MOH constantly seeking to improve nursing home designs

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Today, 6 April 2017

MOH constantly seeking to improve nursing home designs

We thank Mr Low Yee Cheok for his letter “Visual presentation of eldercare facilities matters” (April 4). The Ministry of Health constantly seeks to improve our nursing home designs to provide a good environment in which seniors can recuperate.

We also seek to design our nursing homes to be aesthetically pleasing to the surrounding neighbourhood, and engage local communities to ask for feedback on the design. 

For the nursing home in Choa Chu Kang North 6, we had earlier incorporated residents’ suggestions, such as having more greenery and a colour scheme that would allow the facility to blend in with its surroundings.

We recognise that the colour of the trimmings on the building can be adjusted to reflect our design more closely, and we are now doing so.

We appreciate Mr Low’s interest in our nursing homes, and look forward to continued support from the community as we develop more nursing homes across Singapore to meet the needs of our ageing population.

Lim Bee Khim
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health

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Forum Letter

Today, 4 April 2017

Visual presentation of eldercare facilities matters

Intergenerational understanding begins with community attitudes before community involvement. Many of us see eldercare centres and nursing homes and think: I am not going there (Daycare programme for pre-schoolers and seniors to mingle; March 28).

One of the reasons for this is not the lack of interactive programmes or enthusiastic staff, I believe, but the poor visual presentation of these places. Take, for example, the newly constructed nursing home at Choa Chu Kang North 6. 

Its gaudy yellow and green trims are an eyesore, especially when viewed from Woodlands Road. If not for them, the primary theme of pastel green and white walls with climbing plants matches the surroundings of a green corridor.

I appreciate that our Member of Parliament, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, took the time to acknowledge and send our concerns to the Health Ministry. But no corrective action followed.

The nursing home’s facade would not appeal to anyone besides those who need to enter the facility.

By doing less, taxpayers’ dollars could have been assigned to painting a more beautiful and accepting picture of intergenerational interaction.

First impressions are created in seven seconds — many may shun the place for the next seven years.

If the Housing and Development Board’s Segar Grove and the new Keat Hong Community Club can raise their value in the community with a well-thought-out aesthetic, I do not see why nursing homes, or other buildings for that matter, cannot.

A conducive environment must also appeal from the outside. Barriers should be identified early, even from the colour perspective.

To neglect this is not a Smart Nation mentality, and is unprofessional. Our old folks and the Yew Tee community deserve better. 

Low Yee Cheok