s medical students, all of us have had opportunities to visit hospitals for our clinical attachments, where we often see patients and family members at the most vulnerable moments of their lives. As much as we can empathise with patients, their experiences can seem far-fetched and distant though they matter much more to the patients’ loved ones than we could ever imagine. Some patients recover and go home, but for others, there is little hope for recovery. In the face of deteriorating health and impending death, not everyone is prepared to have those die-logues.

At Project Happy Apples, we want to help Singaporeans live a life with purpose and have a good death. This year, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we replaced our traditional Public Exhibition with a Web Series. Having barely any experience with video production, the committee embraced the challenge head-on. The Web Series featured two medical students, Ethan Maniam and Novia Long, whose experiences in caring for their loved ones until the final moments prove how important it is to treasure every day spent with our loved ones. We also interviewed healthcare professionals in various specialties to learn more about their roles in providing palliative care for their patients.

Ethan and Novia’s candid reflections make the impersonal personal—their sharing help us understand death from the perspective of a caregiver and a medical student. Both held regrets. For Ethan, it was not being more mentally present with his grandfather. “Spend more time with your loved ones, and spend better time with your loved ones.” We are encouraged to cherish the people we love a little more, and embrace the idea that the finite nature of life is, perhaps, what enables us to live life more meaningfully. Through our friends’ moments of vulnerability, we are reminded that death is not an abstract topic to save for another day, but a pertinent one that requires urgency in facing.

We asked Novia, a fellow committee member involved in the Web Series production as well as an interviewee herself, how she felt throughout the whole project. She described it as a daunting experience when she first sat down in front of a camera and questioned if being vulnerable in front of her schoolmates, friends and strangers would be worth the effort. And it is. She received heartfelt messages from friends and comments from strangers expressing appreciation for her sharing, validating her journey. There is always a silver lining in every situation; if talking about her mother’s death can make even one person take an honest look at their life and their choices, it could make all the difference. When we are vulnerable, we give others permission to push past the discomfort and do the same.

Interviewing a medical social worker and doctors of various specialties, we were given insights into how palliative care really looks like in clinical practice. It is about championing the quality of life for every patient, at any point in time of their disease, with or without active treatment. Moreover, it is about finding out what matters to the patient and supporting them physically, spiritually and psychosocially as much as possible. As healthcare professionals, we should not wait until patients are really sick or approaching the end of life to have those conversations. One palliative care practitioner who watched the video found it “encouraging” to see healthcare professionals with no formal palliative care training, being open to discuss and consider the holistic approach of palliative care. We too, are optimistic that current and future healthcare professionals will appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of palliative care and be better advocates for our patients.

It’s 2021. Who could have known that we would still be in this battle against COVID-19? Such is the unpredictability of life—one that makes it imperative for us to be more present for our loved ones and have open and honest conversations with them. There has never been a more critical time to take charge of your life and think about what you value the most.

If a conversation is hard, it is probably one worth having.

Click here to watch the Project Happy Apples Web Series on Facebook.