Speech by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health at the ComSA Forum 2017, 18 Aug 2017

Mr Heng Chee How, Adviser to Whampoa Grassroots Organisations, 

Dr Mary Ann Tsao, Chairman of Tsao Foundation,

Dr Sarah Louise Barber, Director, World Health Organization Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan,

Professor Philip Choo, Group Chief Executive Officer, National Healthcare Group,

Partners of Tsao Foundation and ComSA Whampoa Centre

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

Introduction 

    I am delighted to join you today for the Tsao Foundation Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA) Forum. Congratulations also to Tsao Foundation and the National Healthcare Group (NHG) for the official opening of the ComSA Whampoa Centre.  

Strong Partnership is Key to Holistic Care Support System

2    MOH’s partnership with Whampoa goes back many years. Recognising the large elderly community in Whampoa, it was one of the four original pilot sites under the City for All Ages (CFAA) programme when it was launched in 2012. Under the CFAA, MOH worked together with Whampoa grassroots and community partners to better understand the needs of seniors and put in place initiatives to address the needs. We carried out town audits with volunteers and residents to identify areas for infrastructure improvement so that seniors can move around more safely and conveniently.  Today, you can see more ramps, handrails, covered drains and longer pedestrian timings at traffic light crossings in Whampoa.  

3    With the strong support of Whampoa grassroots, we have also partnered Tsao Foundation to pilot new models of community care here since 2013. Tsao Foundation has been a strong advocate of ageing in place since its establishment in 1993, and has worked hard to make this succeed within Whampoa. Starting from the door-to-door surveys conducted to understand how we can better support seniors here, Tsao Foundation has now put in place a suite of programmes to look after the needs of seniors in a holistic manner. The ComSA Centre, which is a partnership between Tsao Foundation and NHG, is an extension of Tsao Foundation’s services here and further strengthens its ability to care for seniors across a range of care needs, from the active agers to the more frail elderly.

Ecosystem of care and social support

4    I believe that with an ageing population, we need to shift the centre of gravity of care, from the acute hospitals to the community. More importantly, we need to go upstream and enable seniors to remain healthy and happy for as long as possible, through a strong community care system that keeps them away from loneliness and isolation, and provides good management of chronic conditions and early interventions to delay the onset of frailty.  This ComSA centre is a physical manifestation of this vision – a strong anchor to draw in the whole community into a Community of Care that supports our seniors to age well.

5    First, the centre seeks to keep seniors as healthy as possible through health and social programmes. A key philosophy within ComSA is to empower seniors to take charge of their physical, mental and social health and lead more active lives. At the Learning Room where Tsao conducts the “Self-Care on Health of Older Persons” programme – SCOPE for short, participants learn the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles, and are taught how they can change their habits to prevent and manage lifestyle-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. To date, ComSA’s SCOPE has reached out to almost 400 residents in Whampoa. Other programmes conducted in its Learning Room proactively encourage lifelong learning and teach seniors how to build mental and emotional resilience.

6    ComSA’s programmes also encourage seniors to co-create a vibrant community. Seniors are encouraged and empowered to initiate and implement projects to improve the life of the community that they live in. One of the panelists for this afternoon’s discussion on community development - Ms Theresa Chua, exemplifies this spirit of elder empowerment. She was one of the first participants of the SCOPE programme when it was first rolled out in 2013 at Whampoa. Now, she works closely with other older persons and local residents to continue learning and exploring avenues to improve her own community.

7    Second, the centre offers primary care, geriatric services, case management and aged care services. With the centre, seniors can transit more seamlessly from the hospitals back home. Their healthcare needs can be managed by the ComSA’s primary care clinic while those who are frailer can receive day care services at the centre. ComSA’s case managers can also help seniors seek medical, homecare, befriending and social services to meet their psychosocial needs. Tsao Foundation is also piloting the Integrated Home and Day Care (IHDC) package at this centre. IHDC gives providers flexibility to care for different seniors according to their needs. Seniors can come to the centre on days they are well, and receive care at their homes on days they are not feeling well.  Since Tsao Foundation started IHDC services earlier this year, they have already reached out to 19 seniors and is poised to care for more seniors as they ramp up their operations in Whampoa.

8    Third, this centre links up with other community partners to provide an ecosystem of care. One of ComSA’s critical pillars is the expanding service network that has developed over the years. For example, ComSA has been reaching out to neighbourhood GPs to build a ‘catch-all’ network of complementary social services that support the primary care services provided. With the strong suite of programmes and integration of services with other service agencies and community partners, Whampoa seniors can be assured that they will have access to the health and social services most appropriate to their needs at every point in their care journey.

9    Two beneficiaries of ComSA’s suite of services and community partnerships are 81-year-old Mr Tan Yew Lee and his wife. ComSA’s care management team helped Mr Tan with his medication compliance and self-care. Mr Tan was also linked up with the Whampoa Family Service Centre, which provided social support needed by the family. Currently, Mrs Tan also participates in the day care programme at ComSA three times a week. There, she receives holistic medical and psycho-social support in a single setting. These services and support have helped both Mr and Mrs Tan to continue to age well within the community.

Conclusion 

10    I am heartened by how this ecosystem of care and social support is taking shape in Whampoa. Such a model supports the aspirations of most Singaporeans to age-in-place, in the comfort of their homes. A big thank you to all residents, Tsao Foundation and NHG, partners, service agencies, research institutions, and all those who have been involved in this project to build a supportive community for Whampoa seniors.

11    I would also like to especially thank Advisor Heng Chee How and his grassroots for their strong support of the centre. They had proactively engaged MOH to include an eldercare facility within this Community Club to cater to the needs of Whampoa residents. The centre would not have been possible without the strong leadership and vision of Advisor Heng and his team in wanting to make Whampoa a community for all ages. As you hear about the work that is underway in Whampoa this afternoon, I urge you to think about how you can contribute to this effort to co-create a community for successful ageing. MOH will continue to support initiatives across Singapore to create supportive communities for our seniors to age well in place. I wish you all a fruitful forum. Thank you.