When a distressed grandmother came seeking help because she was afraid to bring her grandson home to his mentally unstable father, child protection officer Wong Meng Kong was not in the office, but he rushed to her side immediately.

He talked her into putting the child into a children's home, alerted the police and checked with the grandmother the next morning to make sure she was safe.

Such dedication has earned Mr Wong a PS21 Distinguished Star Service Award — given to public officers judged to have gone beyond their call of duty to provide exceptional service — but as Mr Wong says, this is all in a day's work for social workers like him.

"Cases like these are very common," said Mr Wong, who has worked with the Child Protection Services under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports for six years. "I'm honestly very surprised, and also embarrassed, because my colleagues here are all doing the same, if not more."

Likewise, Dr Alex Su from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) is no stranger to working with patients on his own time.

As head of Emergency Services, he regularly takes patients out to nearby coffee shops, or goes jogging with them. "Some of our patients have stayed here for many years, so going out to buy their own coffee and being part of the community is a big achievement and it does a lot for them," he said.

Caring for patients is Dr Su's priority, but he takes the welfare of his colleagues very seriously, too.

Concerned about the occasional attacks on staff by patients, Dr Su formed a team and created a programme to cut down on assault rates. "We train them to identify high-risk behaviour, and to deal with it with techniques like verbal de-escalation to calm patients down," he said.

First implemented three years ago, the programme has halved assault rates and staff morale has improved.

"I think if you provide a safe and positive environment for staff to work in, good service will automatically follow," said Dr Su.

Mr Wong, Dr Su and six others were singled out from 80 PS21 Star Service Award winners for the Distinguished Award honour.

In its fourth year, the awards are presented to public officers — across positions of all levels — who have consistently provided excellent service within the civil service. They were honoured at a ceremony yesterday evening, where Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean was the guest-of-honour. - TODAY/ra