MIND MATTERS, JUNE 2016 Volume 2, Issue 7

Photo Credit The Telegraph

DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY SINGAPORE WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE

In Singapore, the prevalence of dementia is about 10% amongst seniors aged 60 and above. With a rapidly ageing population, the number of seniors with dementia is set to rise.

In view of the ageing population, the Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Agency for Integrated Care to build a Dementia-Friendly Singapore. To date, three Dementia-Friendly Communities have been built with the support of the community – they are in Yishun, Hong Kah North and Macpherson.

What is a Dementia-Friendly Community (DFC)? It is a where residents, businesses and services, and the community at large, are aware of dementia and understand how to better support seniors with dementia and their caregivers. It is a place where the seniors feel respected, valued, and where help is within easy reach so that they can continue to lead independent lives. It is also an environment which the seniors will be able to move around safely and with ease.

Resources are developed to increase public awareness of dementia and encourage more to join this initiative to support each other in the community!

A ‘Dementia-Friendly Singapore” Facebook page has also been set up to share resources and latest updates on dementia. https://www.facebook.com/DementiaFriendlySingapore

Dementia-Friendly Community in

Hong Kah North (Page 2)

Photo Credit: AIC

Mind Matters, Family Matters (Page 4)

Photo Credit: AIC

New COMIT: Club HEAL at Marsiling (Page 5)

Photo Credit: Club HEAL Facebook

Singapore’s population is rapidly ageing

and the prevalence of dementia is about

10% amongst seniors aged 60 and above.

It is important for us to prepare our

society now to better support a growing

number of seniors who may experience

the onset of dementia in the coming

years. We need to build a Dementia-

Friendly Singapore where residents,

businesses and services, and the

community at large are aware of dementia

and understand how to better support

and care for seniors with dementia and

their caregivers. To date, we have set up

three Dementia Friendly Communities in

Macpherson, Hong Kah North and Yishun.

Let’s all join efforts to better support our

seniors and their caregivers!

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Our student dementia friends from National Junior College engaging the elderly in simple origami folding.

Mdm Song briefing one of the residents on the signs and symptoms of dementia

INSIDE STORY: Hong Kah North is now a Dementia-Friendly Community

With the launch of Dementia-Friendly Community (DFC) in Hong Kah North, the community partners have been trained on dementia. Joining these organisations are dementia friends who act as the eyes and ears on the ground keeping a lookout for those who may need assistance.

Mr. Joseph Rajagopal, 58, Head of Senior and Auxiliary Services at REACH Community Services Society, is one of those who have been trained. Having served as a Senior Social Worker, Mr. Joseph is well aware of the difficulties associated with dementia for those affected and their caregivers. Mr. Joseph feels that the training has helped him and his team to develop insight into identifying the signs and symptoms of dementia as well as understand the potential difficulties they may encounter. Mr. Joseph and his team have been taught the KIND gestures and CARE approaches that can be applied to people with dementia whilst lending them a helping hand.

When asked what his role was in providing help and services as a DFC go-to-point, Mr. Joseph explained that Reach Family Service Centre functions as a safe return point for “lost and found” seniors. The centre will contact the next-of-kin and make arrangements to reunite the senior with their family or caregiver. This go-to-point also goes on to seek consent from the next-of-kin to refer the senior to dementia outreach teams who conduct home assessments and link them up to appropriate dementia related resources and services.

Mr. Joseph vividly recalls a particular incident where a senior came for

exercise activities but had problems forgetting that her surgeon had

advised her against it. Despite being reminded several times she still

continued to turn up for the Reach centre’s daily exercise activity and

insisted on participating. Mr. Joseph and his team assessed her and

found that she could be suffering from some form of memory problem.

The centre shared with the daughter-in-law that her mother-in-law may

be developing an onset of dementia and that bringing her to a doctor

for an assessment would be beneficial for her. Handling this case was

fulfilling to Mr. Joseph because he was able to provide the caregiver

with viable options.

Similarly, Mdm Agnes Song, a Constituency Management Executive at Hong Kah North Community Club shared that “Over my past 11 years working in this community club, I had encountered residents who keep asking the same questions repeatedly, but I am not sure what is wrong with them. With the education and training, I can now identify the signs of dementia and know how to help these residents”. Not only is Mdm Song more knowledgeable of dementia and available resources, she now knows how to help them.

