Missing Grandpa
The Days Are Long But The Years Are Short.
I didn’t lose my grandpa to cancer, heart attack or old age. Loneliness took him away. If you ever thought that loneliness doesn’t kill, think again.
Since grandma left, pops was living alone; thinking about her day and night, missing her. After spending more than half a century together, how do you even get used to the fact that your other half is gone?
It was circa 2002. He had 31 grandchildren at the time. They went to visit him, they left. The visits never lasted too long. Some were too small, some too busy, some lived far away – like me. I only saw grandpa once a year. Little did I know that the last time we would meet, I was sweet 16.
The doctor said there was nothing wrong with pops and he’s not that old, but he just chose to “let go”. Not being able to save someone from giving up is such a sad, sad thing to hear and bear. We had no choice but to swallow the pain, digest the bitterness in our minds, and learn to accept that life has a termination date.
Life went on and we moved on. It wasn’t until I moved to Singapore and visited NTUC Health’s newest nursing home in Chai Chee and heard true stories of how they helped Madam Lee gain her will to live or how 61 year old Mr. Lim regained his mobility and independence under the care of their therapists, that got me thinking – what if grandpa had all this help, support and community? It’s not hard to see that if he did, chances are our family would still have him with us today.
The senior care centre came as a shock to me. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Reminiscent, functional and dementia-friendly, the nursing homes are designed with elements to provide a supportive healing environment; encouraging the elderlies to recall their past, engage in conversations and feel at home. Their goal is ‘Building a home in the community, and the community in a home.’ People go crazy in Penang to take photos of this stuff. Can you believe this is a nursing home?
{comprehensive range of rehabilitation equipments caters to varying rehabilitative needs}
This Chai Chee eldercare facility is the newest addition to the nursing homes under NTUC Health, operational since 16 Jan 2017 with the capacity of 342 beds. Their goal is to bring happiness and peace of mind to families by delivering trusted care to their loved ones so that the working people in Singapore can have peace of mind at work while their elderly parents are being tended to.
{342 beds, with 100 senior care capacity}
{every corridor is ‘fenced’ to prevent suicide or mishaps, making the centre a safe and functional place to live in}
Singapore is facing the challenges of an ageing population and manpower shortage. The social enterprises under the labour movement, including NTUC Health, are disrupting and evolving themselves to cater to the changing needs of the working people in the country.
As one of Singapore’s largest nursing home providers, NTUC Health’s main mission is to help moderate cost of living for the average Singaporeans, to help them stretch their dollar. With the right facilities and services, the elderly can still be well taken care of.
{collaborations with neighbouring schools engage residents with activities to bring them a sense of fulfilment and encourage intergenerational bonding}
{art therapy}
These are the comprehensive care one can expect from Chai Chee Nursing Home:
- Person-Centred Approach to Care through interest profiling, which means identifying each resident’s history and preferences.
- Encouraging them to stay out of bed and spend quality time with their peers or family members.
- Functional and uplifting environment that is safe and secure to help residents feel at home.
- Dental hygiene services.
- Dementia support.
NTUC also caters to varying rehabilitative needs. This includes a ‘Day Rehabilitation Centre’ and an ‘Activity of Daily Living Room’ using a comprehensive range of rehabilitation equipments, to encourage better mobility and independence before the residents can return home.
Every gold citizen deserves to receive the right health and eldercare needs after contributing more than half their lives to their family and also the country they live in. Singapore has definitely done it right again for this one.
If you are my Cingaporean reader, learn about the options and solutions your loved ones have and make sure they use this privilege. NTUC Health Nursing Home is not just for patients and residents – if your parents / grandparents are bored of staying at home, drop them off at any of the centres where they can make friends and participate in fulfilling activities, pick them up after work, and have dinner together when you can.
For fellow Malaysians, I hope one day we too can have such quality and affordable healthcare and eldercare services. It saddens me that our tax money is being used for all the wrong things, when it can be used to improve quality of life.
Make the time and appreciate the time you make with your parents and grandparents, for days are long but the years are short.
NTUC’s second nursing home was launched on Thursday Nov 2. Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing had previously said that such efforts are part of its push to offer affordable services for working people. Read the article on The Straits Times here.
