NYP nursing grad who lost father at a young age will now study medicine at NUS
Ms Charmaine Cheng, 21, recently graduated with a diploma in nursing from Nanyang Polytechnic. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NANYANG POLYTECHNIC
NYP nursing grad who lost father at a young age will now study medicine at NUS The TL;DR: Having lost her father when she was just 10, Charmaine Cheng was determined to help others in a vulnerable position. This led her to obtain a Diploma in Nursing at Nanyang Polytechnic and enrol to study medicine at NUS.
Ms C harmaine Cheng was ten years old when her father, who had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, died.
During that trying time, the young Charmaine saw the impact doctors and nurses had on patients and their families, which instilled in her the ambition to enter the medical field herself.
On May 7, she graduated with a diploma in nursing from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) , having received the Tay Eng Soon Health & Social Sciences Award and the MOH Holdings Gold Medal for being the cohort's top scorer.
And as the next step, Ms Cheng will be joining the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in August.
She made the leap after she was nominated by NYP for a Public Service Commission (PSC) Scholarship in 2024 due to her stellar academic performance.
S ince nursing was not listed as one of the PSC Scholarship's professional service career tracks, she decided to pivot to medicine to continue pursuing her passion for healthcare.
Said the now-21-year-old: 'With the help of my lecturers and friends, I started exploring my options, and realised that medicine allowed me to pursue the same goals of addressing chronic illnesses of patients, just with a different job scope.'
She added that her attraction to medicine stems from the spirit of unconditional giving, exemplified by her mother's selfless nature.
After the death of Ms Cheng's father, the family struggled to pay off around $100,000 in medical bills, as he had undergone an expensive – and unsubsidised – trial treatment after chemotherapy proved ineffective.
Her mother, a public servant, took on part-time jobs over the weekends, serving up burgers and fries at McDonald's, to supplement the family's income.
Ms Cheng witnessed her mother's emotional struggles, but said that she 'never looked like she hated (her job) or was ashamed of i t'.
Inspired by their mother's resilience, Ms Cheng and her older sister decided to help as much as they could, working part-time as restaurant servers since they were 14 and 15 years old, respectively.
Ms Cheng recalls doing what she could to alleviate the family's financial burden.
'I remember not buying Milo on some days,' she said, 'so I could save that extra dollar, and then giving whatever little I had accumulated to my mum.
'Looking back, it only helped so much. But I could truly see that my mom was very appreciative of whatever effort that we put in.'
Ms Cheng's mother sold their house, and they moved in with her grandmother when she was 14. They all live there together still.
D espite her family's struggles, Ms Cheng held on to the dream of helping patients in vulnerable situations similar to her own, which led her to pursue nursing at NYP in 2021.
She also received monthly allowances, and her school fees were partially paid for after she successfully applied for a sponsorship bond with Changi General Hospital in 2023.
The bond and the proceeds from selling the house allowed the family to become debt-free when Ms Cheng was 19.
Ms Cheng is now working part-time at the Serangoon Gardens branch of 1doc Mediline Wei Min Clinic, where she has shadowed doctors and supported them as a clinic assistant since November 2024.
During her three years as an NYP nursing student, she interned at different CGH wards as part of the curriculum .
Ms Cheng interned at different wards in CGH for all three years of her polytechnic studies, as part of her curriculum.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHARMAINE CHENG
In her final year internship, she spent 14 weeks at CGH's geriatric ward, which provides medical treatment for elderly patients suffering from various conditions like dementia and delirium.
'It was quite overwhelming,' Ms Cheng admitted. 'Everyone was shouting for help or screaming and crying. I remember coming home at the end of some days, telling my family I didn't think the job was for me. '
Families – especially caregivers – would approach her and berate her for occasional delays in updating them on their loved ones' conditions, which added to her pressures.
'(My teachers) taught me how to block off surrounding noise and focus on the patient. They also taught me how to tell if a patient needed medical help or was just venting his or her emotions. I'm very grateful to them,' she said.
Ms Cheng (second from left) was also 'upgraded' to the student nurse position in her final internship, with more responsibilities such as serving medicines, taking patient cases and addressing any updates to the family.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHARMAINE CHENG
The staff nurses in her ward also intervened when situations with caregivers got tense, so she was 'seldom in the direct line of their anger', she said.
She vividly remembers an elderly female patient who was suffering from foot gangrene and would throw things on the floor.
After multiple failed attempts to calm the patient, Ms Cheng tried speaking to her in basic Hokkien, which she picked up from her mother.
'When I spoke to her in Hokkien, she finally felt comfortable responding to me, and over time I got to know her better,' said Ms Cheng.
Ms Cheng also learnt to read the woman's body language, and could deliver her the necessary medication when she was in pain.
As a prospective doctor, she hopes to specialise in preventive care, so she can help patients address chronic illnesses like diabetes and osteoporosis.
She said: 'I know what it feels like to be in a vulnerable position, so I want to walk with my patients in everything they go through.'
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