Reaching Out from Beyond the Screen

By Eugene Koh, Content Contributor

 A group of students from Dunman High School curates virtual webinars to raise awareness and funds for the chronically ill in Singapore.

With the ring of the new decade, 2020 did not come in like a bell for good luck. But rather, an ominous siren that shook humanity to its core. COVID-19 has caused many plans to be disrupted or put to a standstill. Stay-at-home orders were given, and our social interactions were reduced to text message and video calls.

As desolate as the situation sounds, a group of students from Dunman High School were undeterred and determined to contribute back to society – even if they’re limited to behind the webcam.

“Project EMBRAVE” was the brainchild of Nicole Yeo, Ashley Yeo, Lin Weilin, Hu Yuzhou and Lee Wyne Sze. In collaboration with Club Rainbow Singapore, they aim to garner more support and to increase awareness for the chronically ill in society. “We felt touched that these children are so courageous in their fight against their illnesses and hence hoped for more people to embrace and understand them.” says Nicole, Founder of Project EMBRAVE. Merging the words ‘Embrace’ and ‘Bravery’, embrave means to “inspire with courage” and “dare to empower, empower to dare”.

- Project Embrave with Ms Dawn Sim

Through the use of social media and by word-of-mouth, the team had managed to garner a total of 47 donors to raise a total of S$2,700 through their webinar sessions. In these sessions, donors would bid for art pieces done by Club Rainbow’s beneficiaries which feature each child’s passions, hopes and aspirations. Apart from that, the group also reached out to prominent social media personalities like Ms Cheryl Wee and Ms Dawn Sim to speak about entrepreneurship and fitness tips. Tickets start from S$10.

- Project Embrave with Cheryl Wee

All of the proceeds go towards Club Rainbow Singapore where the money would be used for a range of services rendered - financial aid, food rations, therapy sessions and programmes for development. As the pandemic has caused financial and emotional instability, the group hopes to alleviate the beneficiaries’ financial burden through their efforts. They also wish to motivate beneficiaries to maintain a positive attitude and to always be resilient despite facing difficulties.

Spanning across 2 months from planning to execution, the group began working on this project during the 2020 Singapore Circuit Breaker measures. Where the bulk of the planning stage was done entirely online without face-to-face discussions. “At times, things could get a little messy, and it was hard to coordinate our plans. However, I believe that because we all knew each other well, we could work well with each other and overcome the limitations posed by the pandemic.” Says Nicole.

Although the group did not hit the amount they set to raise, they were proud and content to see their campaign materialise, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The speakers and webinar attendees also agreed that the webinar sessions were inspiring, and they had learned so much about the children of Club Rainbow as well as the unique challenges faced by these children. Nicole said that the group was very humbled by the experience as it gave them many opportunities to interact and learn about the stories of individuals from all walks of life. Overcoming challenges posed by the pandemic, the team is looking to initiate future projects.

“Giving back to society should not be seen as something compulsory. Rather, it should be done with sincerity and having the true willingness to help others.”

–Nicole Yeo, PROJECT EMBRAVE

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Kickstart a giving back journey to the vulnerable little ones in the community!

Your efforts will be doubled as part of the Fortitude Budget, the government is matching donations to charities dollar-for-dollar till 31 March 2022.

To better support NPOs and givers, there will be NO TRANSACTION FEES on Giving.sg till 31 March 2021. Therefore, 100% of your donations will go to Club Rainbow (Singapore).

Do contact us crscpm@clubrainbow.org and we can guide you along to your first online campaign.

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Eugene Koh

A social butterfly at heart, Eugene enjoys engaging with the people around him and building meaningful connections. He aspires to use his gift to engage and influence mass markets and make an impactful change in society.

When not mugging for his exams or fulfilling his National service duties, you can find him lurking around the pantry or queuing for bubble tea.

Project Hope

Projecting hope through their outreach in supporting charities, Sumitomo Corporation took to supporting Club Rainbow's Arts Development Programme with the purchase of mugs bearing a child's artwork - 'Unity is Strength'.

How did the team overcome the challenges of giving back during the pandemic?

