Activities for both elderly and children

On 28 October employees from Novo Nordisk Regional Office Far East (ROFE), Novo Nordisk Pharma Singapore and International Operations Clinical Development Centre (IOCDC) – all located in Singapore – spent an entire day in the name of TakeAction! Besides reaching out to more than 1,000 school children the employees also made activities for elderly people, who have no family. This is John Knaggs and Ellen Tay’s summary of the day.

First stop: A community centre for elderly people
The day started bright and early at 8.30 in the morning when all the involved employees met in the lobby of the office building wearing TakeAction! t-shirts, and soon we were on our way to the Tao Payoh South Community Centre.

A total of 80 senior citizens participated in the activity, and some even came in their wheelchair. The event was made possible with help from Martha Wong and Desmond Chee, social workers from Xin Yuan Community Care, who are coordinating the efforts of a group of volunteers providing support for elderly people living alone in the fast-paced Singapore. When all the elderly people had arrived our ROFE Vice President, Gan Yian Cheng, welcomed them in Mandarin, since most of them don’t speak English.

Exercise, quizzing and singing
We started with a warming-up exercise under the careful instruction of TakeAction! volunteer, Yvonne Yim. Even Madam Ah Chan, 93 years old, was enthusiastically performing the different moves like a real pro. She came to Singapore from China as a small girl and has no family members here.

Then another member of the TakeAction! team, Kenneth Hsu, took the audience through a 20-minute presentation about Type 2 diabetes, the symptoms, how elderly people can prevent the disease from happening to them, and how they can live a healthy life with Type 2 diabetes. Kenneth’s presentation was followed by a quiz, where the participants proudly shouted out the answers to questions about diabetes.

“There are two types of diabetes!” “Yes, obesity can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes!” “Foot care is important for people with diabetes!” It was certainly heart-warming to see how happy they were when they answered correctly. The wonder of simple pleasures was definitely the lesson of the day for the volunteers from Novo Nordisk.

But the fun didn’t stop here. We had also arranged a lucky draw, group singing, games and karaoke, and unfortunately it was soon time for us to say goodbye. All participants received a bag containing food and other necessities, and the elderly people were happy and satisfied with the half-day programme we had prepared for them. We hope that they will talk about the TakeAction! event for days to come. According to Marhayu from Novo Nordisk, it was also a very fulfilling experience for the volunteers. “Yes, I feel I have done something good today!” she said.

Next stop: Back to school with 1,200 children
At 11 AM some of the volunteers left the Community Centre and went to meet 1,200 primary school kids at the First Toa Payoh Primary School. Tan Tuang Kin, General Manager of Novo Nordisk Pharma Singapore and Michael Chua, IT Manager, were our drivers, and we arrived just as the school children were gathering in the big hall. Many were probably already planning for their end-of-the-year school break. Exams are over, text books are out of sight – for now – and it’s going to be weeks of playtime! But what were the people from Novo Nordisk doing there? You could see that they were puzzled.

“Children, we have the pleasure of having Dr Julius Vaz and his colleagues from Novo Nordisk here today to talk to us about diabetes,” the headmistress said as she welcomed us.

The story about Matthew
Roy Chan then told the story about Matthew who – just like any kid – loves to play, but also has school work to do. One day he suddenly begins to feel sick and he is diagnosed with diabetes. The story went on to describe some of the symptoms to watch out for, the dos and don’ts, but Roy stressed the fact that diabetes does not make you different from other people.

“Dear children, any questions?” Julius asked as the story about Matthew was over, and a horde of small hands were raised.

“Can diabetes be treated?” “Can it be passed on?” “Why do some get diabetes?” “What happens if you don’t take your medicine?” “Will I have to get my leg cut off if I get diabetes?” These were questions that could easily have come from adults.

Hope for the future
The children’s eagerness, innocence, and obvious intellect certainly gave us something to smile about. Our hope for the future lies in their hands, but for now, we need to do our work properly so they can live a healthy life. Perhaps some day 15 years from now, some of these bright children will be part of the Novo Nordisk family.