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04 Nov 2006 |
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A New Face of Day Care Centre by NTUC Eldercare MEDIA RELEASE Singapore, 4 November 2006– Sharing the vision of NTUC ElderCare and believing in the benefits of their activities and programme, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd has generously sponsored $400,000 for its new centre. This will be ElderCare’s fourth social day care centre. Silver Circle (Jurong Central) will be located at Block 402 Jurong West St 42 and will be ready for operation in February 2007. 2 This new centre will have some slight differences compared to the other day care centres. Firstly, it has adopted and applied the principles of Universal Design at its planning and design stage. The rational is to give the centre the potential to cater to a wider group of people in the future due to changing demands and needs. 3 It incorporates features such as barrier-free accessibility, home-safety and other user-friendly details that are currently not readily seen at many places as they have yet to be widely adopted or being promoted. They are: - a. the need and use of space by people of different physical conditions, 4 Secondly, there will be an “Independent Living Showroom” and “Assisted Living Devices and Equipments” (i.e., items that assist a person in conducting their daily living activities) made available within the centre premises. The purpose of this is to provide actual demonstration and advices to elderly, the disabled and their care-givers. 5 The centre may possibly be the first day care centre that has such a platform within the same premises. Through this effort, it hopes to provide a more holistic care-giving approach and better support to the seniors and their care-givers or family members. 6 “All these features and details though small, do serve a purpose of its own and make a difference to the way in conducting one’s daily activities. It helps a person to improve one’s existing living environment by making it more user-friendly or suitable to his or her current physical conditions. With these, we hope that they can be motivated to look pass their physical conditions and live on and have a sense of independence and dignity.” said Mr Lim Boon Heng, Secretary-General, NTUC and Minister, Prime Minister’s Office. 7 Mr Lim Boon Heng added that “Without the generous support from corporations such as NTUC FairPrice, who share and believe in our vision and the benefits that our activities can bring, this new centre, together with its concept, will not be able to materialize.” 8 On the rationale for supporting this worthy cause, Mr Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of NTUC FairPrice, said: "As a pro-family retailer, FairPrice shares the vision of NTUC Eldercare in caring for the needs of the elderly. To help Eldercare to continue to provide the elderly with quality but affordable day care services, FairPrice had pledged a donation of $2 million, of which $400,000 will be used for the setting up of the 4th Eldercare Centre in Jurong. We are happy to note that it is taking shape and will be the first centre that adopts the principles of the Universal Design.” 9 Mr Ng added: “At FairPrice, we have also implemented several initiatives to make our stores more elderly-friendly. These include having bigger and more prominent signs, wheelchair accessible check-outs and lifts for split-level stores. We also offer senior citizens 2% discount every Tuesday, and bring in products that cater to their special dietary needs, such as those that are low fat, low sugar, or high calcium in content." 10 Mr Lim Boon Heng and the guests toured the artist impressions exhibited at the launch, held at Jurong Green Community Club, 6 Jurong West Ave 1. The exhibition will continue to be at the Community Club for a period of 2 weeks till 19 November 2006, Sunday. ***** For media queries, please contact: Ms Karen Kan Ms Chong Yan Cheng About NTUC Eldercare NTUC Eldercare Co-opoerative Limited was registered in 1997, with the objective of providing affordable and quality care services for the elderly of average dual-income Singaporean families. It also offers value-add services such as physiotherapy, counselling, loan of home care equipment, basic health checks and provides information & referrals. Besides these, NTUC Eldercare also organizes public education workshops and projects to promote the importance of active and responsible ageing. NTUC Eldercare currently has three centres in Singapore: - 1. NTUC ElderCare Centre (Marsiling) tel: 63682591 About the NTUC Fairprice The NTUC FairPrice Group operates the largest supermarket chain in Singapore with a current retail network of 184 outlets, comprising 75 FairPrice supermarkets, 1 Liberty Market, 3 Homemarts, 12 FairPrice Xpress and 93 Cheers convenience stores. |