During this pandemic, we never lost sight of what’s most important for us, i.e our values. Commitment to giving back is a key tenet of our business principles, “benefit for self and others, private and public interests are one and the same”. We know that we are all in this together. Although we can’t do it as extensively as in the past due to the challenges posed by the pandemic, that doesn’t stop us from seeking alternatives, such as supporting talent development and donation which we worked with Club Rainbow.

What is Project Hope?

Our “Project Hope” is …

Read more - https://bit.ly/2OLXyAk

First published in Club Rainbow Singapore LinkedIn article.

Coming together as a community in 2020

In it together

2020 is a year that will go down in history as the year where almost all of human race ‘caught a cold’. It is a year that disrupted many industries and lives.

It is a pivot year for both organisations and individuals - a test of resilience and embracing change.

On a positive note, one would see it as a year of opportunities. It gave way to technology that did not reach its potential such as virtual events, tools and technology integration. With the pandemic giving the population a push to connect virtually locally and beyond boundaries, making unified communication the keyword to communicating today.

Not ready for change

Our beneficiaries and their families faced tremendous pressure from the lack of access to technology for education and professional, increased financial aid. Many of these families depend on the gig economy for monthly sustenance.

With the pandemic, many experience loss of income coupled with worry for the safety of their chronically-ill child whose immune system is severely compromised, leaving the little ones susceptible to contracting the virus.

Forward Nonetheless

From a year of trials and opportunities, these 3 important aspects apply to almost everyone:

1. It’s OK to be not OK

The pandemic changed

• the way academic lessons are carried out

• the way businesses are operating

• social interactions are restricted to minimal

• social activities are either cancelled or reduced to smaller group size.

Some CRS beneficiaries and their families felt disconnected and were at a loss during the lockdown.

Many children needed laptops and internet access to keep up with ongoing academic lessons. The children’s usual leisure activities are also cancelled or converted to online sessions. We are thankful that many corporate and community donations came in to support these immediate needs.

2020 indeed took CHANGE to a whole new level. All aspects of comfort were disrupted for both personal and professional. The personal touch was quickly replaced with unified communication and integrated technology. This brought about uncertainty, a need to retrain and upskill.

2. Always Keep An Open Mind

With CHANGE, there are always opportunities for personal and professional growth.

CRS teams were challenged to think out of the box to increase community engagement, conversion of physical to virtual events and engagement with the beneficiaries and their families. Children and their families were also encouraged to participate in online activities to keep connected and engaged.

3. Never Give Up

An encouraging and positive environment helps to give the children confidence as we go through one of their critical milestones – PSLE. All the children who have been attending weekly tuition with us passed their PSLE exams this year. It wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of volunteer tutors who still came forward for these children and never gave up despite the pandemic.

As the saying goes ‘The community that plays together stays together’ and this couldn’t be more true than in current time. The support from relevant authorities helped charities with financial support such as the Fortitude Budget and matching grant from Toteboard. Donations from individual and group fundraisers aid in the increased need for financial assistance, food rations and immediate demand for hygiene products to maintain adequate sanitisation.

We want to thank all our corporate partners, group and individual fundraisers, donors, volunteers, beneficiaries and their families for their perseverance and getting through 2020 together.

Let’s continue to Stay Safe, Stay Strong and Stay United!

We wish everyone a Happy Ox-picious Lunar New Year! May the year of Ox bring all of us good health, abundance and prosperity!

First Virtual Ride For Rainbows

2020’s edition of Ride For Rainbows, one of Singapore’s largest charity cycling event proudly presented by Club Rainbow (Singapore), proved to be an extraordinary one. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ride For Rainbows was transform into a virtual ride for the first time in its nine years of history.

Milestones for Ride For Rainbows 2020.

Spanning from 3 to 11 October 2020, a total of 483 riders geared up across the island to participate; riding anytime and anywhere, on any bicycle. With our riders’ support and outright donations from the public, a total of $544,134 was raised by the end of the fundraising period.

At the virtual flag-off, viewers were treated to a Hip-Hop performance by our beneficiaries. They also got to e-meet our patron and caregiver.

A midnight virtual flag-off with our patron and guest-of-honour, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, was held on 3 October 2020. Viewers of the Facebook Live stream were treated to a Hip-Hop dance performance by our budding young dancers. Guided by Converge Studios' instructors, one of our Arts Programme Collaborators, the specially choreographed dance performance was made possible through long hours of rehearsals by our children.

