The highly anticipated NHCS’ first ever virtual Dinner & Dance (D&D), ‘Healthcare Heroes 2021: Unity in Adversity’ saw a strong turnout of more than 500 fellow colleagues on a Friday evening.

The superhero-themed staff celebration was filled with laughter and abuzz with excitement.


The chat box during the event saw an outpour of enthusiastic cheers for all healthcare heroes.
 
Planning for a virtual celebration

The D&D organising committee comprising staff from various departments, shared that planning for a large-scale virtual event during a pandemic-endemic was a first for all of them, and not without challenges.

The easy: Fixing a theme

What was perhaps the easiest task to check off the long to-do list was deciding on the event theme. “We wanted to highlight the tremendous contributions by our healthcare colleagues and how we banded during times of adversity. We felt that most staff would identify with the concept of superheroes and that was it!” shared Dr Wang Luo Kai, Department of Cardiology, who led the team.

The tough: Online ABCs

To encourage learning of new skills and fostering of camaraderie across departments, each D&D is organised by a newly formed, multidisciplinary committee. Dr Wang shared, “It was no doubt daunting at first. None of us in the committee had any experience organising a virtual event so it was a ‘learn as we go along’ approach. We were fortunate to have strong support from our Corporate Development colleagues as well as vendors.”

The team had to work with various internal and external parties to bring the whole event together. For instance, NHCS had continued to hit many milestones and achievements in spite of the pandemic and it was important to celebrate these successes. The team worked with Corporate Development to come up with a movie-like, superhero-themed video to bring the milestones to life.

A key highlight of every D&D is a special performance by our leaders. From what was usually a live song and dance item on stage, the team had to work around prevailing constraints to pre-record the performance while adhering to safe management guidelines.

“We worked together with a professional dance choreographer to conceptualise the video, and the team was involved from choosing a song to fit the theme, securing costumes to recording each leader’s dance moves. It wasn’t just the committee’s effort but more importantly, all our leaders’ enthusiastic participation and groovy moves that made the performance a success,” said co-leader, Dr Anna Tam from Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Superheroes: Behind the scenes

Indeed, the incredible dance steps we saw from our leaders and hulk et. al. presenting NHCS’ achievements were only possible because of sporting and supportive leadership who took time out of their busy work schedule to film with the team.

 

Guess who, don't sue :P
 
While we were watching the celebration in the comfort of our homes, ever wondered where all the action actually took place? Answer: At a studio somewhere in the heart of Singapore! Oh yes, that is a bright green screen behind the bubbly emcee, Mr Super Mario a.k.a. Kyle (not kale)! For the uninitiated, a green screen allows the background of a video to be changed to a digital background of choice.

(L-R) Behind the scene shots of our vendor executing the D&D at a studio; Emcee of the night, Kyle.
 
Dr Wang shared that from the participants’ perspective, the D&D ran like clockwork although in reality as with every live event, hiccups were inevitable. “There were a few anxious moments when we bumped into issues but fortunately, there were contingency plans in place and the event went smoothly. Of course, credit goes to the emcee and vendor who did such a smooth job!” shared member, Senior Staff Nurse Jodie Thng from Cardiac Clinics.


The D&D committee members were so hard at work that this was the best group photo taken that night. Spot them if you can! The members are Dr Wang Luo Kai from Department of Cardiology, Dr Anna Tam from Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Nurse Clinician Yang Yang from Ward 44, Nurse Clinician Wirdawati Bte Salimin from Ward 56, Lim Rou Ci from Medical Social Services, Michael Khoo from Cardiac Physiotherapy Services, Jodie Thng from Cardiac Clinics, Neo Yi San from Human Resources and Dr Lim Fang Yi from Department of Cardiology.
 
“Now that the event has concluded, the most satisfying part for the team was to witness our hard work unfolding (smoothly!) before our very eyes. Seeing all the positive energy and good vibes from our colleagues, be it through their video cameras or from the comments in the chat box, made all the months of effort which went into planning the event worthwhile!” Dr Wang said on behalf of the team.  

Well, no matter which superhero we aspire to be, after almost two years of being at the forefront of the global healthcare crisis, what we can say for certain is “not all heroes wear capes”. WE are all HEROES!