SINGAPORE: Seniors To Lend Helping Hand To Dialysis Patients

SINGAPORE (MediaCorp), November 7, 2007: A pilot project for senior citizens to befriend dialysis patients will be launched at Changi Simei in the next two months. The six-month trial will see some 42 residents, aged between 50 and 78, engage with patients from the Kuan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple-National Kidney Foundation Dialysis Centre. They will attend three-hour sessions every month to lend emotional support to the patients, some of whom may find the treatment painful and consider opting out. If the project can be sustained, it will be extended to other senior citizens. The senior citizens are members of the Active Community Engagement (ACE) Alumni. They set up the group two weeks ago, after graduating from the Yah! Community College programme run by the Marine Parade Family Service Centre. The Chinese-language programme imparts useful knowledge to the elderly, such as how to execute a will and the learning of basic English. The Changi Simei constituency is the first outside the Marine Parade GRC to adopt the programme, which is held at its community centre. In the next six months, the constituency will source for partners to work out a curriculum for Malay, and perhaps even English, versions. ACE Alumni president George Lee, 57, suggested: "My batch visited a Hindu temple in Serangoon. There should be more visits to cultural centres such as mosques and churches so we can understand others better." By Nazry Bahrawi Copyright ©2005 MediaCorp Press Ltd |