Caregiver Siti and her son, Sayfullah, participated in Ride For Rainbows 2020 as Team Rainbow members.

At the virtual flag-off, viewers also learned more about caregiver Siti Fadillah, whose two children have been with Club Rainbow for more than 10 years. However, what made Ride For Rainbows exceptional for Siti and her son Sayfullah this year, was that they participated as riders!

“Given this opportunity, it is to raise awareness about the beneficiaries of Club Rainbow. I wanted Sayfullah to join this year because we want to give back to Club Rainbow. We also can inspire others to look at their abilities, not disabilities,” said Siti. Her sentiments perfectly encapsulated our motivations behind setting up a category for beneficiaries with mobility constraints this year. As members of Team Rainbow, every participating child was with a caregiver who pushed the child on a wheelchair for a distance of 2km.

Our beneficiary, Royce, was invited to design a commissioned artwork for the Ride For Rainbows 2020 jersey.

Highlight reel, featuring some of our riders’ moments.

To cheer on our riders, participating riders were entitled to their very own ride pack. An exclusive Ride For Rainbows 2020 jersey was included in each ride pack, featuring a piece of commissioned artwork specially created by our beneficiary, Royce!

While the Ride For Rainbows 2020 experience was surely a different one from previous years, our participating riders managed to chase rainbows on their own and made beautiful memories out of their virtual rides.

Fundraising team from Aberdeen Standard Investments: The Bakers Dozen.

A stark contrast to the usual cheers of support at previous years’ flag-off points, fundraising team The Bakers Dozen found that the frogs’ chorus through East Coast was something to behold. Abiding by the Phase 2 regulations, they separated into different groups and set out on their bicycles at 4.30 am, celebrating with post-ride breakfasts after completion.

For our top individual fundraiser Eugene Ngiam, engaging in good conversation with friends he had lost touch with was a highlight of the fundraising process.

Our top fundraiser, Eugene Ngiam, was motivated to go all the way due to the support he received from loved ones.

As said by the Ride For Rainbows 2020 committee, we couldn't have done it without our riders, donors, and sponsors. Even though Ride for Rainbows was converted into a virtual ride this year, it didn’t dampen our participating riders’ passions in raising funds for our cause. Thanking our top fundraisers and teams, we met up with them in December 2020 to present tokens of appreciation to them.

For first-timers thinking of joining Ride For Rainbows, Jerome, team leader of our top fundraising team The CBS Boys, says: “Get the bike out of the storeroom and join RFR in 2021. Your efforts will make a big impact on the challenging lives of about 1,200 chronically ill kids and their families. Help tell those stories of CRS beneficiaries, so others will come to know of the awesome work done. It is a great experience and a good start to volunteer.”

Club Rainbow (Singapore) would like to express our utmost gratitude to all supporting parties. We look forward to your participation in Ride For Rainbows 2021!

Email rfr@clubrainbow.org to find out more on Ride For Rainbows 2021!

Rules of Virtual Challenges – FUN, FUN, FUN!

BHP brings fun to Club Rainbow children and their families during #stayhome period.

Circuit breaker. Work From Home. Home-Based Learning.

These are the three keywords buzzing around in the last three months for everyone from all walks of life, affected regardless. More so for chronically-ill children.

Amidst the uncertainty caused by Covid-19, the usual outdoor activities, social integrations, corporate CSR engagements were all postponed to ensure safety for everyone and to be in-line with the Government prevention initiatives. Everything we know seems to be online or done virtually. But what about the children with Club Rainbow? One corporate - BHP helped to bring fun and interaction all the same to these children.

During the circuit breaker, BHP collaborated with Club Rainbow to bring about a series of virtual challenges to engage the children. The Dalgona Coffee Making Challenge, Trash to Treasure Upcycling Challenge, Make your own Stay Home Video Challenge. BHP also kindly sponsored prizes for the Top three winners from both activities - Trash to Treasure Upcycling and Make your own Stay Home Video Challenge.

These challenges gave the children and their families an opportunity to bond and appreciate family time together. From trying their hand at the trending whipped cream with coffee to upheaving their homes for recyclable items to create something useful and finally getting their act together for a stay home video, brought out the creativity in everyone.

