The SDG Spotlight is a regular section of our Blog that lets you get to know a member of our friendly and hard-working team better. It also provides insights on our team member’s role in helping to make your dental experience at our clinic a positive one. We look forward to your feedback and comments.
If you are a long time patient or friend of Specialist Dental Group (SDG), then Helen, our Senior Front Desk Manager, would be a familiar face to you. Helen, who is based at Unit #08-10 of the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, is the first person you will see when you come into our clinic.
She has a tremendous talent in remaining calm and smiling even though she is juggling several tasks at the same time. Helen is a multi-lingual Singaporean (English, Mandarin, various Chinese dialects, and Bahasa) who has been working in the dental industry for more than 30 years.
As an interesting bit of trivia for you – Helen also formerly worked with the founder of our clinic, the late Dr Henry Lee. Helen has been helming the front desk and our clinic’s day to day operations since 2004 when Dr Neo Tee Khin and Dr Ansgar Cheng took over the management of our clinic.
Helen has seen SDG grow from a single clinic with three dentists in 2004 to three clinics with 10 dental specialists and a team of 20 today. As a trained dental assistant who had passed the Dental Surgery Assistant examination conducted by Guy’s Hospital in London, UK, Helen is able to use her clinical experience and knowledge to provide an informative response to patients’ enquiries.
One of her greatest strengths is her interpersonal communication skills, which many of us applaud her for, as she knows the right responses to the patients most of the times. She has a knack for putting patients at ease, especially first-time visitors or apprehensive patients.
With such a wealth of experience under her belt, her soft skills with people are what the future generations can learn when it comes to delivering good service to our patients.
Throughout her career with SDG, Helen has also seen several generations of patients, as they often come as a family with their parents at a young age, and remain our patients when they bring their own children to see us.
When Helen is not behind her desk greeting patients with her lovely smile, we can almost always be sure to find her pursuing her hobbies in travelling and she never comes back empty handed after her trips and shares with us her treasured finds, such as food or snacks for the rest of the staff.
What she likes about her role at SDG:
- Meeting people from different nationalities and walks of life
- Putting patients at ease and reassuring apprehensive patients when they step into our clinic
- Educating our patients on how to maintain good oral hygiene and how having a good set of teeth is connected good health
What makes your day?
When patients give us a good testimonial after completing their dental treatment with our specialist(s).
What is a typical day like for you?
In a service Industry like healthcare, the front desk role is a critical one. It requires a personality that can serve others pleasantly in any kind of situation because this person is usually the first contact point with the clinic. Patients form an impression of who we are when they first step into our clinic and our front desk staff know how important this is.
What is your most memorable moment at SDG?
I remember there was a patient who came to us after having had a negative experience at another clinic – he was full of complaints and fears. Thus, even though he needed to have dental treatment done, he was still very apprehensive. I managed to reassure him and after he completed treatment at our clinic, he was very satisfied with the results. He was very happy with our clinic staff and the dentist’s skill and started referring his friends and family to our practice.
Visit our website to find out about the rest of our dental team and staff.
