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Welcome to the 2018 March issue of Mind Matters. We hope that the updates on the latest policy

developments will be useful

MIND MATTERS, MARCH 2018 Volume 3, Issue 1

Global Conference on Integrated Care (Page 2)

What’s in this issue

During the recent COS 2018, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat shared on several key changes to improve the delivery of services to seniors to better meet the needs of Singapore’s ageing population.

Mind Matters

Committee of Supply (COS) 2018

COMMUNITY NETWORKS FOR SENIORS (CNS)

CNS will be expanded nationwide by 2020 to strengthen support for our seniors and enable them to age confidently in the community.

INTEGRATED HEALTH AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR SENIORS

Social aged care services under Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) like Senior Activity Centres (SACs), Cluster Support, Caring Assistance from Neigh-bours (CAN) Carers and other programmes including befriending services will be transferred to MOH to consolidate social- and health related services for seniors.

The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) will be the central implementation agency to coordinate such services for seniors

Pioneer Generation Office renamed as Silver Generation Office and merged with AIC

TOP UP OF SENIOR-RELATED FUNDS

Community Silver Trust will receive $300 million top up and expand to match dona-tions raised by eligible VWOs for active ageing programmes

Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund will receive $100 million top up to provide sub-sidies for assistive devices and selected consumables

DEMENTIA FRIENDS MOBILE APPLICATION

As part of the Dementia-Friendly Singapore initiative, the Dementia Friends mobile application aims to reach out to persons with dementia, their care-givers and Dementia Friends by providing timely access to resources, useful information and disseminate cases of lost seniors via push notifications.

Dementia Friends who are volunteers, will learn about signs and symptoms of dementia and help keep a look out for persons with dementia who are lost or wandering through the mobile application. Caregivers can also use the app to reach out to all Dementia Friends to help keep a look out for loved ones who are lost.

New CREST partners (Page 4)

Food for Thought Recipes | Book launch by Club HEAL (Page 4)

Pets and Mental Health (Page 3)

Dialogue with Time - Embrace Ageing (Page 3)

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The conference theme this year was “Advance! Accelerating the Integration of Care”, emphasising the urgency to transform health and social care. There were 3 main areas of focus:

Care Integration in Practice will showcase innovative models of successful care integration around the world, focusing on the crucial elements that led to success.

Enabling Integrated Care will study enablers that can spur care integration, such as judicious use of regulation, financing reform, and technology.

Finally, Transcending Boundaries in Integrated Care will highlight the importance of cross-disciplinary collabo-ration in delivering effective care.

The GCIC attracted more than 1600 registrants from 23 countries, and seeding new ideas and innovations across into the local health and social care system.

Dr Saamdu Chetri

Care staff working with elderly and frail clients experience lots of

stress and burnout. Dr Saamdu Chetri talked about how mindfulness

techniques can be adapted for care staff in nursing homes to be pre-

sent with the client to build that connection. They also learnt how

mindfulness can help them to cope with their stress and continually

reinvigorate their sense of purpose when caring for the sick and frail

elderly.

Professor June Andrews

Professor June Andrews is an internationally recognized specialist on dementia. In a 2-day workshop, she shared her expertise with

care professionals on working and communicating with families of a person with dementia.

Ms Kaye Lee, a participant of this workshop said, “I really enjoyed the work-

shop by Prof June Andrews. She shared both from her heart and mind, encour-

aging us to involve both the person with dementia and their caregivers. Even

though there may be no cure, there is still a lot that can be done to allow the

person with dementia to stay well for as long as possible. Patience and empa-

thy is necessary when we talk to families, and I learnt a lot of new perspectives

from her extensive experience working with families.”

Pic of Prof June Andrews

A quick look at what went on during the pre-conference sessions on 31 January 2018!

We are honoured to have Dr Catherine Calderwood as our keynote

speaker. She has been the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland since

2015. She shared on the concept of Realistic Medicine, which is

about putting the person receiving health and care at the centre of

decision-making and creates a personalised approach to their care. It

aims to reduce harm and waste and simplify care while managing

risks. She shared the experience of trying to implement Realistic

Medicine in Scotland.