Top three winners from Trash to Treasure Upcycling:

1. Teo Li Li (Stool from Recycling bottles)

2. Aiden Chan (Space Mission Game from recycled materials)

3. Garren Sum (Mother’s Day Card from recycled materials

Read more - https://bit.ly/37rW1EU-CSR_with_BHP

First published in Club Rainbow Singapore LinkedIn article.

Living Life with Gratitude

Beating the odds

When Jared was born, doctors did not notice anything unusual about him. However, a month later, his parents discovered that his face appeared blue when he took much longer to finish his bottle feeds. Jared was referred to a specialist in neo-natal care at NUH. He was then diagnosed with a heart condition known as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) which can result in heart failure. What followed was a 51-day hospitalization in NUH Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Despite receiving a poor prognosis for his condition, His parents have never given up hopes on him. “Time and time again during his stay at ICU, we witnessed him fighting for his life. Jared is a fighter and he wants to live,” Mr Lee shared. After discharge from the ICU, the ordeal continued with Jared being in and out of the hospital for the next two years where a simple respiratory illness could cause him to have breathing difficulties due to his poor immunity.

Knowing Club Rainbow

During Jared’s hospitalization, Jared’s parents chanced upon Club Rainbow’s satellite centre at NUH. Upon learning that Club Rainbow supports children with chronic illnesses, they decided to register Jared as a beneficiary. “At that time, we were at a loss. It was difficult to grapple with the reality of Jared’s condition. Our first social worker, Shu Hong, was there for us, providing invaluable emotional support. He visited Jared when he was warded. After he was discharged, Shu Hong often called us to find out how we were coping and introduced us to other parents whose children were also suffering from heart conditions so we can share information and experiences with one other”, Mrs. Lee recalled. “We were grateful that there was a support group available and that we were not alone in this ordeal.”

Growing up, Jared’s parents become concerned when he did not seem to have much eye contact during interactions. After consulting a specialist, he was diagnosed with developmental delay at the age of two. Subsequently he was referred to attend an early intervention programme at an EIPIC centre. However, for the next two years that followed, Jared continued to show Autism-like symptoms, his parent brought him for re-assessment and that was when the initial diagnosis was changed to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 

A passion ignited

From the age of 3, Jared started showing an emerging talent in arts. With the encouragement from his teachers and therapists at EIPIC, his parents brought him to art classes from the age of 5 to further his interest in art. The influence of characters from cartoons, comics and TV programmes are evident in his drawings. Characters like Pokémon, Ben 10, and SpongeBob are some of his favorites.

Jared made his parents proud when he won his first international award “BIG-i Art Project Award 2016” with an art piece entitled “African Land”. The event was held at Osaka, Japan, and his family were delighted to be given the opportunity to travel to Osaka with him to receive the award.

Today, Jared is a cheerful 17-year- old youth who has a passion and talent for arts. Since 2017, he has participated in various visual arts workshops organised by Club Rainbow, ranging from doodling, stamp carving, storybook illustration to digital art, and more. The workshops led up to a showcase of his art pieces at Dreamseeds Arts Fest. 

“We were pleasantly surprised by the attention and effort that Jared puts in during every session. We can tell that he really loves participating in the workshops,” Mrs. Lee added.

“Jared enjoys watching cartoons and comics (GARFIELD, BEANO, DANDY, etc.) and it is from these media that he gets his inspiration. His hobbies like drawing, doodling, making small sculptures, and digital art inspire his passion for his arts. Jared is a Club Rainbow Talent Development Fund recipient. .”

Taking a further step

Selected for the visual arts mentorship programme in 2019, Jared was given one-to-one classes to help advance his visual art talents. Under the guidance of his arts mentor, a range of merchandise inspired by his artwork was produced for sale. The Talent Development Fund awarded to him for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019 also encouraged him to further his aspiration in arts and the grant is used to offset the course fees of his weekly art lessons.

Apart from developing his artistic talent, a Club Rainbow befriender visits his home every week to help him with his academics. With the support of the befriender tutor, Jared’s results in literacy and numeracy has improved. He scored the best in his favourite subject numeracy.

