We have got "the best education system", various campagnes on
COURTESY, GRACIOUSNESS, and whatever that teaches people to be
thoughtful of others.
But Still, there are lots of people out there with narrow
hearts.
Why do people, behave the way they do in Singapore? What or who do
you think they're emulating?
==========================================
CRUEL LIFT HOGS
Sick woman rushed to ambulance on ground floor. Ugly S'poreans
squeeze in and make it stop on their floors
July 15, 2006
AN elderly woman, 60, collapses in a crowded shopping centre. She
is seriously ill and needs to get to the hospital urgently.
Paramedic Carolyn Low, senior medical orderly Abdul Razak (middle)
and medic Muhd Milhan Shah showing in this posed picture how they
face inconsiderate Singaporeans who insist on getting into lifts
while they're rushing to get to their patients. Delays can cost
patients their lives. --GAVIN FOO
Paramedics rush to the scene, place her on a stretcher, and get
into a lift to take her downstairs to the ambulance.
But to the horror of the anxious family members, some shoppers
refuse to give way. Instead, they decide to squeeze into the
lift.
That's not all. They then press the buttons for all the other
floors where they want to get off.
That's what Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedic Carolyn
Low, 28, encountered recently at an Orchard Road shopping centre
when trying to transport an unconscious cancer victim down from the
fifth storey.
UPSET
She said: 'The lift ended up stopping at every floor. One of the
relatives was so upset, she shouted at everyone in the lift.'
The incident highlights a new breed of inconsiderate people who
think nothing of blocking the work of rescue personnel despite
years of public education.
As SCDF personnel attend to more emergency cases in highrise
buildings, they recall having brushes with a new breed of ugly
Singaporean: The lift-hoggers.
While the SCDF says that most Singaporeans are helpful and
considerate toward emergency personnel (see report on facing page),
some are just too selfish and insensitive.
Given the serious consequences that could arise from a lift hog's
actions, even one delay could be one delay too many.
Ms Low, who has been with the SCDF for seven years, recounted
another incident in a HDB block in Serangoon last year.
She was trying to transport a woman in her 70s, who had a heart
attack, to the ambulance downstairs.
She was trying to give the woman CPR inside the lift, but that
didn't stop some 'uncles and aunties' who 'die die' wanted to
squeeze into the lift. Not only did they get in her way, they also
delayed the transfer to the hospital.
Mr Muhd Milhan Shah, 23, a medic and NSF, encountered another group
of ugly Singaporeans last month.
Together with a paramedic and ambulance driver, they responded to a
995 call at a second storey HDB flat in Toa Payoh just past
7am.
Because the patient, a man in his 20s, was suffering from back pain
and had to be immobilised flat on his back, the paramedic and
driver had to carry him down the stairs using a special
device.
Mr Milhan was left to transport the regular stretcher, the 10kg
automated external defibrillator used to shock patients, and a
large 'trauma bag' containing medical supplies, by himself.
But when the lift arrived, there were four people already
inside.
Said Mr Milhan: 'I asked them, 'Can you let me through, you can use
the staircase, it's only the second floor.''
But one women in her 50s said instead: 'No no, I'm late for work.'
Then she tried to close the lift door.
Shocked, Mr Milhan pressed the lift door open and asked again -
this time stressing that he was with the ambulance service and
there was a patient downstairs waiting for him.
But he was turned down again.
In the end, Mr Milhan pushed open the door, and squeezed himself
and all the equipment into the lift.
He said wryly: 'They nagged at me a bit, but I just kept
quiet.'
Besides lift hoggers, emergency personnel also have to deal with
the ubiquitous Singaporean kaypohs.
Said Ms Low: 'Sometimes they crowd around to kaypoh, see what we
are doing. But when we need help, like carrying the patient, they
don't offer.'
There's also the bochap shoppers: 'We are in shopping centres,
trying to get access to the patient. But they don't give way until
you shout, 'Excuse me, excuse me!' ' she said.
Singaporeans can also be inconsiderate in indirect ways.
Said Mr Milhan: 'Sometimes when I push the stretcher down the
corridor, there are a lot of big vases (flower pots) obstructing
our way. Slippers - we can still kick aside. But vases, bicycles,
we have to carry aside one by one - especially early in the morning
when they (the owners) are still sleeping.'
Anyone who voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the
discharge of his public functions can be jailed up to three months,
fined up to $500 or both.
Cpt Siti Afzan, assistant director of the SCDF Medical Department
(emergency medical service), said: 'During emergencies, our
paramedics are trying to assist those in distress and quickly rush
them to the hospital. Help from the public, such as giving way to
responding ambulances and giving priority to paramedics using the
lift, can help us in our life-saving mission.'
