Summary:
- Theresa Tan, a 68-year-old senior patient service officer at SATA CommHealth, has spent 22 years in a behind-the-scenes healthcare role she considers her “second home,” valuing the teamwork, supportive colleagues, and sense of family.
- What began as a temporary administrative job turned into a long-term career where she mentors younger staff, handles medical report processing, and offers guidance shaped by her life experience as a mother.
- Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and her age, Theresa has no plans to retire, finding purpose in helping patients, supporting colleagues, and staying active while balancing work with time spent with her elderly mother and grandchildren.
A visit to any community clinic or hospital can often feel like a game of musical chairs.
First, you talk to a receptionist before plonking yourself in a waiting room. Then, a nurse takes you to the doctor, who does all the necessary, before passing you along to a pharmacist for medicine. Finally, it’s back to reception for payment and out the door you go.
But who you don’t get to meet is the hidden, but vital workforce plugging away behind curtains and closed doors – people like Theresa Tan, a 68-year-old senior patient service officer at SATA CommHealth’s medical centre in Jurong.
Rather than being “bored and stuck at home”, she’d rather get up at 6.30am five days a week to make the trek to Jurong from her home in Hougang. Though she was once offered a similar role in the healthcare group’s Ang Mo Kio branch, she turned it down.
Theresa have not considered retirement even after over 22 years on the job. “This place is like my second home”, she explains. “We’re like a family.”
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From temp job to patient service officer for 22 years
Theresa never expected her stint at SATA CommHealth to last this long. For the mother of two, it was a “simple temp job” she could take up together with her son as he awaited national service.
Her work revolved around the collating, printing, and processing of medical reports for the doctors at the community clinic. It’s hardly riveting stuff on paper, but Theresa says it was the company that made the days fly by.
Her three-month contract flew by. When it came time to decide between leaving or converting to full-time, Theresa says the thought of moving on didn’t even cross her mind – she was happy where she was.
Given her age, the senior naturally gravitated toward the de-facto role of mentor to newer, younger staff.
“But these youngsters, they’re quite smart, so they usually pick it up quite quickly (laughs)."
While the staff generally “try not to bring our personal matters to work”, they do sometimes air their grievances to the older woman, who would try to offer them some perspective as a “mother who’s taken care of two children from young, until they’re all grown”.
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No retirement plans on the horizon
In her role, Theresa rarely interacts directly with the public. The Covid-19 pandemic was a sobering reminder that it isn’t always pleasant.
Nevertheless, she maintains that it was also a time of great inspiration for her, as patients who visited the community health centre were “always very cooperative” despite the dire straits they were in.
For now, Theresa has no intentions of making her 22nd year with SATA CommHealth her last – especially since she spends plenty enough time with family on the weekend as it is. She usually splits her time between spending time with her 93-year-old mom or playing with her two grandchildren.
"But I think if you love your job, you will never be tired."
