If you are a fan of our Facebook official page, you may have seen our staff and dentists taking the time off after work and on weekends to practice running as a team. Running is a familiar activity as we have many running enthusiasts among our colleagues. You can view our recent past runs here.
This year, we are taking part in Ekiden Run which is organized by Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. If you have not heard of Ekiden Run, it is a team relay, where six participants (of mixed or same gender) will complete in six stages of unequal distances, totalling 42.195 km.
The Ekiden is a big event in Japan and other parts of the world such as the United States of America and Australia. This year will be the fifth time for Ekiden race category ever ran (pun intended) in Singapore and it shall be the first for Specialist Dental Group® (SDG) to run as a team!
Here is Dr Neo Tee Khin with our team of nurses flexing their muscles at the track for a warm up exercise. Dr Neo usually runs three times a week on his own schedule, so this team practice is no big feat for him. The team usually runs the track near Botanic Gardens at MOE Co-Curricular Activities Branch (CCAB) for about 6.78km-7km, and that translates to about 17 to 18 rounds around the track.
Among the ladies who are running for Ekiden, Liza (next to Dr Neo) usually runs the fastest with the shortest time clocked, and she is the youngest member in the team. Youth certainly gives you stamina! One some days, the team also gathered at the track at 6:30 am and since we all live in different parts of the island, some of us had a hard time being on time because the MRT is not in operation yet! That clearly shows the determination and hard work our team is putting in.
Some of our team members have family commitments so coming up with an agreeable timing for all can be challenging, especially when you have toddlers waiting at home to be bathed or groceries to buy for the family. But that has not been a deterrent to our team members.
Team SDG is not only running for their personal best timing, they are also running for charity. All registered Ekiden teams have to commit to raise at least $500 for their chosen charity in order to qualify and SDG has committed to raise the funds on behalf of the Rainbow Centre Building Fund.
Every year, there are about 500 new referrals of children diagnosed with a learning disability such as autism or developmental delay or multiple disabilities. It is estimated that 80% of the new cases require early intervention in special setting and programmes. The Rainbow Centre is collaborating with the Ministry of Social & Family Development (MSF) and Ministry of Education (MOE) and other relevant government agencies to build a facility to serve in early intervention, special education and vocational training, and a training academy for the social service sector to train professionals, parents/ caregivers and volunteers. An Allied Health Professional hub will also be incorporated in the new building.
Our paedodontist, Dr Elizabeth Tan, has been a volunteer dentist with Rainbow Centre since 1999, and she was one of the people instrumental in setting up the Rainbow Centre Dental Clinic to provide dental screening and treatment to their students. Through her effort and a few other volunteer dentists, about 900 students are able to access to affordable quality dental services from our team of committed volunteer dentists.
Rainbow Centre Singapore has been granted to participate in the Care & Share Movement which the Government has pledged to match 1:1 for donations to Rainbow Centre between 1 December 2013 and 31 December 2014. This means that your donation is entitled to receive matching from the Government to Rainbow Centre.
If you would like to contribute to the cause, please visit this link: http://www.giveasia.org/movement/specialist_dental_group_1
Keep a look out for our post-run update this weekend. We wish that the weather will be good and for wind direction to be in favour of our runners. All the best team SDG!