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Growing up is not without any challenges. “When Jared was younger, he used to be very rigid with his routine. He also didn’t enjoy going to extended family gatherings and meeting our relatives. In fact, he wanted to leave almost as soon as we got there. In school, he could get along with his classmates but there was limited communication. Other than his brother and us, Jared did not want to communicate with others. Now that he is much older, he is less rigid with his routines. However, we hope that he can open up and communicate with people around him, not only with his family”, shared Mrs. Lee.

“When I heard from another caregiver that her son has benefitted from the play therapy offered by Club Rainbow, we decided that it is worth for Jared to have a try. After finishing one course of play therapy sessions, we observed improvements in Jared. So much so that we signed him up for the second round. By the time the second round ended, Jared is talking much more than before and is able to relate better to people around him.” continued Mrs. Lee.

A life filled with rainbows and gratitude

These days, Jared looks forward to participating in the social integration programmes organised by Club Rainbow. He has been to various programmes and  events, ranging from clay trinket making,
culinary, movie screening to cycling, and the annual 3-days 2-nights Camp Rainbow and more.

Club Rainbow believes in providing opportunities and resources to children and youths and empower them to lead a fulfilling life. Once Jared and his peers from the Arts Development programme were employed to design tote bags for sale to a congregation of conference attendees in collaboration with a corporate partner. On another occasion, he was part of a group effort to create motif-designs that have been printed on the trilogy book series to commemorate Istana’s 150th anniversary. Full of gratitude, Mrs. Lee said, “We are really thankful for the wonderful programmes and services that are provided to us at absolutely no charge. It is a relief to families’ financial burden.”

When asked about the difficulties they face in taking care of Jared. “Not at all. He is an understanding and sweet boy. He will console us when we are feeling down. In fact, looking after him has taught us to be better parents. We learnt to be more tolerant and observant, heightened our awareness of similar behaviors in children who have special needs. Also we learn to actively seek out resources, speak up and advocate for him. Our family of four have become so much closer. Jared looks up to his elder brother and they love each other’s company.”

“We constantly worry about Jared’s heart condition. His future is uncertain. To have him by our side is already a miracle, other than seeing the specialist every 3 months, he has been on daily medications from a young age since his discharge from ICU. A heart transplant may be the only “cure”, but we are not considering this option yet given his current condition,” she added.

“It is important to live each day with gratitude. We will do what we can to help him live life to the fullest. As parents, we have to be role models, be resilient, and be the pillar of strength that our children depend on. By being positive in our words and actions, we can raise happy kids who live life with positivity.” shared Mrs Lee.

Support the children of Club Rainbow and their families today!

Therapist Speaks! – Part 2

We caught up with our Occupational Therapist, Meijie, to understand more about the work she is doing to support our children in maximizing their developmental potentials.

Q: Can you share with us your background?

MJ: I graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic in Occupational Therapy and started my first job in Paediatrics which is my area of interest and passion. In the past 16 years of work, I ventured across various work settings working with patients of different medical conditions, and also in the administrative area such as teaching and auditing. Nonetheless, I spend the bulk of my years in Paediatrics.

Q: When will a child require Occupational Therapy?

MJ: Occupational Therapy intervention can be beneficial when we observe our children experiencing difficulty in performing activities that are essential to the child e.g. activities of daily living, sleeping; activities that are meaningful to the child e.g. playing; as well as activities that define the role of the child in the community e.g. student.

Q: How is assessment of the child and setting of goals being carried out?

MJ: Depending on the outcome the child's caregiver, family and the attending therapist would like to achieve from the assessment, as well as the time allowance, the therapist can use a combination of clinical observation and various partial or full standardized assessment tools.

I think it is important to give consideration for the reason the caregiver or family has brought the child in for an assessment or therapy intervention. There are various Occupational Therapy frameworks and models that therapist adopts depending on the particular child and accompanying situation. The former guides the therapist in the setting of goals that are appropriate to the child.

Q: What are the common challenges you encounter in your job?

MJ: In trying to find a balance for parents to align with the therapy intervention on a regular basis, apart from the weekly therapy session. This involves helping parents to understand their child's condition, the direction, and management method for intervention, and incorporating them into the child's daily routine, purposely and subtly.  Considerations have to be given to the caregiver's spoken and unspoken difficulties in implementing suggested interventions, the therapist will revise their recommendations accordingly. Ultimately, the intervention and recommendations are to help ease caregiver stress and not to add burden with the additional home programs.



