We were Doctors for a Day at Mount Elizabeth Hospitals and 'Saved' a Patient!

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An escape-room-format hospital setting where parents will be able to work side by side with their kids to hunt for clues and solve puzzles in order to save a patient's life?

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Mount Elizabeth Hospitals’ ultra-popular - when I say popular, it is the sold-out-within-minutes-kind - Doctor for a Day programme returned in early April and the monkies and I were fortunate enough to put on our sleuthing hats (and medical scrubs) for a day!

Themed 'Speed Saves Lives', the Doctor for a Day challenge saw us entering actual hospital wards, finding clues within rooms, solving puzzles and making a correct diagnosis for a 'patient'.

And in line with the theme, everything that we did had to be fast because you know, every second counts when it comes to saving lives.

The interesting part of the programme is there are actually TWO portions to the challenge - the first being held at Mount Elizabeth Hospital while the second portion had us making our way to Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital. Bus transportation were provided to Novena and back to where we started by the way.

Once we were all suited up in our scrubs (yes, parents have to don it too... minus the bottoms), we were whisked to a ward where the kids were briefed of their objective. In their first mission, they were quizzed about vital organ parts and learned how they fit together in the human body.

Parents were then presented with an iPad which contained information that were required during the progress of our challenge. With that, we were led into a dim room where the fun challenge began proper.

The first thing we had to do was to decipher a code using clues from the iPad, which helped lead us to the next clue.

Next, the kids had to hunt for clues hidden within the room while I donned the Virtual Reality headset where a nurse informed me of our patient's risk factors.

Knowing the patient's risk factors will aid us in providing a fast and accurate diagnosis later when we meet him at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital!

With the clues pieced together and risk factors jotted down in our handy Medical Report cards, we were all ready to head to our next location!

And because we worked together as a team, we managed to gain an extra 2 minutes in the challenge - a huge boost in helping us to complete the challenge within the stipulated time.

With that, we then headed to Mount Elizabeth Novena. I would like to say 'magically teleported' but we had to take a bus. LOL.

But the ride was less than 10 minutes and soon we found ourselves alighting at the A&E department.

By the way, did you know that the two Mount Elizabeth hospitals have 24-hour walk-in clinics?

At the new location, the monkies were given puzzle cards which they had to solve beforehand.

We were then led into another ward where the answers to the puzzle cards came, to lead us to the next puzzle.

Trying to decode a lock we found.

A key! Now what could this key lead us to?

See the timer in the screen? The minutes were definitely ticking as the monkies worked fast!

What is the monkie up to?

With the code, they unlocked the safe which hid a Morse code sheet.

Time was flying by quickly, and as a team we managed to unlock the patient!

But our work was not done - we still had to diagnose what the patient was suffering from. And that was through making sense of symbols in a dark space illuminated by UV light!

Armed with the answers, we managed to pinpoint the patient's symptoms.

And correctly diagnose his condition.

SUCCESS!

And all done with time to spare too! WOOHOO!

Compared to the previous Doctor for a Day editions we participated in many years ago, this was something that the monkies unanimously agreed that was most fun of the lot. I think it has to do with the thrill factor, that race-against-time feeling when solving the clues and making a correct diagnosis in the end.

Through the game, the monkies also learnt that early detection truly saves lives, especially since the chances of surviving a heart attack drops by 10% every 1 minute, one-third of total blood is lost in 3 minutes in cases of severe bleeding, while brain cells may die after 5 minutes of choking. Even worse, irreversible brain damage occurs 60 minutes after stroke occurs! That is why heart screening is so important.

Personally, I loved the concept of parents working alongside their kids to find clues and solve puzzles. The second location was definitely more challenging than the first but there were more than adequate coordinators in the room to assist.

We definitely had loads of fun at this year's edition and we are already looking forward to the next edition!

I don't know the dates yet but what you can do is to like and follow Mount Elizabeth Hospital's Facebook page for updates... because not only does speed saves lives, speed also ensures that you get to book that coveted slot in the next edition!