Seniors get moving to health programme

Over 300,000 join scheme aimed at getting them to stay active, healthy
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 2 Jun 2014

ALL older folk in Singapore now have a place to socialise, pick up a new hobby and receive subsidised health screening in their neighbourhoods.

A national programme that aims to get the elderly to stay active and healthy has reached all 87 constituencies islandwide, and research has shown it is working.

When the Wellness Programme was first piloted in 2008, the target then was to reach half of all seniors aged 50 and above, or a total of 500,000 seniors, by next year.

So far, about 310,000 seniors have participated in health screenings and activities that are held at community centres, residents' committees or centres specially built for them.

A study done by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore in 2012 compared 1,000 participants from the programme with 2,500 people who did not take part in it.

It found that participants were more active and socially connected than non-participants. They were also healthier.

This is a good start, said the People's Association (PA), which has spent over $48 million running the programme.

"We are on track to meeting the target but it is just a guide," said Dr Tan Yong Seng, chairman of the PA Active Ageing Council.

"More importantly, we want to see our seniors leading happy, healthy and active lives for as long as possible," he added.

Such efforts are becoming increasingly important, in the light of a rapidly ageing population as well as the growing ranks of elderly living alone in HDB flats.

For instance, the number of seniors living alone is expected to grow from 35,000 in 2012, to 83,000 by 2030.

While the programme's benefits are clear, the PA said it found it difficult to attract newcomers at first. In particular, elderly men were not so keen to take part in activities such as line dancing, brisk walking or gardening.

So, it introduced more competitive sports and games favoured by men, such as dragonboating.

Today, about one in three participants is male.

Subsidised health screening, the other key feature of the programme, has been drawing a steady stream of 12,000 people every year. Check-ups are done by nurses and each costs $2 to $5.

They have helped save lives.

Last year, four in five senior citizens screened were diagnosed to be at risk of developing chronic diseases such as kidney failure, stroke or heart disease.

Seven in 10 of these people visited their doctors for follow-ups.

Madam Molly Tay, for instance, has been going for the health screening every year since 2008. Last year, the 62-year-old housewife discovered that her sugar levels were abnormally high and went for monthly workshops conducted by nurses at a Jurong community club to learn what types of food to avoid and how to monitor her sugar levels.

She said: "It is good that it is detected early at the pre-diabetic stage so that I can take steps to keep it under control instead of taking medicine."

Volunteers at the different constituencies have also come up with their own niche programmes. For example, some centres in Eunos and Paya Lebar have introduced the "meridian flapping" exercise where participants use special tools to hit different acupuncture points on their bodies to improve blood circulation.

Madam Wong Soon Yee, 65, who has been doing the exercise every weekday for a year, said she used to be largely housebound due to a bout of polio when she was young. The disease left her unable to walk easily without aid. Now, she can walk slowly to a nearby coffee shop without help or becoming too tired.

She said having such a network of friends also serves as a type of informal roll call. "If any of us has not turned up for a few sessions, the others will notice and check on the person," she said.

The PA said getting most people who are already sedentary to get moving is an uphill task. However, the programme has managed to draw some of them out of the house.

One of them, Mr Cheong Kom Hong, 80, was a couch potato for the last 40 years. But after some prodding from his wife and neighbours, he now joins them for qigong every day at a courtyard under his block in Bishan.

"I find myself more cheerful after getting out more often and making new friends," he said.

Combined wellness and care centres for Nee Soon's elderly
By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 2 Jun 2014

THREE new wellness and care centres for the elderly will be set up in Nee Soon GRC, said grassroots adviser and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam yesterday.

To be located in Housing Board void decks in Chong Pang, Nee Soon Central and Nee Soon East, they will combine wellness services such as gyms and health screenings with day care, dementia care and nursing care.

Post by K Shanmugam Sc.

The first, set to open early next year, is a partnership between St Luke's ElderCare, the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Integrated Care, Alexandra Health System, the HDB and Chong Pang grassroots organisations.

Ageing is an issue that all of Singapore must focus on, and one focus is providing health-care services, said Mr Shanmugam.

"You really don't want to take them out of the community, you want to provide the services in the community, in place," he said.

The upcoming wellness centres serve this purpose.

The minister was speaking at the Nee Soon South community health fair yesterday.

There, Nee Soon South division signed a memorandum of understanding with National Healthcare Group Polyclinics.

The collaboration will cover areas such as psychology services, diet and nutrition advice, care-giving, as well as clinical pharmacy and diagnostic services.

With residents' consent, polyclinics there will also share data with grassroots organisations. This is so that residents with diabetes, for example, can receive follow-up visits to ensure that their condition is under control.

This is part of Nee Soon's campaign to celebrate the contributions of the pioneer generation, aged 65 and above this year.

The campaign includes activities for the elderly throughout the year such as health talks and traditional Chinese medicine consultations.

A door-to-door outreach programme will also explain the health-care benefits in the Pioneer Generation Package to elderly residents in languages which they understand.

Yesterday, such efforts were going strong elsewhere in Singapore.

At Nanyang Community Club in Jurong West, a dumpling festival celebration was accompanied by an explanation of the Pioneer Generation Package in Mandarin and Hokkien by grassroots adviser Alvin Yeo.

In Hong Kah North, some 300 Secondary 3 students from Swiss Cottage Secondary School visited 6,000 residents aged 50 and above at home.

The students promoted awareness of the Pioneer Generation Package and Singapore's health-care system, and conducted a survey of the senior citizens' wants and needs.