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Porsche Poh clinches Singapore Woman Award
SINGAPORE: 42-year-old Porsche Poh Sow Chan has been named the winner of this year's Singapore Woman Award organised by MediaCorp.
Into its sixth year, the Award honours ordinary women who display limitless potential and have made significant contributions to society.
Ms Poh is the founder of Silver Ribbon, a non-profit organization that combats mental health stigma and encourages early treatment.
She was working at the Institute of Mental Health for four years where she dealt with mental health patients.
Her interaction with caregivers and patients spurred her to start Silver Ribbon in 2006.
The objective is to get rid of the social stigma of mental illness by educating the public.
"Not many people are willing to talk about this issue or even support this cause. It will take us some time before we are able to convince more policymakers, grassroots organisations and religious groups to come forward and help us," she said.
To date, she has set up three centres to assist individuals who are dealing with mental health problems.
Accomplished author Emily Lim was one of the nominees for the award.
In the midst of her promising career in the hotel industry, Emily suffered a rare voice disorder.
She turned to writing childrens' books and in them shared the power of hope and the indomitable human spirit.
But, the most challenging book to write was her own story.
She said: "In 2011, a personal friend got me to write a personal story - finding my voice which is supposed to be a true story about setbacks, new beginnings and toy characters. It's one thing to write about teddy bears and rocking horses. It's another to write in first person. But I felt it was important to share my story and hope that it would encourage others that when one door closes another opens."
Another nominee was Jane Prior who works in the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.
Her son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 11 years old and since then Ms Prior has dedicated her life to building up a volunteer bone marrow donor database and making people realize that they have the power to save the life of another individual.
She said: "Our work at the bone marrow donor programme is about educating the public, inviting them to come forward and sign up with us and we hope some of them will sponsor us financially but most of all it's a pledge and commitment that if I have a DNA match to a patient in the future, I would step forward to make a donation for the bone marrow."
Her next goal is to recruit some 20,000 new donors in the next three years.
- CNA/ir
:*: Better coverage? 
