Another day at Slim River

Earlier this morning… like around 1am, I was preparing for bed and bid my online pals good night sweet dreams la dee da. I stood up from my seat and turned around. Saw something that made my heart and whole body froze.

A brown thing with a triangular head around the size of a phone splitter was at the floor. At the back of my head, I kinda guessed it could be my worst fear. But I need to take a closer look, maybe it’s just an old leaf flew into my house.

Ta-dah ~ I stood close enough to identify it’s eyes and ‘hands’. I literally jumped backwards as if that FROG just said Briiiibit~ I am not sure why myself, but I quickly sat down in front of my computer, frozen. And I S.O.S.ed the good buddy whom I was chatting with. Kinda like a Virtual SCREAM.

Oh yeah… I have a thing about frogs. I used to eat ‘Tin Kai’ so much + enjoying them one season, that one day I had a terrible nightmare about frogs. Since then, frogophobia~

This brown fella pushed me to tears, lolz. I ran upstairs, palpitating and breathing deeply. I am already laughing at myself. It took me quite some time to calm down and I sat in the dark for a long time before finally fell asleep. I kinda wonder… How are you going to find your way out of the house? Laaater, a friend told me matter-of-factly that frogs that got into the house dunno how to get out unless you guide them. Otherwise, they stay inside the house.
Somewhere.
Lurking.

Uwahhhhh !!!!

Today Outpatient day in the clinic, first tooth to extract a firm canine. O wow~

And I accidentally cut myself while treating a patient. It was a tiny bleeding sting. We’re supposed to report incidental injuries. Ah, nevermind…

A normal day in Slim River includes making myself simple lunches 😉
Today, since I purposely wasted time upstairs in the morning, I dashed downstairs grabbed whatever necessary and darted out of the house, in case any brown item jumpy-jumpy wanna greet me. So, no coffee nor any bites in the morning.
Therefore, I thought, well, I shall heat the leftover spaghetti that I had. Simple, quick and filling.

Oh, boy. Disaster too.

What a day~
Slim River, you’re gonna miss my c nose for a few days.

Oral Cancer Screening

Location : Ladang Lima Blas, Slim River.

Apart from going to school, this is among the first Oral Health Promotion programme that I participated in. The van carried a team of us on the bumpy road to Ladang 15 Oil Palm Estate. Our mission is to educate people about oral cancer and provide free screening for oral cancer.

Sounds noble hey? =) Total people registered as estate residents, 210. When we reached, the staffs split out to prepare AV system. Some set up the posters board, others brought out the portable dental chair and lights. Total turn out, not surprisingly, 20 kids and 10 adults. The show must go on.

These people are uneducated people, mostly Indians and Bangladeshis. They are even afraid to see our van parked outside the common hall, but still, curiosity made them pushed each other in.

I tried to be friendly and went down their level to connect with them. Some of the Indian women, although they can speak Malay, they chose to speak Tamil and had a translator to speak to me… It almost seems like they care naught about health. The tone of their Tamil doesn’t sound friendly either. One of the women gave me a sharp rude look… which kinda hurts. But I am the doctor, the team leader. Guess I’ll just learn to be graceful. You don’t know and don’t care… It’s my job to tell you what you should know and care about.

The faithful yellow van

The responsive kids

Portable dental chair and equipments

The journey back to clinic.
The programme works well because of an efficient team. We appreciated the teamwork and the beauty of the rainbow.

A lil deviation from the clinic is fun.

Generally a misunderstood job

First, read this.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/19/focus/5136599&sec=focus

My reaction : Sad.
The places that the author mentioned happened to be the clinics I worked in before, while I was at Ipoh.

First of all, I shall begin by saying that I agree with everything the author wrote minus the part that we don’t care, because we do. Author Mafuzah is right about KPI’s limited parking spaces, right about the long waiting time, also right about the limited waiting lobby, right that we only have certain outpatient days, right that we are only able to do extractions on outpatient days, right about some of the waiting lists are so long that at the end of the day the gigi cannot be saved liao, right that we offer minimal root canal treatments and crowning, right about so many things.

However… I felt violated and misjudged for she is so damn wrong about some other things. She is wrong to say our services is always poor. She is wrong to say we have no urgency to treat people. She is wrong to say treatment options are not given. She is wrong to have the notion that everyday should be Outpatient Day. She is wrong to tell the nation not to bother about scaling unless you have thick plaque. She is wrong to expect every single clinic is fullyequipped (might as well turn every single clinic to a hospital).

Generally, she complains too much, and construct too little. That’s besides the point… She has her right and again, I stress that many things that she mentioned did hit home. BUT… who is she blaming? Really, Mafuzah, who are you blaming?

