rey.blog

Unlike the majority of poly students who are currently enjoying their 2nd day of the new school year, I’ve already crossed that point of no return. Its now Week 7 for me (out of 9 for submission and 12 for ‘official presentation’) and the stress of the past six weeks have started to tire me out. Its like climbing a mountain and being stuck in the middle – hiking up the steepest slopes, you look down but you’re too high up to see the ground, tilt your head towards the sky and the peak too, is nowhere in sight. To make things worst – You’re climbing alone (I’m the only programmer in my team), carrying all the load on your shoulders with no one to share with, no one to give you encouragement when you fall, no one to lean on. Now imagine if you had to keep changing your path, walking backwards and going round in circles, because you have no map and someone else who isn’t in your predicament said so on the walkie talkie and you have no choice but to obey. That’s exactly what I’m experiencing now.

I leave you with this picture I took during a soccer tournament in my school some months back using my 300mm.

On Sunday, for the first time ever in my life, I punched those 3 numbers into my handphone. I was on my way to YCK Stadium for a run after Tuition, waiting at the bus stop in Sengkang when an old lady beside me had blood squirting out of her leg like a water fountain! I won’t go into the gory details, but basically everyone at the bus stop (It was one of those really long bus stops with lots of people) just crowded around her, looking at each other for a while, talking among themselves! Since no one called the ambulance yet, I whipped out my phone and dialed the prohibitive numbers 995 and an operator answered within 10 seconds. He was speaking in a very nonchalant-y tone!

Operator: (Incomprehensible)… what is the emergency?
Me: “There is an old lady here. She’s bleeding very badly.”
Operator: Okay, can you give me your location?
Me: “I’m not sure. Its at a bus stop in Sengkang.” *Looks straight ahead and sees the bus stop code in front of me* “Bus stop code 65061.”
Operator: Sir, I (incomprehensible)…
Me: The bus stop code is SIX FIVE *pause* “zero” *I got interrupted*
Operator: (Sounding very pissed off) I’ve told you, we don’t have bus stop codes here! You need to tell me an address! I need an address!
Me: (Shouting to people at the bus stop) Anybody know where this place is? I need the address? Block number?
All I got were a few shrugs and many blank faces. I moved around trying to look at the block number of the HDB flat nearby and later saw the block number written on the bus stop pole.
Me: The bus stop at Punggol Road Block 298A in Sengkang.
Operator: Okay, I’m sending an ambulance right now. *Hangs Up*

The kay-poh crowd that gathered earlier had dispersed by the time my call ended, except for me and one other guy – he was wearing a civil defence uniform. (Irony is, he was just going to book into camp and it was his first day, so he knew nuts about saving people!) It took the ambulance another 10 odd more minutes to reach, by which time my bus had came and left, but I decided to stay anyway.

When the ambulance arrived, it went straight to block 298A instead of stopping at the bus stop! The C-D guy was trying to flag down the ambulance as it drove pass the bus stop – to no avail of course. I ended up chasing the ambulance to the block and bringing the paramedics to the bus stop! Again, I wont go into the bloody details, but at the end of it, they put her on the stretcher and sent her to Changi General Hospital.

*Sigh*. How the hell could the 995 operator not know what bus stop codes are?! They are issued by the government to every single bus stop in Singapore! Not to mention the very bo chap attitude and incomprehensible (at times) voice of the operator; he also obviously forgot to tell the ambulance that the old lady was at the bus stop NEAR the block and not AT the block. Many precious minutes were lost and I would be dammed if I ever needed help in an emergency! Imagine waiting 15 minutes for help to arrive – I can think of only too many scenarios where 15mins would have been too late!

EDIT: I realised that some of the other phone numbers in my call log were quite visible, so I had to black them out… theres only so much my camera can do at 300mm f5.6…