Ms Crystal Lim, a medical social worker, has been helping families deal with the loss of their loved ones for 18 years, and her passion has not diminished.

By Mavis Toh

Ms Crystal Lim’s camera still holds the family photo of a 17-year-old liver patient, taken just months before the teenager’s death.

Ms Lim, 39, is a senior principal medical social worker (MSW) at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and is familiar with having to deal with death.

Growing up, she had wanted to become an English language teacher, but she somehow stumbled into social work. She went on to become the first recipient of a social work master’s degree scholarship awarded by SGH in 1999.

Now, after 18 years in the field, her passion has not diminished.

“I find fulfilment when in the midst of grief. Families still say, ‘Thanks for the support’,” she said.

Now, Ms Lim works mainly with kidney failure and transplant patients. She also helps families deal with a traumatic loss.

Asked how she manages her own emotions, she replied: “If we say we aren’t affected, that is a lie. But feeling emotions is not being emotional.”

When cases crop up, it is not uncommon for her to leave the hospital for home at past midnight. Thankfully, her husband, the centre director of a Christian halfway house, understands her work.

Ms Lim is the project manager of the publication of Tapestry Of Care. She hopes the book will be a tribute to the profession and allow the public to better understand MSWs.

“There are still many who don’t know what MSWs do,” she said. “I sometimes tell them teasingly we’re miracle social workers.”