We met Brandon on a bustling Tuesday evening at HealthServe’s Geylang Clinic while he was busy sorting out the medications, preparing for the hectic night ahead of him. Brandon first heard about HealthServe through a friend who was a staff in HealthServe, and since then it has been more than a decade. He started off being a liaison volunteer, managing HealthServe’s external relationships with various organizations, while providing social assistance to our migrant brothers. After graduating from a pharmaceutical course, Brandon helped out at HealthServe’s clinic in Jurong for a year, before settling into his regular voluntary role dispensing medicine across HealthServe’s clinic. 

When asked to describe his experience with HealthServe, Brandon shares with a laugh “HealthServe is very dynamic and vibrant, and things move very fast with many big changes for the better. In the past, HealthServe was very small, messy but fun…With more people onboard, we have grown bigger and can now serve a lot more patients, and the mess is now gone.” Since HealthServe has started in 2007, we have undergone numerous changes and improvements. One such example identified by Brandon is the internship program offered at HealthServe across 3 different departments namely communications and engagement, casework and medical services. With each addition of volunteers, interns and staff, HealthServe is exposed to a new fresh perspective and the developments to be made are boundless.

Brandon holds dear the life stories shared by the migrant brothers he has met throughout his years of volunteering at HealthServe. He recounts a particular migrant brother Y sharing his entire life story and the reason for him leaving his hometown for Singapore to work, but eventually became deaf because of a work related accident. Brandon also shares how the migrant brothers can be cheated of their employment pass and left to sleep on the streets. Witnessing their situation, Brandon was compelled to bring one homeless migrant brother home years back and provided him a restful night at his own home. Seeing these young migrant brothers who are of the same age but in complete disparity, and knowing such real life issues is what motivates him to keep coming back to HealthServe. 2019 marks Brandon’s 11th year of volunteering at HealthServe and we are thankful for volunteers like him who tirelessly serve our migrant brothers throughout the years.