Recently Mdm Song helped an elderly whose head was bleeding and looked frail and upset. She immediately supported the elderly into the constituency office. While calming down the elderly, she tried to make him as comfortable as possible. At the same time, her colleague helped to call for the ambulance. The elderly kept repeating that he wanted to find his medication as he has dementia. Instinctively, Mdm. Song asked for the contact details of his next-of-kin.

Mdm Song commented, “Luckily, he could still remember his wife’s mobile number and I managed to inform his wife to come down to the Community Club. However, while waiting for the ambulance, the elderly looked drowsy. I was worried and kept talking to him to ensure that he stayed awake until the ambulance arrived.” Mdm Song followed up with the elderly’s wife a few weeks later, and is relieved to hear that the elderly is well back at home.

Alicia See, one of our youngest dementia friends, is only 17 years old. Alicia and a few of her classmates from National Junior College have been trained as part of their service learning week. This group of students went around Hong Kah North to survey businesses and shops on their understanding of dementia and their willingness to become dementia friendly shops.

She highlighted that “ultimately, we need to be concerned citizens who contribute back to our community [and] raise awareness about this condition in the Hong Kah North neighbourhood”. She recalls the first time going to the SASCO Day Care Centre at Hong Kah North and talking to an elderly lady there, whom she later realized had dementia. Alicia noted that some of the things the elderly lady shared with her contradicted what she had mentioned earlier. She seemed to have confusion with time and place, one of the symptoms of dementia.

Another advent dementia friend, Alice Lim is the chairman for one of the Hong Kah North Zones but that hasn’t stopped her from advocating the importance of dementia support within the community and helping residents with dementia. Apart from helping the residents on a regular basis, she is also involved in the Active Ageing Committee as a dementia friend and in her church located within the neighbourhood.

As of now, many helping hands such as the Hong Kah North Constituency Office, Reach Family Service Centre, Hong Kah North Day Care Centre for the Elderly, Perdaus Centre and Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura(PPIS) Family Service Centre (West) are coming together to build a safe DFC in Hong Kah North.

Do you know? A total of more than 8000 dementia friends and

champions have undergone training across all three DFCs. On 22nd

May, MP for MacPherson, Ms. Tin Pei Ling launched MacPherson DFC together with over 500 residents. One of the many highlights at the launch was the basic dementia screening by THK Cluster Support@Geylang and THK CREST. Ms. Tin Pei Ling also said during the launch that, “We need to be prepared and ensure that seniors with dementia receive care and support. At the same time, we need to support the caregivers of persons with dementia.” MacPherson DFC is also the first DFC to roll out mindfulness training for the dementia friends.

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MIND MATTERS, JUNE 2016 Volume 2, Issue 7

EVENTS

Upcoming Events – Share with Us!

21 September - World Alzheimer’s Day 10 October - World Mental Health Day

Many of us will be celebrating this day with events and publicity! We seek your support to provide brief details of your plans so that we can collate and share with all partners to ensure no clashes. Feel free to flood our mailbox at careinmind@aic.sg Let’s join efforts to reach out and support our community!

Dr. Daniel Racey running a quick practice on mindfulness

PAST EVENTS

Club HEAL opened new centre in Marsiling

On 23 April, Club HEAL officially launched their new centre in Marsiling adding on to their Bukit Batok East and Tampines centre. Established in 2012, Club HEAL is a voluntary welfare organisation that supports people with mental health conditions and their families heal and integrate back into society.

Member of Parliament, Mdm Halimah Yacob, was the Guest-of-Honour at the launch event where two peers and a caregiver shared their personal experiences. The event concluded with all the guests singing along to the lyrics of Sami Yusuf’s beautiful song, Healing, which drives home the role of compassion and faith in the healing process.