The Dental Officers?
The need is there and the supply is rare. 1 dentist to 7500 people. One Outpatient morning, 40-70 patients per officer. Do the math. We are practically working our asses off. Berkhidmat untuk Rakyat. You don’t really think we made you waited outside coz we are chit chatting inside, do you? You don’t think we have long waiting lists and appointments because we are lazy, do you?? We have so many needs to meet…

The core problem is lack of dentists, and specifically, lack of government dentists. Address this. This is the problem. We’re currently shouldering the burden of its consequences. But come on, that’s why we have more dental schools now. This is one step forward, kudos to the policy makers.

People commented AirAsia to be a high risk low budget, high delay rate air service. But generally, we appreciate AirAsia because we get to go home more often and even consider going places for holidays, which a few years ago, not everyone can fly.

Dentally speaking, give government healthcare service providers the credits they are due. Like not everyone can afford MAS, people should be very grateful for the heavily subsidized healthcare services in Malaysia. That is why there is heavy traffic and needs for the services. Where can you find RM2 for Scaling and RM1 for extractions, including difficult ones?

Service-wise, there are a lot of ISO humdrums which I will not go into. Mafuzah is right to say that sometimes our hands are tied to provide more complex services. But we are human being with basic manners too. It’s not like we are rude or we have attitude problems,etc. I suppose many of the public who did engage the government services might be able to recall acceptable, if not good, encounters.

Think about how to make government servants stay.
Complaining will do more harm than good. In government service, if I extract 50 teeth a single morning, it’s 50 x RM1 = RM50 worth of work + a hand heading towards Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. If I extract 50 teeth a morning in private sector… imagine the yummy 50 x RM 70 = RM3500. One single morning! If the very people for whom we are serving doesn’t appreciate what we are doing, why am I still here? The lush green field is just the other side.

To all government healthcare workers, a toast to you.
Keep striving, although sometimes our work are left unseen or unappreciated. Even sometimes we took some tongue lashing from patients too… Generally misunderstood. Whatever….
Berkhidmat untuk Negara. Gigi Warisan Kita.

Mine is a little voice. Thus you find this in my blog, rather than The Star 😉

Unlikely

Many, my parents especially, think that after 5pm, I don’t look (and perhaps, act) like a healthcare professional.

7.30pm I was at the Accident & Emergency Department in plain clothes. Even so, today’s plain clothes refers to long sleeves T-shirt and non-jeans long pants. The Dr name tag hung around my neck. Sometimes I wore jeans to the hospital.

I was just standing near the door when a senior staff nurse (aka Sister) walked in. She immediately addressed the medical staff in uniform and saw my assistant in a distance in plain clothes. I caught her staring at my assistant’s back, ready to call my assistant, probably disapprove her non-uniformity. Before any bad questioning arises, I quickly went forward to offer the explanation that we are the Dental people on-call.

She didn’t gave me a second glance. Until my assistant courteously turned around and nodded ‘Yes, I am from the dental team. This is my Dr,’ gesturing towards me.

Only then Sister noticed my presence.

She looked at me in surprise. And smiled.

‘Mudanya Dokter nie!’

Well, since I am already dressed like so, and stood with my hands in my pocket, I gave her a friendly kiddo beam.

‘La… Aku ingat student ke patient ke.’ she softly said to a nearby medical personnel, but enough for me to overhear.

I think she was embarrassed, while I maintained that Yarlow-yes-I-am-a-Funky-Doctor-that-Doesn’t-Look-like-One friendly smile. She reversed back out of the door and gave me another nod.

Pizza Hut at Slim River ?!?!

Lolz, so I was driving around town after work to run some errands when I caught a glimpse of….

PIZZA HUT ?? In SLIM RIVER ?!?!?!
It took a moment for the brain to register.
I drove along, hunting for the next signage, eyes wide open. Are you kidding me? Slim River doesn’t have any franchise food place yet. Is this gonna be the first one? Or is this going to direct me all the way to Tanjung Malim =.=

Ta-dah !! Another direction appeared!

Whoa!! It’s really here! Right here in Slim River~
Finally, a decent place for me to chill….

I forgot my errands for awhile and drove around to find that Pizza Hut. Where is it…? I must have missed it, and I made a second search.

Then I found it. Pizza Hut of Slim River~

My oh my….

I forgot…

Rainbows

Something we can learn from the weather.

Rain happens.
But when we have sunshine in the rain, we get rainbow.

I spent a few days in Penang, for a course and also met up with some really close friends. Time flies when you get to hee-hee-haw-haw for 4 consecutive days with people whom you hold dear. When we checked-out and left Berjaya Hotel, it was 1.45pm.

And it started to rain throughout my journey. The rain stopped and I saw the rainbow far away. Nice~

It gotta be nice coz the journey was terrible!

When I finally reached Slim River, it was butt-numbing 715pm!!!

But the cool thing was, another rainbow appeared along the way. This time much clearer, much closer, in a wide wide arch. I took out my handphone and snapped away.

Dokter! Nak saya parking kat tepi untuk amik gambor??

