Mary comes from Myanmar and has been working at St John’s Home for Elderly Persons (SJHEP) as a Healthcare Assistant (HA) since she came to Singapore in December 2007. As an HA, her work is to keep the residents healthy and as comfortable as possible and that includes everything, ranging from preparing and serving meals to doing the laundry and cleaning the dormitories.

A typical day for Mary starts at 6 am, when she prepares breakfast for the residents with the other HAs.

As an HA Lead, Mary monitors the stock of housekeeping items and informs the General Office when new supplies are needed. On her own initiative, Mary has implemented cost-saving measures like pouring detergent from 1-litre bottles into smaller bottles for the HAs to use.

When the weekend comes, Mary prepares the Lounge for the Sunday Chapel service. She will also lay the table for the parishioners’ breakfast after Chapel service. As Sunday is the Cook’s rest day, she helps the Assistant Cook with meal preparation. When the Kitchen Helper is on leave, Mary helps in the Dining Hall as well.

To Mary, the elderly residents remind her of her grandparents who lived with her and her family of six back home in Myanmar. Mary’s grandparents took care of her and her three sisters while their parents were at work. And she remembers her favourite dish of pork stew which her grandma used to cook.

Remembering those times with her grandparents, Mary is always ready to help when the residents approach Mary with their various requests; e.g. they may ask for a bar of soap or to warm up food which their families occasionally bring to the home. She also readily accepts that caring for the elderly means that sometimes they can be quarrelsome and stubborn. It also helps Mary to be always patient with the elderly residents.

It’s not all work and no play for Mary. On Sunday afternoons when there are no special programmes at SJHEP, Mary attends the Karen service at Kim Tian Christian Church. On her rest days, she likes to stroll in Peninsular Plaza, Bugis or Chinatown. She enjoys eating local food like roasted pork rice, chicken rice and duck rice. Mary loves singing Hymns and enjoys the music of Jim Reeves.

Most of the work of an HA like Mary may seem to be simple and routine tasks but they are crucial to the comfort and well being of the residents.