Q: What are your proudest moments?

MJ: I would say happier moments...to see the child making good progress myself, to hear from the caregiver on the child's positive progress, to know that the family is happier and experiencing reduced stressor with improved quality of life because of the improvement the child has made and/or the caregiver and family has a better understanding of the child's condition and thus better able to care for the child.

Q: How can parents help their child at home?

MJ: Parents can speak to the therapist to understand their child's condition better. There is no hard and fast rule as to what parents should do or can do. Rather, it is important as parents to take care of our own mental health, stay calm and happy, and to retain our own identity that gives us our values and meaning in life. We can only take care of our children, if we take care of ourselves.

Q: Any advice for individuals who wants to be an occupational therapist?

MJ: Personally, I think passion and empathy are 2 essential attributes that helps one to continue to improve and do good work as an Occupational Therapist.

Therapist speaks! – Part 1

We met up with our Physiotherapist, Haslina, who provides home-based physiotherapy to our children. Read on to find out more about the work she is doing to maximize the developmental potentials of our
children.

Q: Can you tell us more about yourself?

H: I graduated with a Bachelor of Science honors degree in Physiotherapy conferred by Singapore Institute of Technology – Trinity College of Dublin. When I was doing my placement in Dublin as part of my studies, I served in a Central Remedial Clinic which housed various allied health services and a school for children with disabilities (4-18 years old). Back in Singapore, I worked in THK Therapy Services from 2015 to 2018, serving various groups of children including those in Club Rainbow Singapore. I left THK after giving birth to my
first child, and am now serving Club Rainbow as a Physiotherapist since mid-2018.

Q: Having worked with CRS clients for the past 4 years, what are some of your rewarding moments that you had/ where you have had great satisfaction?

H: The most rewarding moments are seeing the progress that the children make, no matter how minute. Even increased receptiveness to my sessions are rewarding for me. I also love the bonds that are created, not just with the children, but also with their families. This is extra special for me as majority of my sessions are conducted in their homes, in their safe space, which is very different from centre-based sessions. I have grown to love these children like my own, and becoming a mother myself has also given me a fresh insight into the way the parents I serve may think and feel.

There are a few highlights in the four years of my journey that has brought me great satisfaction.

One of them is 3 years old Heather, who was diagnosed with a respiratory condition. She was weak and fragile prior to Physiotherapy (PT), and was unwilling to move about much as it tired her out very easily. She
was unable to creep on the floor much less tolerate being on her tummy even, at 1 year old. She was also reliant on oxygen and a breathing machine after undergoing a medical procedure. She had a very weak immune system and would fall sick easily. As such, Heather was confined to her home since birth, except for visits to the hospitals for doctors' appointments.

Within less than a year of Physiotherapy, Heather showed outstanding improvement and has nearly reached her age-appropriate milestones, and is now independently walking, running and even jumping. Although initially afraid of leaving her home, she is now an active toddler who enjoys going out very much. Now that she has also successfully weaned off her breathing machine and oxygen support when she is awake, and that she is also physically stronger, her family is more willing to bring her out and explore toddler-friendly places, such as outdoor and indoor playgrounds. Her overall quality of life has definitely improved, now that she is able to play like a typically-developing toddler.

Another memorable client is 16 years old youth, Janice*, who has neurologic disorders. She is someone who grew up with typical development and no special needs, going to school as per normal and moving around independently up till she was 13 years old. All that changed after the complications following her high fever, which caused her to lose the function in both her legs and affect the strength in her trunk, causing her to be wheelchair bound. However, her cognition was not affected at all, and she is just like a normal teenager with a
physical dysfunction.

Initially very skeptical and unsure of herself and her abilities, Janice was heavily reliant on her caregivers for transfers; she was passive and mostly carried, with minimal participation on her part.  She was always concerned about her weight and how her caregivers have to carry her, feeling that she was putting her caregivers through so much trouble. Since her diagnosis, she was always either on the bed or on her
wheelchair, and had never sat on the sofa or on the floor.