Two rainbows in two different places at two different time. Same day
“Awesome~~ what are the chances!”

You don’t Wanna Make a Dentist Mad

For laughing out loud, Kah Shen’s post on the Facebook is so superbly amusing. Not his post per se, but the responds and comments from fellow colleagues.

First the situation.
got this chinese dude, i did extraction 4 him b4. ask him 2 come on next wed. spoke 2 him in mandarin. told him ‘bai san’. he tot was 3rd of this month. came yesterday when i wasn’t around. so 2day come buat kecoh at clinic. doesn’t stop there…after i gave him a jab, ask him 2 wait outside. he dun wan. he said he wanna wait on the chair. KEK SEI!!! Kah Shen

And this is what went on behind the minds of the government dentists, as responding to Kah Shen’s muse.

J Su Use English or Malay only!
Fah If the patient dont wanna wait outside, just extract immediately.. Let him feel the pain..
L Ho No need LA, just plain old extraction! Give him a ‘Buy 1, Free 1’ kind of extraction.
Jin H Just shout him out of the dental chair & call the next patient.
S S they say patient is always right, so we cant do much……how good if can restore an explosive bom in their tooth… cant do much in goverment.

Would you be kind and courteous to your dentists now? =)

________________

Footnote : The responds are just rants. Never ever take it seriously and report us to KKM or ISA. It happens in every service oriented occupation, I daresay!!
(If you see your name up here and isn’t comfortable, in case KKM comes with tindakan tatatertib, just let me know. I’ll remove it. Cheers!)

My Job

Good morning, Lord…
Ah nope, today is ‘Good Lord, it’s morning…’

The first thing that popped into my mind even before I snoozed my clock is
Senarai Aset yang Diangankan 2010
Senarai Pembangunan dan Pembaikan Klinik 2010
due tomorrow.

Not sure which is worse. The fact that it is due tomorrow or the fact that I have no idea what are those Senarais about.
Paperwork… I honestly detest them.

I woke up instead of feeling recharged, I felt like energy drained from my body. With a tinge of purposeless and dreaded sorrow, I sat down and prayed. O Let me start aright.

Hey-ey, the day isn’t as bad as I thought. In fact, in many ways, I was encouraged. My technician helped me with the Senarai. The staff nurses were helpful to provide me with information. It reminded me that when you realize that you’re not doing things alone, things can be done with a happier heart.

Oh well, today is denture appointment day. Many didn’t turn up, freeing up precious hours for me to sit in front of the computer to finish up the Senarais. (and Facebook at the same time)

Denture Days, you meet old people. Old people with childlike faith and old people with wisdom as shown from their greying hair.

Faith like they trust you as their doctor, when you tell them something, they listen and they believe.
One particular makcik was so cute, I really beh tahan. I took an impression of her lower jaw. While removing the tray, it kinda got caught in the undercut and I need to slightly manipulate and bring the impression out.

The fully edentulous makcik was like ‘Xixixi… Sangkut!!’ And she covered her mouth like a child. ‘Sangkut!!!’

Then another makcik. The inspiring makcik who travels 3 hours to get to my clinic and another 3 hours to get home. Finally, her dentures are ready.

I hope she’s happy and I’m happy for her.
Oh my, I love clinical work by far. Rather than listing stuffs like
1. Hydraulic stoppers for doors
2. Warning lights on top of the door of X-Ray room
3. Sliding door for the lab
and the list goes on. Oh YM….

Solo Outpatient day at SR

Hahaha! Madness ! First time ever, I am handling an Outpatient day in Slim River alone. With full traffic! My junior colleague had left for Ipoh. O… How I appreciate him being around now that he is gone!

The patients didn’t really increase. Just that the officers decreased. One man is suddenly doing the workload of 2 person. And I rushed like mad. There is an ISO policy saying that patients shall not wait for more than 30 minutes prior to receiving treatment. Sorry la, today the timing all ran haywire.

For the first time since a long long time, I worked for 4 hours non-stop in the morning. By lunch break, my hand was shaking. I went home and digged out the wrist guard. Finally, I need you.

Came afternoon. Yay! It was raining and with that, the hopes that it will reduce the number of customers. The human traffic never really lessen tho. Many even came with difficult extractions. I literally felt sweats tricking down my neck and into my G2K shirt. I don’t remember sweating so much. My hand was shaking, I wished to stop straining it but the dentist cannot stop working when the patients keep coming. So suck it up and keep going~

445pm sent off the last patient. Time to sign and update the treatment cards. My handwritings and signature became cacat liao. Sexy like the surgeon’s.

O how I miss Menglembu clinic, where nearly all extractions are mobile. I did up to 70 in a single morning, no sweat.

O how I miss working alongside another officer, the workload is simply split half.

Tired sia. I love the adrenaline rush. But not the lactic acid accumulating in my arm. No PSP today. Thank God I am on leave tomorrow~