Who are we?
Neighbourhood Health Service Kids (NHS Kids) is a local community health service project initiated in 2017. Initiated by Dr Chiong Yee Keow and led by medical and social work students from NUS, it is one of the few healthcare screening projects serving the paediatric population.
Our Partners
Supported by Temasek Foundation Cares, NHS Kids is currently partnering with NUHS, Early Childhood Development Authority (ECDA), Boon Lay and Kembangan Chai Chee grassroots, as well as Social Service Organisations to provide a holistic screening that includes paediatric screening, health education and also social support to help develop the child in the long term.
Our Mission
“To be the bridge connecting marginalised families to formal and community resources.”
Our Vision
We believe that every child has equal rights to opportunities. Each child’s living environment is indubitably affected by their cognitive and emotional development, and this should never be compromised by a lack of access to common resources.
Our Objective
NHS Kids hopes to identify children and families who are in need of medical, social and educational intervention and reconnect them back to the healthcare and social system. This is done by lowering their barriers to support, in turn helping them to achieve a higher quality of life.
Thus, it is our aim to build upon the social safety net and capture more families that have fallen through the cracks.
Our Beneficiaries
Children from birth to 6 years of age (for screening cycles), up to 12 years of age (for recent initiatives in COVID-19).
1. Publicity
Conducted 1-2 weeks prior to screening
Publicise our screening event and address any barriers or concerns
Pre-register families
Educate families about paediatric health & social services
With focus on online publicity during COVID
2. Paediatric Screening (Non-Covid Period)
Our main initiatives in a cycle typically include Centralised and Door-to-Door Screening*, follow-up on residents, as well as Education and Awareness.
Health screenings have temporarily been paused in light of COVID-19, but are due to resume when regulations are lifted.
2. Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Practices
In the 2020/2021 cycle, NHS Kids’ main focus was placed on initiatives for the community such as a Virtual Recipe Competition and Supermarket excursions to emphasise the importance of healthy eating and addressing childhood obesity while forging strong community bonds.
Interactive webinars with families are also held to discuss common childhood illnesses, obesity, healthy eating habits together with our mentors, to allow parents to play a more active role in their child’s development.
3. Follow Up
We act as a bridge to reconnect children & their families back to the existing healthcare, social & education systems in Singapore via:
Referrals to appropriate community institutions
Regular phone calls
On-site follow-up (non-COVID times)
Subcommittees
** Recruitment open to all M1s & transfer students :-)
Operations & Logistics
Plan and execute programmes and operations during events to maximise outreach to families and the children
Enforce safety protocol
Liaise with external sponsors to secure sponsorship items for our target beneficiaries
Procurement of logistics for events as well as goodie bags for families
Work with other committees to ensure smooth running of the event
Volunteer Management
Recruitment of interdisciplinary student volunteers such as social work, medicine and nursing students from NUS, SUSS and other medical schools!
Recruitment of healthcare professionals from various disciplines for screening day e.g. doctors, dieticians, dentists
Plan and conduct volunteer training
Management of volunteers on screening day
Organise webinars and sharing sessions for parents
Follow Up
Ensure that all families and their children are successfully reconnected back to healthcare, social and educational systems through follow up procedures
Work with grassroots, community partners and social service organisations to provide post-screening services and continuity of care
Public Health & Community Outreach (PHCO)
Preparation of educational materials (e.g. educational booklet, recipe book) for residents
Education booth-in-charge during health screening
Maintenance of NHS Kids website and social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram
In-charge of publicity efforts such as the designing of banners, flyers and posters
Research & Development
Assist in the development of application used during screenings
Collect data from screenings and analyse trends
Evaluate the effectiveness of our services and suggest improvements for future screenings
Plan and conduct needs assessments for communities that we plan to enter
Present useful data collected