He accompanies people through their final moments | Ordinary People - video Dailymotion

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At his first vigil, Edward watched a patient pass away. He gently cleaned and dressed the patient in his own clothes. This is Edward’s story — a volunteer with No One Dies Alone (NODA), a program that offers compassionate companionship to those nearing the end of life with no one else by their side, ensuring no one faces their final moments alone.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

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00:00Some patients that they come in, they do not have any kin or friends, especially towards the end

00:27of their life. There's no one with them, so no duh, no one dies alone. Actually, it's where volunteers

00:33will sit in with this patient, accompanying them towards the last part.

00:39I had encountered deaths quite a bit before I entered this program. When I came here, there was

00:46a bit of adjusting to it and understanding the patients. You have to prepare yourself because

00:52you might be really walking the last few steps with the patient.

01:01I'm on my way to RCC Hospice where no diabetes has been activated. The doctor has informed

01:08that the patient is now on a dangerously ill list. There are quite a few elderly. They

01:14have no next of kin, no families. Towards the end of their life, they are still alone and

01:20there's no one to journey with them. Humans are social animals, right? It's innate in us,

01:29right, that this fear is always there and being alone, be it alive or when you are going through

01:35your last stage.

01:36So when I reach the hospice, right, as usual, we have to do our lock-in and then we will leave out

01:47our things, prepare ourselves as we enter the ward. One very important thing that we do is always

01:52the volunteer that is going to leave will tell the patient, I'm going off. You know, Edward is here to be

01:58reviewed for the next six hours. It's accounting to the patients. At no point of time, you're here alone.

02:04And someone else is coming to take over for me and he or she will continue to be here with you.

02:09You're fine. You're in good hands.

02:14During my first Noda Virgil, there was this volunteer, Shelby. She knows me and she was on duty

02:21and she called me and says, hey, Edward, Asing doesn't have any clothes. He only has a pair of

02:26Bermudas. And I was on the next duty, so I quickly went to look through my clothes and pick up a long

02:31sleeve and a pants. Shortly after when I started my duty, Asing passed on. That was the first death

02:40that I encountered. Because it was my first duty, the senior volunteer, Paul, asked me to help the

02:46nurse to go through the food process. Together we cleaned Asing and then changed him to the clothes that

02:51I had bought. He had a hard life. He had a tough life. It's a relief. It's going to be an end for him.

02:57But also there's a tinge of sadness when you know him. So you have quite a mixed bag of feelings running

03:04through the whole time.

03:09You experience death almost constantly. It impacts me differently for every patient. Some of the patient,

03:17you know them better. You know them well. There was this patient and every time I get to her,

03:23like you save the meal. And then she's like, oh, I love the fried fish. There was a time I was at the

03:28hawker and I was buying. It just happened that, you know, the fried fish and an image of her came back

03:32and it's like, oh. Sadness is part of the package of being in the NODA program. You have to be

03:40emotionally prepared to handle this. Otherwise, you'll be bogged down by it. Death is the end

03:47of the journey of life. And that's something that is very natural. Surely there's sadness, but we can't

03:54let this sadness overcome us. You get a feeling, the preciousness of time. You will not know when's

04:01the end. And you should live your life to the fullest, make good use of your time. That's how we

04:07by ourselves, how we take care of ourselves so that we don't get weighed out by it. We still have to move on.

04:12We are immensely grateful for all our volunteers who support this program. Very grateful to the

04:25patients as well, who has allowed us the privilege of journeying with them. I think it's a journey that

04:32has taught all of us a lot about who we are as a person. And we all grow from this experience.

04:38For me, NODA is really like the most basic form of loving another human being as they should

04:46be loved. Because dying is scary for everyone, right? It's the first time for all of us. We

04:51don't know what to expect and stuff. And sometimes having to go through this journey alone is very

04:56scary. And it's nice to have somebody, even though it's somebody that you may or may not

05:01be very familiar with, knowing that someone is supporting you and being with you on this

05:06journey.

05:08The call to work of charity, to be serving those who are in need, that is my main driving

05:17force. Especially when you talk to patients, right, you get rejected. It's after, you know,

05:22you go back again and again. Then they're like, OK, maybe now you can sit down and have a talk

05:27with me, have a chit-chat with me. OK, now maybe we can go down. You can bring me down to a garden

05:32for a walk. So, not always patient welcomes you the first time. But, if you try again,

05:38you're going to get it.

05:52These are the moments where you interact with them and you listen to their stories. This is

05:58one big part that keeps us coming back. It gives you a different perspective of life.

06:03You enter into somebody's life, you know their stories. It makes me want to be kinder and

06:08more compassionate because you know that there are people who, not by choices of their own

06:14choosing, they are in a certain position and you can be a positive energy for them. It takes

06:19away the notion of yourself. I want to remember things that I've done for others, not what I just

06:24do for myself. I think that would be really sad if I can remember what I did for myself and

06:29nothing more. I'm quite sure I'm a very ordinary person. It's just that, you know, I'm drawn

06:36towards doing something. Everyone can contribute. It doesn't need to be big or impressive. Small

06:42acts of kindness, it adds up and it can really make a difference. In the start, I thought I

06:47gave a lot. But when I look back, actually I resist so much more.

07:17And I think that's more intense about life. I'mข etched one I'm positive endission.

07:26It's all takie 문 thought that, but on the last day, I hope that when I went to the

07:29place and I believed my scoing, what I would do for myself and make it bigger. I think we

07:36always ask myself if you got something more. When I came to my home H Damon and I grew up

He accompanies people through their final moments | Ordinary People

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