Walking With A Star

In collaboration with SGH Physiotherapy

It is a stressful experience for patients with various conditions to lose their ability to walk before a surgery. Be it a knee surgery or rehabilitation after stroke, patients often look forward to regaining mobility after surgery.

Often, the mobility recovery rate of a patient in the ward is limited by the lack of supervision by staff to support their walking. This has caused longer recovery time for patients to regain full mobility. With this programme, we aim to provide more opportunities for patients to walk with supervision by volunteers. Eligible patients could walk up to 5 days a week with a physiotherapy volunteer, up from twice a week. This will shorten the time taken for patients to regain their ability to walk after surgery.

After a successful pilot run of the programme, the department has expanded into supporting patients with Total Knee Replacement (TKR), Surgical and Amputee group. Under this programme, eligible patients can benefit from doing a variety of walkig and bedside exercises to enhance to their recovery.

Be the reason for patients to be able to regain mobility in a shorter time. You can make a significant impact in these patients' care by volunteering with us!

The Volunteer Experience

You will be met with SGH physiotherapists at the designated deployment areas where you will be assigned to patients to supervise and support their walking.
A physiotherapist will conduct a group pre-duty briefing to volunteers before deployment to the wards.
You will support and walk with the assigned patients within the wards for 10 to 15 minutes before moving on to the next assigned patient.
You will gather back at the designated ward for a debrief before your volunteer duty comes to an end.

The whole experience takes 2 hours.

Volunteer Requirements

21 years old and above
Vaccinated against the following:

COVID-19, as indicated on the TraceTogether App
Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)
Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Tdap)
Varicella (Chickenpox)

*Volunteers not vaccinated against any of the above are required to receive the required vaccinations prior to deployment.

No current or recurrent injuries of chronic pain
Willing to interact with patients, of which majority are senior citizens
Commit to volunteer regularly with at least 2 sessions within 6 months of signing up, each session will last up to 2 hours. Sessions will be on weekdays, 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm.

Ability to speak in mother tongues and dialects will be helpful, but not compulsory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions	Answers
Who will I be helping?	Patients who are recovering post-surgery and eligible for walking exercise.
What is the commitment level required?	Commit to volunteer for at least 1 session within 6 months of signing up. Duration of each session will be approximately 2 hours. Sessions will be on weekdays, Mon to Fri, 10am-12 pm and 2pm-4pm. After registration, fulfilling vaccination requirements and training, you will be given access to the volunteering schedule to indicate your availability. If you are keen on volunteering on a more frequent/regular basis, do write in to us at community.integration@sgh.com.sg. We welcome and appreciate your time and effort.
Do I have to undergo training?	Yes, you will need to attend a face-to-face training on-site. The training ensures that you are well-prepared for the volunteering activity. Training topics include: infection control and good hand hygiene, managing emergencies, befriending, knee rehabilitation bed exercises, safe handling techniques and ways to support patients when accompanying them.
How do I choose my sessions?	After completing registration and training, you will be given access to the volunteering calendar to indicate your availability. You may sign up for consecutive slots if your schedule allows.