My first Magazine St Joseph's Home_40th Anniversary magazine.compres | Page 46

Changing
to Serve
Novemb er
2016
3 months
before
At Mandai, the different sexes occupied different levels -
levels 2 and 4 for the ladies and 3 for the men. In the new
home, they would not be grouped according to their sex or
medical condition / needs. This is neither conducive for the
residents nor staff. Can you imagine all the residents with
feeding tubes housed in the same family cluster? Instead,
the nursing team took pains to carefully allocate beds such
that there would be men and women on all floors, their
medical conditions notwithstanding. Some beds were also
left empty to allow for new residents to mix with the existing
ones. In one family cluster for instance, there would be two
rooms of females and two of males. In the middle of the
four rooms would be the communal dining / kitchenette
area. Each level has 3 of such clusters. Staff would be
subsequently assigned to look after residents in a particular
cluster so both parties get to know one another better and
can arrange their own activities as a ‘family’.
2017
January
Logistical preparations kicked
into high gear as the Big Day
approached. As added security
was needed given the size of
the new home, volunteers from
Ngee Polytechnic organised a
photo shoot to have everyone’s
pictures taken for their
new security passes. The
nurses also worked with the
operations team to meticulously
plan the transport arrangements
for the day. 8 vans making three
trips or 24 trips in total - that is
what is needed to ferry all staff
and residents safely from Mandai
to Jurong West.
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