Dr Candy is one of the few dentists who volunteer regularly at our clinics. A little more than a year ago, Dr Candy’s interest in HealthServe was sparked when her friend introduced and she saw the increasing demand for dental services in the migrant worker community. 

She finds communication to be the most interesting part of her work. As the clinics here serve over 80% Bangladeshi migrant brothers, it is no surprise that the language barrier is something that most of our volunteers face. When she tries to communicate with migrant brothers who speak neither English nor Mandarin, she relies a lot on body language. She has even picked up some bengali words, like ‘pain’. After all the gesturing and attempts at explaining medical terms when both parties finally understand one another they share a light-hearted chuckle. She believes that this makes the patient feel more at ease. 

She describes her experience at HealthServe as “refreshing” as it is different from her regular day to day work. Here, she finds that the migrant brothers are very appreciative of the help they get and knowing that she has contributed in some ways to alleviate their problems she is constantly motivated to continue volunteering.