Pilot seniors programme keeps them active and healthy
Once leading a sedentary lifestyle, Mdm Linda Loh, 59, now does tai chi five days a week. She also takes part in Zumba classes three times a week, which is organised by an exercise group called Bedok Sweeties in 2016. Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Holed up at home following a major operation in 2006 which curtailed her movements, and wracked with grief over her father’s death a few months’ later, Madam Linda Loh went from 55kg to 65kg within a year.
Never a very active person to begin with, spending her day just going to the market and watching TV dramas saw the petite and bespectacled housewife ballooning two sizes.
Despite that, the 59-year-old did not have the motivation to exercise more — until she found herself struggling to stand up after using a squatting toilet pan sometime in 2007.
“I remember calling my son after that experience and telling him that I might be wheel-chair bound in 10 years’ time. And he said, ‘Mummy, you must exercise’,” Mdm Loh told TODAY.
“It was then that I decided to act on it. This is my body and health, and I told myself that I have to take ownership.”
At a neighbour’s urging, she joined a tai chi class in 2008 and also regularly did brisk walking around the neighbourhood.
But an unwillingness to pay for gym and exercise classes, coupled with not having more friends to exercise with saw Mdm Loh’s attempt to lose weight go nowhere — until she joined free Zumba classes together with the exercise group ‘Bedok Sweeties’ in 2016.
Introduced in 2016 as part of the Community Networks for Seniors (CNS) pilot, the free Zumba classes were organised by the Bedok South residents’ committee as well as the Health Promotion Board to encourage active ageing, among other objectives.
Overseen by the Ministry of Health and its Agency for Integrated Care, the CNS programme was piloted in Tampines, Marine Parade and Chua Chu Kang.
Under it, more than 70 residents’ committees were activated to hold preventive health and active ageing activities for more than 70,000 seniors since its launch. More than 1,500 seniors benefit from various activities weekly.
With such encouraging results from the pilot, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in his Budget speech on Monday (Feb 19) that the programme will be progressively expanded to other estates islandwide by 2020.
Mdm Loh, who finally managed to shed the 10kg after participating in free thrice-weekly Zumba classes, said: “The programme does not only help you stay healthy, but also helps you be independent, so that you’re not a burden to anyone.”
Having been a caretaker to both her parents who died of cancer, she shudders at the thought of being “ill, frail and helpless”, and having to rely on her children to care for her later on.
From just 10, ‘Bedok Sweeties’ has grown to having 20 residents onboard.
“By taking part in those activities, I also made new friends and we can share our personal problems and give each other moral support,” said Mdm Loh.
A FRIEND FOR THE ELDERLY AND LINK TO HEALTH SERVICES
The CNS programme, which also provides befriending services to the elderly and links them up to health and social support services, has also changed the lives of retiree Kee Kuang Yoh and his wife Tay Soen Tien — for the better.
For years, Mr Kee had been sleeping on a chair because he experiences difficulty in breathing when sleeping on a normal bed.
The 78-year-old, who occasionally experiences knee pain following a fall three years ago, also suffers from glaucoma which caused him to experience blurred vision.
His 71-year-old wife is diabetic and has had to use a wheelchair for the past nine years because of her chronic back pain.
All these made it difficult for them to navigate around their four-room flat in Tampines. They were referred to the CNS team in Tampines following a visit by a pioneer generation ambassador in December 2016.
After getting help applying for the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund as well as the Housing and Development Board’s Enhancement for Active Seniors Programme, today, their flat has a ramp installed at the entrance improving Mdm Tay’s mobility. Fourteen grab-bars were also installed in the flat, covering the bedrooms, toilets, living room and kitchen.
Mdm Tay also received a new, subsidised wheelchair after it was damaged, and Mr Kee got a subsidised hospital bed, allowing him to sleep better at night.
Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Kee said previously, he did not know who to approach to get medical assistance.
“We were lucky that the pioneer generation ambassador reached out to us. Otherwise, we might still be living in the same condition,” he added.
Having such a programme that reaches out personally to the elderly showed that the Government is “concerned about seniors like them”, Mr Kee said. The CNS team is constantly in touch with them on how they are coping.
He said: “We feel respected and valued.”
