Birthday Celebration
I'm supposed to publish this post on 29.9.05 but i guess i had to delay it. So, here's the update! And sorry, the pics are not that clear. :o)
It is funny how celebrating my birthday has become more and more out of the ordinary. Visiting Institute of Mental Health (IMH) can never be a part of yesterday’s itinerary but it did. No one will ever believe me that I did spend a few hours at IMH for an excursion yesterday. What am I doing there on my birthday? Ask the school.
In actual fact, visiting IMH has changed my perception of people who are mentally ill. They have no one to rely on except for the nurses in the hospital. Currently there are about 1500 patients who are permanently staying at IMH and this figure is growing. About 400 patients are able to go back to the society where they could live independently. I’m sad but at the same time I thought that ultimately it’ll make me a wiser person and I know I would be able to make a difference in their lives. Then I knew, I’m on the right path. A wise choice I’ve made so far.
I’ve never been to the old Woodbridge Hospital. It’s a waste. It was huge, 145 hectares (about 145 football fields). Now the new IMH (also called Buangkok Green Medical Park) is only 30 hectares. But I was surprised that the hospital looked more like a country club than a hospital. Cool man!
The only disadvantage about this trip is that we were not allowed to enter the wards mainly because they had to protect the patients’ identity. But most of us are curious and hoped to meet the patients. None of them did except me and H. We were so busy taking pictures when this old man approached us and said that he wanted to take our picture and his picture too. Before he went away, he said that we are both very pretty. Cool huh! At that time all I could think of was – a perfect closure.
Above is a picture of the equipments used during a post-mortem. Pretty scary!
A picture of the bathroom used by the patients in the old Woodbridge Hospital.
The Woodbridge bell - Sorry i've forgotten to take the pic of the bell. Haha..
It is funny how celebrating my birthday has become more and more out of the ordinary. Visiting Institute of Mental Health (IMH) can never be a part of yesterday’s itinerary but it did. No one will ever believe me that I did spend a few hours at IMH for an excursion yesterday. What am I doing there on my birthday? Ask the school.
In actual fact, visiting IMH has changed my perception of people who are mentally ill. They have no one to rely on except for the nurses in the hospital. Currently there are about 1500 patients who are permanently staying at IMH and this figure is growing. About 400 patients are able to go back to the society where they could live independently. I’m sad but at the same time I thought that ultimately it’ll make me a wiser person and I know I would be able to make a difference in their lives. Then I knew, I’m on the right path. A wise choice I’ve made so far.
I’ve never been to the old Woodbridge Hospital. It’s a waste. It was huge, 145 hectares (about 145 football fields). Now the new IMH (also called Buangkok Green Medical Park) is only 30 hectares. But I was surprised that the hospital looked more like a country club than a hospital. Cool man!
The only disadvantage about this trip is that we were not allowed to enter the wards mainly because they had to protect the patients’ identity. But most of us are curious and hoped to meet the patients. None of them did except me and H. We were so busy taking pictures when this old man approached us and said that he wanted to take our picture and his picture too. Before he went away, he said that we are both very pretty. Cool huh! At that time all I could think of was – a perfect closure.
Above is a picture of the equipments used during a post-mortem. Pretty scary!
A picture of the bathroom used by the patients in the old Woodbridge Hospital.
The Woodbridge bell - Sorry i've forgotten to take the pic of the bell. Haha..
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