Janice has come a long way from her first PT session, proving her initial doubts wrong with each session. Prior to PT, she never thought she would be able to do the things she can do now. She was highly afraid of falling down when we first started getting her to participate in transfers. Now, she can is independent in moving
herself from lying down in bed to sitting up at the edge of the bed, transferring herself from the bed to the wheelchair and back to the bed, from the wheelchair to the sofa and from the sofa to the floor, requiring minimal help from her caregivers.

Previously, she could only stand when using a tilt table, or with 2 person maximal assistance. Now, she is able to able to stand with 1 person or contact guard assistance for safety purposes, while she holds onto the window grille or walker to maintain standing upright.

Her confidence has been increasing since her first session, and so has her overall quality of life. She is also now more proactive and motivated, and takes the initiative to do her own exercises as independently as possible. Hence, she is happy that she can at least lift some burden off her caregivers’ shoulders now that she can help herself more, with guidance from her caregivers rather than being fully dependent on them. This kind of satisfaction is priceless.

Another highlight would be Shaka* aged 3, who has Down Syndrome and Infantile Spasms. When he was about 18 months-old, he was still fully dependent on his caregivers for almost everything. His highest level of gross motor function was to be able to maintain sitting upright on the floor with his legs spread out in a
V-shape, or maintain sitting upright on a stool if he was placed in that position. He was immobile (not
creeping, crawling, standing or walking) and was disinterested in movement generally, as it tired him out easily. He was happy to simply sit and play for long periods, whereas a child his age should already be actively running around playing. He also had extremely low tolerance to bending his knees, and greatly disliked being on his tummy, both of which are important pre-requisites in preparation for creeping and crawling. His mum was very anxious about his condition and whether he would be able to catch up on his milestones, as he was moderate-severely delayed in his gross motor function.

Within less than a year of PT, Shaka’s tolerance to bending his knees and being on his tummy increased greatly, hence leading to better participation in creeping and crawling practice. He also progressed
from creeping to crawling to pulling himself up to standing, to standing without holding onto any support, to taking a few steps without holding onto any support, and is now walking independently.

Mum also appeared to be calmer, and not as anxious as before. She even gave feedback that she was very excited and happy with the progress she saw, and it helped her to appreciate and take note of even
the smallest of achievements. With PT and a lot of education and caregiver training, mum and even grandma understood his condition better and saw him from different perspectives, allowing them to better work around it to help him more effectively.

Q: What are some “surprises” that you had experienced so far? It could be something pleasant or unexpected challenges that differed from what you had in mind before coming here. 

H: Pleasant surprises would be the gifts and cards I have received, especially during Teachers’ Day, as I do not expect anything from the families in return for my PT services. It is also heartwarming when parents thank me and feedback to me about the effectiveness of my therapy sessions, and that their children look forward to seeing me for sessions.

Challenges would be cases that the children have rare conditions that I may not be familiar with, or have not
had the experience working with children with such conditions. Our manpower is very limited so the waiting list may be long. Majority of my sessions are conducted in the children’s homes, where there can be a lack of therapy equipment. From there, I have to be creative in modifying the home environment to suit the
child’s needs, and for the child to be able to follow up with the home exercise programme.

Q: Do you have anything you wish to say to your clients and their families or to CRS families in general?

H: A therapist can only do so much to help your child, but ultimately the most important people in your children’s lives are you, the family members, especially the main caregivers. A therapist only sees your child weekly, but you are with them 24/7. Hence it is so important for you to remember that the one who can
make the most change is you. You are the precious gems in your child’s life, and without you they would not be where they are. Stay strong and positive and always remember that a child is a child first before a child with disabilities. Never blame yourself for any bad things that happen to your child along the way, I am absolutely certain that you have done your best to provide the best care that you can for your child. Taking care of your child is important, but taking care of yourself is even more important. As the saying goes, “you cannot pour from an empty cup”. You deserve care and attention too.

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our children.

#socialservicetribe #socialservices #meaningfulcareer #physiotherapist

Giving Back to The Local Communities

FTI Consulting is a global advisory company which believes in giving back to the local communities in countries where they operate in. We are pleased to have a chat with Ms Sarah Davis-Goff, Marketing Manager of FTI on their partnership with Club Rainbow. 

