VWOs welcome growing interest by seniors to help out neighbours
By Tay Suan Chiang, The Straits Times, 17 Apr 2012
THE senior citizen may at first be there to take part in activities, but later volunteers to keep an eye on other old folk in the area.
This growing interest in helping out - amid a rise in the number of elderly people living alone - is welcomed by voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) that cater to the elderly.
They say one big plus point is that a senior can better appreciate the needs of another senior, compared to a younger volunteer, thereby making for a more impactful match-up.
The figure was mentioned by Madam Halimah Yacob, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, at an ageing forum last Wednesday.
'It is important that when the elderly are living alone, there's someone to pop in and say 'How are you?',' she said.
At the Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA) Seniors Activity Centre, there are now more than 20 volunteers who are all seniors. Five years ago, seniors looking out for each other were non-existent.
'We encourage seniors to look out for each other, as they are all part of the community,' said Ms Yu Qinghui, acting centre manager at the Ang Mo Kio facility.
'The neighbours, because they are in close proximity, are often the first people they call when these seniors who live alone need help.'
These neighbours usually drop by once or twice a day to keep tabs on their elderly neighbours, ensuring that medication is taken, for example, or relaying information in mail that they receive.
Retiree Lim Heng Chuan, 63, has been keeping an eye out for Madam Ho Ah Chin, 87, since 2005. Both live alone in the same housing block in Indus Road.
They were paired up by staff at Indus Moral Care, a seniors activity centre at the foot of their block. Madam Ho spends time there while Mr Lim is a volunteer.
Every morning and evening, he drops by her one-room flat to, for example, 'remind her to take her medication', he said. Sometimes he buys dinner for her, and when he cooks, he shares the food with her. Once a week, he mops her flat.
When the centre organises outings such as to the Singapore Flyer, he makes sure she boards and alights the bus safely, and waits for her outside the toilet when needed.
'I don't find it a chore looking out for Madam Ho,' said Mr Lim, a former driver.
Staff at the centre have noticed that if he helps another senior, Madam Ho sometimes gets jealous and throws a tantrum.
'But we talk to her and explain that Mr Lim needs to help others too,' said centre manager Michael Sim, who added that the pairing system is done for elderly residents in the block.
'Sometimes we cannot take care of all the elderly, so this pairing system allows the seniors - most of whom live alone - to look out for each other,' he said.
Ms Joan Pereira, director for active ageing and family life division at the People's Association, is all for seniors who reach out to their counterparts. 'Doing this will make for an active, vibrant and cohesive senior community, where neighbours look out for one another, care for one another and share in one another's joys and sorrows.'
Retired nurse Yogeswary Rajaratnam, 71, is only too happy to do that. She makes home visits to three elderly folk who are all in their 70s and live on their own, within 3km of her home in Kebun Baru.
'I drop in on them weekly, see that the home is clean and they have enough food to eat,' she said. 'I also encourage them to go for exercise to stay healthy and I'm there to remind them about their medical appointments.'
She feels that because she is of the same age as they are, she can understand them better. 'You must know how to understand their problems and be more a listener than a talker.'
She knows that her visits mean something to them. 'Sometimes, when I tell them I have to go off for the day, they will ask, 'Sister, why can't you stay longer?',' said Madam Yogeswary.
AWWA's Ms Yu said that as the elderly share a common lingo, they are better suited to be paired together.
'It also helps to boost their self-esteem that they can still care for another person,' she added.
Neighbour, 82, saves 91-year-old's life
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 17 Apr 2012
FOR two agonising days, 91-year-old Madam Choy Min Hoi lay on the floor without food or water after slipping in her bathroom.
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| Madam Yeo (left) and her neighbour, Madam Choy |
She lives alone in a one-room rental flat, so nobody was around to help when she fell three weeks ago.
Luckily, an observant neighbour noticed that she had not turned up as she usually does at the senior activity centre below the block in Bukit Merah. Madam Yeo Ah Sai, 82, then went to her flat to check.
She said: 'When no one answered my knocks, I shouted and heard a weak voice answering, saying she couldn't get up and was in pain. I told her to keep calm, not to move and that I would get help.'
Madam Choy was admitted to hospital, where her neighbour visited her regularly until she was allowed home a week ago. Madam Yeo now helps the older woman, who lives two floors down, to buy food from the nearby hawker centre every day.
'Without her checking in on me, I would surely have died in my home without food and water,' said Madam Choy. 'I am not so worried about living alone with her around.'
She said they enjoy chatting and reading newspapers together. Madam Yeo hangs out at the Thong Kheng Senior Activity Centre at her block every day, talking, exercising and playing board games with the other seniors.
She keeps a special lookout for frail elderly people who live alone. If she does not see them for two days in a row, she makes a point of paying them a house visit.
'I check, just in case,' said the lively Madam Yeo in Teochew.
'Sometimes they will tell me they have not been down because they are tired and unwell and we will just end up chatting.'
The former hawker lives with her son on the second floor of the block.
'It is rare to have an 82-year-old still do all this visiting,' said the centre's senior programme coordinator, Mr Anthony Teo.
'It is important for neighbours to look out for one another because they are the nearest people to each other whenever help is needed.'
Watching over the elderly for 9 years
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 17 Apr 2012
THE 70-year-old is affectionately known as Ah Koh, and he keeps tabs on 50 senior citizens who live alone in seven blocks in Ang Mo Kio.
He is all eyes and ears - when any of them dies, is hospitalised or moves into an old folk's home, he is quick to inform the Lions Befrienders, a voluntary welfare organisation that runs programmes for the elderly folk in the area.
The bachelor, who himself lives alone in a one-room rental flat, visits each of the 50 seniors at least once a week. That translates to an average of 10 house visits a day, a schedule that has grown since Mr Koh Chong Heng started nine years ago.
He not only chats with the seniors and reminds them to take their medication, but also flips their mattresses to check for bedbugs and accompanies them for hospital check-ups.
'I am still healthy and strong, so it is meaningful that I can still help others who are lonely and living in this area,' he said. 'Visiting others is a very enjoyable way of passing time,' added Mr Koh, who can speak Hokkien, Mandarin and Malay.
The former cinema ticket collector was roped in by a friend who noted a need to reach out to the solitary elderly folk in the neighbourhood.
At first, Mr Koh confined his visits to residents in his block, but word spread and soon he had more blocks to cover.
He also gets referrals from the Lions Befrienders and continues to visit those who had moved into nursing and old folk's homes.
Madam Salman Shairkhan, who lives opposite him, is one of the many neighbours who sing his praises.
'Ah Koh is very good. When a stranger knocks on my door, he will be the first to pop his head out to check if I am safe. With him around, I am not scared, even when I come home late after visiting the mosque,' said the 76-year-old former domestic help, who lives alone.
He stops by her place to chat every day, and buys lunch or dinner for her if needed.
Ms Cadrina Cheng, an executive at Lions Befrienders who runs its befriending schemes, called Mr Koh her 'left and right hand'.
'There are so many seniors in the community and we can't monitor all of them closely, so it is important for neighbours like Mr Koh, who know the people in their own areas well, to reach out to them,' she said.
Said Mr Koh: 'I am not afraid of getting old or dying. I will do it as long as I am able to.'
He gets his own weekly visits from Lions Befrienders volunteers.
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