Attention to Detail

On the MRT (subways and elevated trains) there are "priority seats" near each door. Anyone can sit in these seats, but when an older, pregnant, parent with lap child, or disabled person gets on the train, they get the priority seat. And it's practiced faithfully here.

Sometimes a little too faithfully for our tastes, as in when someone offered Raye the priority seat. (To be fair, this happened when Raye was having her back problems at the end of last year and was using a cane.)

I found the sign itself to be interesting in a couple of details. Take a close look at it. (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.)

Certainly the illustrations are simple and clear; they don't require translation into the four official languages of Singapore (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil).

Did you notice that the adult with the lap child is male?

What about the different spine angles for each of the figures? That was a surprise when I noticed it. They all make sense, too.

I guess that's what happens when you hang around with a physiotherapist for 30 years...

Keeping It Clean - Part 2 (H1N1)

Singapore takes the H1N1 flu pandemic seriously. This makes sense, not only because of the recent memory of SARS in 2003, but also because people are the single most important resource in Singapore's economy. Since Singapore is the #3 most densely populated country in the world, the Health Promotion Board of the Singapore Government is mission control when it comes to prevention. The Ministry of Health oversees the healthcare system, e.g. licenses doctors.

There's a full media blitz on the topic: print, radio, TV, and web (including downloadable Power Point slides for use in classrooms). There is even an official government site about H1N1. There are posters in the mass transit stations, buses, and trains. The one that really caught my eye is the one about "Stop the Horror" which emphasizes washing your hands as a way to stop the spread of the flu and other diseases. There is even a step-by-step set of instructions on proper technique on the HPB website. Have a look and see if you're following best practices. And if you have difficulty remembering the technique, check out the "Washy, Washy Clean" preschooler lyrics, sung to the tune "if you're happy and you know it...". There's even an MP3 recording.

Concerns about H1N1 are extremely visible in the workplace. We get daily e-mail updates on the infection statistics. If you travel away from Singapore, you have to report where you've been and you might be asked for a one-week work-from-home quarantine. We have to take our temperatures and record them on a card twice each day. When we arrive at work we have to show our temperature cards and thermometer. If someone comes down with a fever at work (38C or higher), they clear out the lobby, the reception/security team dons masks and gloves, and a ambulance shows up to whisk the infected person away for treatment & quarantine. I've seen this happen twice. Depending on circumstances (e.g if their is a positive diagnosis of H1N1) the entire work team might be sent home for a week quarantine and their work area disinfected.

When you go into a medical building (like when we recently went to the dentist), you get your temperature taken with an infared no-contact thermometer. You get a sticker to wear showing you've passed "incoming inspection." We've also seen this occasionally at arts performance venues. An interesting side note is that the people taking our temperatures seem to relax a little when we explain that we live in Singapore. They probably assume that we are tourists who just got off the plane from the USA, the country with the most reported cases of H1N1 anywhere on earth. (Imagine if they knew we moved here from Texas!)

Singapore's pervasive, proactive pandemic preparations are impressive, and we're appreciative of the energy and effort that are being put into them.