On October 12th, NHG hosted its first breast cancer carnival in the Bidadari region, held at a shopping mall and community centre to engage the public. Bidadari is one of the new estates under the NHG northwest catchment area and close to one of our newest polyclinics at Kallang.

The highlight of the carnival was the multiple interactive exhibits that introduced the public to breast cancer, covering topics from screening to diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Some of these interactive exhibits included a shoot the cancer exhibit where the public learnt about hormonal receptors on breast cancer and a larger than life snake and ladder showing the ups and downs of breast cancer treatment. The exhibits were well-received by both young and old, with curious passers-by stopping to learn more about breast cancer. It was heartening to see young ones playing our games, and while they may not have understood much of what was written, we hope it was a good start.

In the atrium of Woodleigh Mall we had the booths such as NHG diagnostics encouraging ladies to sign up for breast cancer screening and healthier SG to encourage the public to sign up for the initiative to get the goverment subsidies for the appropriate age group. The mammobus also made it’s appearance at the front of Woodleigh mall as a reminder to all the residents that day to get their screening done. Our Woodleigh mall staff and Potong Pasir CC members had pre-registered for screening and benefitted from the proximity of the mammobus that Saturday.

The day was also filled with fun stage events, starting with a mass Zumba exercise led by our Zumba instructor, who is herself a breast cancer survivor. We had support from our physiotherapy department and some residents who joined us in this event with a hope to kick start healthy lifestyle. Our emcee Ms Chua Lee Lian who is also a long time friend of the hospital, having hosted many of our previous public forums was also hosting this event and brought much energy to the event.

The event was graced by our guest of honor, Ms. Rahayu, and Potong Pasir MP, Mr. Seetoh YP, who were supportive of our efforts to bring breast cancer knowledge to the grassroots4. Ms. Rahayu also launched the NHG breast cancer support group alongside the heads of service from the three hospitals. The NHG breast cancer support group is a newly revised support group started with the aim to bring together patients from the 3 healthcare institutions under the NHG umbrella. More about this initiative in an upcoming blog.

We highlighted our patients with a KpopX dance performance featuring our staff and a patient interview featuring two of our patients who have benefited from the support group at TTSH over the years. The event continued with multiple performances featuring a banner dance group, a drums performance group and our very own doctors and medical staff performing as the TTSH hospital playlist group with singers and a pianist and a violinist. All these added much to the fun and the carnival atmosphere of the day. Many of the residents learnt much about breast cancer in a fun and interactive way and as organisers we were extremely pleased with the reach that we had made.

Not to worry for those who have missed the events, we are working on putting the Materials online for everyone to benefit from so don’t forget to save this page to look for new activities and materials coming up on this webpage!