Piqued by curiosity, Michelle Seah followed in her cousin's footsteps to join the Red Cross Youth at school when she was 13. Starting out as a Red Cross Youth Cadet, she progressed to become a volunteer and then a leader at student camps. She is now a respected leader at the Singapore Red Cross Academy, where she conducts first aid training courses and equips people with the skills to become first aid instructors.

Passion for Service

When 13-year-old Michelle Seah saw her cousin join the Red Cross Youth (RCY) at secondary school, it piqued her curiosity about what the RCY do, and Michelle decided to follow in her cousin’s footsteps.

From a RCY Cadet, Michelle rose through the ranks to become a Volunteer Instructor, and subsequently a Senior Volunteer Officer (SVO), who trained and mentored her fellow RCY Cadets, while organising events, such as school camps for RCY.

Michelle is also the First Aid Head Specialist of the Volunteer Instructors’ Curriculum, Planning and Development team. She provides training to equip youth with essential first aid skills while designing the First Aid curriculum for RCY in collaboration with her team. She puts her first aid skills into practice by volunteering for First Aider On Wheels (FAOW) and other first aid duties at the national and community level.

Once, while on duty at an event at Pulau Ubin, she helped a cyclist who had fallen. He appeared to be unaffected by the accident, at first glance, but when Michelle noticed that he kept repeating the same sentence, she swiftly requested an evacuation to the nearest hospital.

After graduating from Polytechnic in 2015, Michelle joined the Singapore Red Cross Academy. (SRCA) as an Account Manager, which saw her coordinating corporate first aid classes, and managing logistics and invoicing. However, she felt a strong calling to teach, as she did when she was an RCY Volunteer Instructor, and decided to become a First Aid Instructor with SRCA.

Michelle has taught classes of up to 12 people for stretches of four to 16 hours, and has accumulated over a hundred hours of instruction time a year. She is now responsible for co-developing the first aid curriculum at the SRCA, and scheduling the instructors who teach those courses. She also trains volunteers, empowering them to become first aid instructors themselves.

Advocate for First Aid

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way she works, and she now works from home more often than during pre-pandemic times. Similarly, volunteer opportunities now have to be made accessible on virtual and digital platforms. Hence, Michelle has been engaging with students and volunteers via video conference.

When the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) jointly launched a micro-learning first aid programme for the public in 2020, Michelle developed the curricula for the online learning courses, which trained people in both the theoretical and practical aspects of first aid. Although more than 500 people passed the online course, only 10 percent have gone on to complete the practical course.

Michelle strongly believes that practical first aid skills are just as important as theoretical first aid knowledge. She recalled an instance when she had to put her first aid skills into practice at home when her father sustained a bad cut from broken glass. It was her practical experience in first aid that enabled her to stay calm while administering first aid.

When it comes to first aid and lifesaving, the principle of impartiality also resonates with Michelle. “I don’t take sides. I act with impartiality by treating the person who is more severely injured regardless if he is a good or bad guy,” said Michelle.

Indeed, RCY has provided Michelle with invaluable experiences that have driven her personal and professional growth. She encourages youth to seek out as many learning and developmental opportunities with the RCY as possible.

"The challenges you face today develop the strength you need for tomorrow.”, said Michelle.

She also hopes that more RCY members will consider a career with the SRC. For her, it has been a very rewarding experience, as it allowed her to draw on her experience as a RCY cadet, and continue doing what she loved in RCY.

By Illka Gobius, Volunteer
Copyedited by Hugh Chow, Volunteer