There would be long queues of patients waiting to be attended to, so we would have to work quickly.”
“Just keep moving” became her personal mantra, and it’s served her well.
She later received an offer to join the nursing team at Jurong Community Hospital, which remains her employer today.
During the pandemic, Ms Cheng was transferred to the COVID-19 ward, where she was tasked to take care of infected patients.
She was already 64 years old at the time, and admitted to worrying about getting infected.
“(I) even told my daughter that if anything happened to me, she needs to take care of herself.
“But I never thought about saying no because I am a nurse … this is my responsibility,” she added.
“My daughter was worried about me, but she understood and encouraged me. Actually, she is very supportive of me in every decision I make, even when I wanted to go and study (nursing).”
