Now 69, Mdm Fatimah retired in 2006 after 42 years with the School Dental Service. Her patients have all grown up, but a few still keep in touch with her. Three boys from BPS who are now in their 40s and have become fathers catch up with her regularly during Chinese New Year. Over Mdm Fatimah’s homemade cookies, they swap the latest details of their lives. It’s something they’ve done since their teens.
“The first time they came to visit me, I was living in a walk-up apartment. From my window, I could see them practising their New Year greetings, with two mandarin oranges in their hands,” she recalls with a laugh.
One MGS girl would go to the dental clinic almost every afternoon to wait for her father to pick her up. Those afternoons spent quietly together sealed a friendship that has lasted till today. “She’s a doctor now and we still meet up,” Mdm Fatimah says. “I attended her wedding and visited her when she had her first child.”
When people think of their school days, their teachers and classmates – not the dental nurses they met – spring to mind, Mdm Fatimah says. “But my former patients regard me as their friend,” she adds. “I guess I must have made them feel special.”