More residents in Nee Soon South learn how to assist those with dementia
Residents role-playing at a training session to convert more sites around Yishun into “safe return” points for individuals with dementia.
SINGAPORE — A man is found wandering the streets near Khatib MRT station. He does not know where he came from, or where he is going. How can he be reunited with his family members?
At a training session to convert more sites around Yishun into “safe return” points for individuals with dementia on Sunday (May 13), about 70 grassroots leaders and volunteers at Nee Soon South learnt how they could check the transaction history of the man’s EZ-Link card to derive clues, if the man does not have any documents on him with his next-of-kin’s contact details or the name of the agency looking after him.
EZ-Link cards can be checked at the passenger service counter of a train station, at self-service kiosks, or via EZ-Link’s mobile application, they learnt at the three-hour session conducted by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).
Participating residents also role-played scenarios, such as someone with dementia misplacing his wallet or accusing his maid of stealing S$10.
In such cases, which tend to involve some frustration or agitation, residents were told to speak slowly, validate the individual’s emotions and enter their reality, instead of pointing out their mistakes or being condescending towards them.
After the training, eight Residents’ Committees (RCs) in the district will become new dementia go-to points, adding to the 14 existing ones.
While many might think the chances of having to help someone with dementia are improbable, Nee Soon group representative constituency Member of Parliament Lee Bee Wah said one individual in each block of flats would be suffering from dementia by 2030, on average.
“That means residents have a role to play,” she said. Some 80,000 people aged 60 and older are expected to have dementia by 2030, almost tripling from about 28,000 in 2012.
“If given proper care, they can live life normally,” Dr Lee said.
Yishun is one of eight neighbourhoods across the island that are dementia-friendly communities. Others include MacPherson and Hong Kah North. There are more than 70 dementia go-to points in total.
Besides the RCs in Yishun, other dementia go-to points include senior care centres, nursing homes, community clubs and a Guardian pharmacy branch located at the basement of Northpoint mall.
The AIC does not track the total number of cases seen at all go-to points, but noted in its training manual that the MacPherson Community Club, which was designated a go-to point in May 2016, handles one to two cases a year.
The Sree Narayana Mission Nursing Home has seen one case since it was appointed a 24-hour go-to point in November 2017.
