Our patient, Mr Hau Kok Meng, 77 years old, belongs to the pioneer generation of Singapore. For more than 22 years, he toiled at construction sites, building the concrete slabs used for HDB flats. His low income meant that he was unable to own a flat despite building thousands of them. Home for him was a rental flat which he shared with a co-tenant.
When the construction sector began making prefabricated concrete slabs, Mr Hau's skills became obsolete and he had to find alternative work. Then Mr Hau was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2006 and had to stop work. While struggling with his illness, he was evicted from his flat when his co-tenant passed away. He became homeless and went into a home for the destitute.
In 2017, Mr Hau was further diagnosed with kidney failure. The home could not continue to care for him and he was referred to Assisi Hospice.
We started caring for Mr Hau from September 2017. Besides giving Mr Hau clinical care for symptom management, we also spoke about his end-of-life plans. Mr Hau appreciate living his remaining days simply, in our inpatient's cosy environment, accompanied with medical and nursing care, and psychosocial support; something that he has never had in his life.
Inpatient care is important for Mr Hau who is alone and without any caregiver support. He is among the 2,000 patients that we will serve this year, we appeal for your generous support for our patients.