RECESSION HEROES

By Gwendolyn Ng

Gilbert Fan gets deep satisfaction easing them back to work

IN HIS 24 years as a social worker, Mr Gilbert Fan has witnessed four downturns and their devastating impact on the lives of his patients and their caregivers.

The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) medical social worker now fears for those in his care. Recessions make it much harder for those with cancer to retain their jobs.

If they are forced to quit for a time to recuperate, it is almost impossible for them to nab a job interview, much less a job, when they are ready to return to the world of work.

“When companies are looking for people to let go, cancer patients often worry that they might be the first to be hit.

“And when they are back on the job market and do declare their cancer, they usually don’t hear from the recruitment agency. The recession only makes them more vulnerable.”

For the past nine years, the 50-year-old, who is president of the Singapore Association of Social Workers, has eased the back-to-work transition of scores of cancer survivors.

A recent case involved a young man in his thirties with cancer who had trouble keeping a job for over a week. Mr Fan helped clean up his resume, gave him interview tips and did role-play interviews with him. He also secured job interviews for the young man who was desperate to find work to support his aged parents and grandmother.

But after counselling, Mr Fan found the root cause of the young man’s inability to hold a job was his poor memory, which was a long-term side effect of his treatment. “We knew then that placing him in a job was not a priority, but first we had to do a more through assessment on him and explore memory enhancement treatment,” says Mr Fan.

To match more cancer victims with jobs, earlier this month, he launched a series of free interview and resume-writing workshops called Jumping Over Barriers, together with Ms Emily Sim, 40, an experienced headhunter and the founder of A Write Impression Recruitment Consultancy. So far, 53 cancer sufferers and their spouses have come forth for tips and jobs. But in this market, the odds of someone with a poor health record landing a job are poor. “Often, employers are naive and may misinterpret a cancer patient’s fatigue as laziness,” he says.

Fortunately, he says, there are sympathetic recruiters who have come forward to offer positions. “They are usually those who have experienced cancer in one way or another.”

One such person is recruitment agency consultant Adeline Ang, 42, whose husband died of brain lymphoma five years ago. She knows only too well the discrimination cancer patients face – her husband was sacked due to his “incapacity” to work.

“He felt useless for not being able to support the family,” says Ms Ang, who has two school-going children. She now helps to place cancer patients in part-time jobs with understanding employers.

As things worsen, Mr Fan has been approached for help by more of his patients and their retrenched spouses and children.

For example, Madam Boon Yu Feng, 39, a breast cancer survivor, turned to Mr Fan for help when her husband lost his job recently. “It’s pretty tough on them as they have three young kids. So I’m trying to connect her husband with contacts I know,” says Mr Fan, who is also manager at NCCS’ department of psychosocial oncology.

To Madam Boon, Mr Fan has become more a family friend than a counsellor. “He’s very generous with his help – if only there were more of such kind-hearted people in the world,” says Madam Boon, whose three children call him Uncle Gilbert.

Compassion was ingrained early in Mr Fan, who was adopted by a British Administration clerk and a housewife. His majie, or nanny from China, told him many stories of poverty and suffering that planted the seed of empathy. “I felt sorry for her. She was forced to abandon her children and run away to Singapore from her abusive husband in China,” says Mr Fan, who received the National Cancer Centre Service Excellence Award this year along with five others.

At school, he acted as a counsellor to friends who poured out their relationship woes. “Maybe it’s because I’m a quiet person and didn’t judge them. I’ve always been a good listener,” says the Christian.

In the midst of the 1985 recession, the soft-spoken bachelor, who holds a double degree in social work and labour studies from Canada’s McMaster University, quit his job in human resources at the now-defunct Yaohan department store, took a $300 pay cut and switched to social work to deal with “real human issues”.

After many years on the job, he still does not find it a chore listening to other people’s problems.

“I don’t find it emotionally draining. To me there is no running away from life’s problems. You just have to find a way to deal with them.”

*****************************************

Helping those hit by downturn

MEDICAL social worker Gilbert Fan, 50, is the president of the Singapore Association of Social Workers and manager at National Cancer Centre Singapore’s department of psychosocial oncology.

The bachelor holds a double degree in labour studies and social work from Canada’s McMaster University. In these tough times, he is trying to get more cancer patients and survivors, who have been hard-hit by the downturn, into the job market.

He recently started the Jumping Over Barriers (JOB) campaign, to help cancer patients with interview and resume writing tips, so that they can get back into the job market. For more details, please call 6436-8126 (ask for Lillian Lee).