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This centre will offer similar services available in the other centres together with the Community Intervention Team programme providing home visit assessments, counselling, case management and support for caregivers. Other unique highlights of Club HEAL include psychiatric day rehabilitative services for people recovering from mental health issues through activities such as expressive therapy, cooking and pottery making. Find out more about Club HEAL at www.clubheal.org.sg

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Club HEAL Rehabilitation Centre Blk #01-02 (void deck),, 244 Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, Block 244, 650244 Club HEAL at Marsiling

Blk 317 Woodlands St 31 #01-194 Singapore 730317 Club HEAL at Tampines

503 Tampines Ave 5 Singapore 529651

On 27-28 May, the Singapore Mental Health Conference with the theme ‘Mind Matters, Family Matters’ was held at the Singapore Expo. This conference was organized by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Health Promotion Board (HPB) and National Council of Social Services (NCSS).

The Guest-of-Honor was Minister Tan Chuan Jin, Minister for Social

and Family Development, who delivered the keynote address at the

opening ceremony. Minister shared that mental health conditions

come as a package with intertwining medical and social issues. To

deliver person-centred care for those with mental health

conditions, these issues need to be addressed holistically. This will

involve both my Ministry and the Ministry of Health, along with

other social, health and community care agencies.”

Other plenary sessions included a sharing on Recovery and

Resilience by Dr. Lori Ashcraft and Dr. Eugene Johnson, how to look

beyond the condition of person with dementia from a person-

centred care approach by Dr. Ng Li Ling, a dementia specialist and

the Singapore perspective on stigma by Assistant Professor Mythily,

director of research in IMH.

This year, we have also introduced a new topic on Mindfulness

where we invited Dr. Daniel Racey to share his insights.

Mindfulness has been shown to be effective clinically to prevent

relapse of depression and practice of mindfulness itself will help

one to build self-awareness and better manage own emotions and

expectations. This is especially important for caregivers who need

to learn about conditions of loved one, may have to accept and

manage expectations, reduce stress and enjoy the journey.

The conference ended with a plenary session by Ms. Denise Phua who shared her personal journey in raising a child with special needs and the hard lessons she learnt in turning her initial grief to an energy that transformed not only her own family, but other families and professionals in the special needs sector.

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LEARNING & SHARING

A new case of dementia is diagnosed every 4 seconds (World Health Organization)

Each year, nearly 7.7 million patients worldwide are diagnosed with dementia, implying 1 new case every 4 seconds. This number is speculated to increase to 76.6 million in 2030 and alarming 135.5 million in 2050. The onset of dementia is gradual (Well-being of the Singapore Elderly (WISE) study, IMH) The onset of Alzheimer’s dementia is slow and early dementia can go undetected if the symptoms of dementia such as poor short-term memory, repeated questions, misplacement of things and changes in personality are not observed and monitored closely. Silent strokes carry risk of dementia (The Straits Times) Findings by the Memory Ageing and Cognition Centre at the National University Health System show that silent strokes can cause dementia and cognitive impairment. The elderly should report signs of sudden confusion or dizziness to their family members or caregivers who must also, on their part, take care not to brush off these complaints as signs of ageing.

Introduction to Dementia & Depression The AIC Learning Institute will be conducting a talk on “Introduction to Dementia & Depression” on 22 June, 2pm-5.30pm at City Square Mall. This talk is targeted at professionals and para-professionals who are working or have contact with clients with mental health issues, empowering you with knowledge on depression and dementia. After going through the talk, you will be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression and dementia and where to go to for help. Sign up here now!

Mental Health First Aid for Older Persons Interested in understanding what the various mental health conditions are, knowing the signs and symptoms and how to provide help to the older persons?

Sign up for the 2-day workshop on “Mental Health First Aid for Older Persons” on 7-8 July, at the AIC Learning Institute at City Square Mall. The course is priced at $22.90 for Singaporeans and permanent residents and $92.24 for non-Singaporeans and non- permanent residents working in healthcare voluntary welfare organisations and nursing homes with portable subsidies under MOH. Click here to find out more.

NEWS

Dementia-friendly malls train staff to serve with empathy A quarter of Japan’s population of 128 million is above the age of 65 and categorised as “elderly”. According to the Japan Times, 4.6 million of Japan's silver generation have been diagnosed with dementia. To serve its elderly shoppers better, AEON’s Japanese malls engaged the help of Japan’s Dementia Supporter Caravan, which offered a training course to give service staff advice on dealing with elderly with dementia. To learn more, click here.

DO YOU KNOW…

Photo Credit: Dementia Care Asia Facebook

Photo Credit: Channel News Asia

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