By Fawwaz Baktee
With the aim of providing quality and affordable care to seniors who are unable to receive it round-the-clock in their own homes, NTUC Health’s first nursing home located at Jurong West was officially declared opened by NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing on 25 May 2016.
NTUC Health Nursing Home (Jurong West) currently cares for more than 200 wheelchair-bound or highly-dependent seniors and started operations in October 2015. The home provides assistance and supervision in the daily activities of its residents and also medical, nursing and rehabilitative care.
According to NTUC Health, a small number of residents who are suitable for active rehabilitation receive intensive rehabilitative care to help them recover and return to their families.
“The focus in our nursing home is to provide good, holistic care for our residents and support their recovery, so as to help them return to their homes and the community as far as it is possible. We believe that seniors’ emotional wellbeing and quality of life generally improve when they are with their family and within the community,” said NTUC Health CEO Chua Song Khim.
Integrated and Seamless Services
In his speech, SG Chan said: “We will have an aging population to manage in time to come. We are one of the fastest aging societies in South-East Asia, if not the world. By 2030, almost one in three of our population will need some kind of elder care service in one form or another. For NTUC to provide these services in 15 years’ time, we have to get our feet wet.”
SG Chan also said that the nursing home is part of NTUC’s efforts to bring integrated services to Singaporeans seamlessly and comprehensively.
“NTUC social enterprises are not just 10 individual social enterprises. We are a group of enterprises that can leverage on each other’s strengths. Today, we see a nursing home but behind it is an integrated suite of products. We see different parts of our social enterprises coming together to provide services needed for our elderly,” he added.
Power of Network
He cited examples such as NTUC FairPrice's two Enabled stores and NTUC Income’s Silver Protect insurance plan as other efforts to provide elder-focused products and services that respond to the needs of seniors.
“These efforts bring out the power of our network and not just the power and energy of individual social enterprises,” said SG Chan.
SG Chan added that NTUC will also work closely with the Ministry of Health to continue to expand its eldercare services.
By the first quarter of next year, NTUC Health will run two more nursing homes in Geylang East and Chai Chee to cater for seniors in the eastern part of Singapore. At full capacity, the three nursing homes will be able to care for 900 seniors.
Support from Community
NTUC-U Care Fund also donated $1 million to the Eldercare Trust that will benefit over 700 seniors from over 11 senior care centres and the newly-opened NTUC Health nursing home.
These funds will help NTUC Health to enhance its facilities and provide support to its senior residents who are currently receiving financial assistance.
Source: NTUC This Week