1. Can you tell us more about why FTI has chosen to support Club Rainbow? 

 Globally FTI Consulting has a strong corporate citizenship programme focused on giving back to the communities in which we do business.  In March 2018 we rolled out our first firm-wide collective corporate citizenship programme in Singapore. 

 To start such a programme in Singapore we first needed to select a local partner that we could work with and whose efforts we could support, ideally a partner championing a cause our colleagues could relate to. Taking a democratic approach, we shortlisted a selection of potential charity partners for employees to vote on and Club Rainbow was the overwhelming choice!  A driving factor in that decision was looking at how Club Rainbow supports not only your beneficiaries but their families and primary caregivers as well. This was a compelling point for a lot of our people, giving attention and support to caregivers who take on the primary role of caring for the beneficiaries. 

2. Can you share more about your experience of raising funds and/or organising activities for our children? 

In September 2018, we partnered a culinary training school for the disabled and disadvantaged - Dignity Kitchen - to host a "bake-off" for the children supported by Club Rainbow. We wanted to do something unique for the children and provide them with a fresh experience that allows them to learn something new as well as showcase their gratitude to their caregivers. Caregivers of the participating children were also given a rare afternoon off as our members, together with the Club Rainbow staff, took over caring for the children during this time. During this session the children received lessons on how to bake both cookies and muffins from Dignity Kitchen's head baker. 

 Since then we have enjoyed our annual Kris Kringle excursions to Decathalon and UniQlo. Some of our fitter team members took on the Ride for Rainbows cycling challenge last year and we were excited to be involved in the Celebrating Hero’s day in September last year. Every year our teams get to show off their baking talents in an office-wide bake sale from which the proceeds are donated to Club Rainbow.    

3. How has the CSR partnership with Club Rainbow benefited FTI Consulting and your employees?   

Spending time with the Club Rainbow beneficiaries and their families has helped us to appreciate the everyday challenges faced by the children and their families. It’s also helped bring people across our office closer together, strengthening connections outside of typical day-to-day working teams. Finally, it is an important way of showing our employees that FTI Consulting means it when we say we want people to connect with and support the causes that matter most to them! 

Thank you FTI Consulting for bringing a rainbow of hope to not only our children, and also to their families! 

If your company or organisation wish to do your part in giving back to the community, please email us for a discussion: crscpm@clubrainbow.org 

#Collaboration #CorporateGiving #Corporate Social Responsibility  

A Little Good Goes A Long Way

We spoke to Ms Kris Tan, Business Manager from Chye Thiam, one of the largest environment and maintenance companies in Singapore.

Hi Kris, why had your organisation decided to support Club Rainbow? 

Chye Thiam Maintenance (CTM) was looking for a non-profit organization that fit our objectives of working with underprivileged children and youths, and lending help in ways other than just donations and Club Rainbow was a good match with our objectives. Club Rainbow had also been very proactive in engaging corporate partners like us and we had a pleasant time partnering with Club Rainbow in
2019.

Chye Thiam supported our flagship cycling event, Ride for Rainbows. Can you tell me more about your experience?

In order to ensure that we create a meaningful volunteering experience for our staff in CTM, we volunteered to be the logistics partner for Ride for Rainbows. This allowed our staff to contribute to a meaningful cause using company's existing resources and skill sets, with their personal time and effort, and by sacrificing their "beauty sleep". Our waste collection colleagues and hygiene specialists were also roped in to clean and clear the waste for the event. In addition, our CEO also led a team of riders to participate in the "Fun" category to help raise funds as well.  It was truly a great CTM team effort! 

How do you think the experience benefited your organisation and your employees? 

It was a very fruitful, meaningful and heart-warming experience for us. A timely reminder for many of us that a little good goes a long way. We are not a big company, with huge CSR budgets to spare. We hope that our various activities with Club Rainbow over the one year period, be it the donation to the food collection drive, or the delivery of the food packs to the children and their families, or being the Official Logistics Partner for Ride for Rainbows, had helped to make a little difference in someone's life. Our colleagues also had the chance to bond deeper with fellow colleagues and do good together.  

We are thankful for the support from Chye Thiam and hope that we have a chance to partner with them again!

Should your company or organisation wish to support our children and their families, please email us for a discussion: crscpm@clubrainbow.org

#Collaboration #CorporateGiving #CorporateSocialResponsibility