Keynote Speaker: Dr Catherine Calderwood

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A team of psychologists at the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Southampton did a systematic review of several pre-existing studies and found that both positive and negative aspects of pet ownership. While there are negative aspects which include the practical and emotion-al burden of pet ownership and the psychological impact that losing a pet has, overall, the benefits stood out. In the BMC Psychiatry journal, it was reported that pets were often found to provide a consistent source of companionship and calming support, particularly useful in a time of crisis. They provide good distractions, and were even considered to be important in the “maintenance of a positive identity” Find out more from http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/pets-beneficial-those-with-mental-health-conditions-study-suggests/

Do you have a pet? Pets Are Beneficial To Those With Men-

tal Health Conditions, Suggests Study

You can now get to learn more about ageing through an interactive exhibition, Dialogue with Time—Embrace Ageing at Sin-

gapore Science Centre. This permanent exhibition consists of guided tours, facilitated by retirees who will lead visitors

through various zones in the exhibition. The key highlights of the tour are two discussion zones where the senior guides will

facilitate dialogues with visitors to overcome stereotypes or misguided assumptions associated with old age. Other interactive

exhibits within the exhibition also allow you to experience and understand more about the ageing process and reconsider

your perception of age. Why not make your next outing to be a visit to the Dialogue with Time - Embrace Ageing?

For more details, check out http://www.science.edu.sg/exhibitions/Pages/dialoguewithtimesg.aspx

What’s on the News?

Photo credit: From science centre website

Dialogue with Time - Embrace Ageing

@ Singapore Science Centre

Photo credit: Gornostay/ Shutterstock

Dialogue Room 1 – Ageing is a Personal Matter

Learn about the thoughts of seniors what happy age-ing means via the guide’s personal story and experi-

ence. And share your thoughts too in the dia-

logue with the guide

Yellow Room

Experience the different stages of ageing such as a weakened sense of hearing, seeing and mobility.

Pink Room

Listen to five videos, featur-

ing short stories of active senior citizens and the ex-periences gained in their later years. Topics shared

include “Finding Love Online” and “Re-

employment of Seniors” aimed to help adopt a posi-tive attitude towards age-

Dialogue Room 2 – The Future of Ageing

Be engaged in a quiz on population statistics in Sin-gapore. A discussion on the

future of ageing will be facilitated by the guide.

Zone 1 and 3: Science of Ageing and Science & Technology are unguided exhibition that share on the effect of ageing and

how will the use of science and technology assist ageing.

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Montfort Care @ Henderson Dawson 27 FSC Family Service Centre

27 Telok Blangah Way #01-1018 Singapore 090027

Tel: (65) 6270 8327

GoodLife! takes a holistic approach to active age-ing by organising activities that address both the

physical and mental wellness of the seniors in Henderson Dawson area.

TRANS Family Services CREST @ Bukit Timah

Blk 3 Toh Yi Drive #01-189 Singapore 590003

Tel: 6467 8191

TRANS FOCUS Centre promotes active ageing through provi-sion of daily structured programmes and services for seniors

aged 50 and above.

It is also a CREST partner in Bukit Timah region, reaching out to residents to raise mental health awareness and linking them with the appropriate mental health care and social services.

A Place in the Sun

A Place in the Sun comprises of 17 stories of people

who find Hope, Empowerment, Acceptance and

Love, while facing challenges one day at a time.

Written by Club HEAL's resident writer Yohanna Ab-

dullah, she also shared about her own 20-year jour-

ney with bipolar disorder.

Get a copy today at $10 each (U.P. $20).

Contact admin@clubheal.org.sg / 6899 3463 to pur-

chase.

Food for Thought -

Eat Well, Live Well, Think Well

Recipe cards were devel-

oped in collaboration with

the dieticians from Khoo

Teck Puat Hospital, to en-

courage seniors to adopt

a diet that promotes brain

health and healthy living.

These recipes have been

adapted from evidence-

based diets such as the

Mediterranean diet and

Okinawan diet. The reci-

pes are further localized

by running focus group sessions with seniors to dis-

cover their food preferences.

The guiding principles for the recipe cards are to find

suitable, local ingredients, and to create healthy reci-

pes that are also tasty and easy to prepare. Every

recipe has 8 ingredients or fewer, and have at most 8

preparatory steps.

You can download the recipes from: https://

www.silverpages.sg/resource-library/Brochures

New CREST Partners

Photo credit: Club HEAL

Book Launch Brain Food Recipes

Like and follow us on Facebook to find out the latest news, resources and initiatives on

dementia and mental health

Mental Health Awareness Facebook

www.facebook.com/MentalHealthAwarenessSG

Dementia-Friendly Singapore Facebook

www.facebook.com/DementiaFriendlySingapore