Speech by Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State for Health, at the Singapore Hospice Council's "Live Well. Leave Well." Community Engagement Event

Ms Low Yen Ling, Mayor, South West District

Dr Angel Lee, Chairman, Singapore Hospice Council

Ms Yeo Tan Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Hospice Council

Members of the Singapore Hospice Council,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.     Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you today at the second year of Singapore Hospice Council’s (SHC) ‘Live Well. Leave Well.’ campaign. This year’s theme is “A Caregiving Community”, a fitting theme as we strengthen our support for caregivers in collaboration with community partners. We are here today because two key partners – SHC and South West CDC – have organised this event to bring the community together.

2.     For many of us, the “Live Well. Leave Well.” message is particularly meaningful if we are or have been caregivers who have taken effort to support our loved ones in living and leaving well. I think you would agree that caregiving is not easy. There is so much to learn and understand about caregiving responsibilities. Whether you are a first-time caregiver or an experienced one, the journey may be daunting due to the uncertainties ahead.

3.     To strengthen support and better address the needs of caregivers, the Ministry of Health announced the Caregiver Support Action Plan earlier this year. It outlines key areas of focus such as caregiver respite care services, financial support, and caregiver empowerment and training.

Home-based respite care pilot

4.     We will be implementing these new initiatives in the coming months. One such example is the home-based respite pilot for caregivers of palliative care cancer patients which will be launched in the months to come. Many older Singaporeans have expressed a desire to pass on in the comfort of their homes. However, caregiving under such circumstances can be physically and emotionally challenging, especially if the caregiver has to juggle other commitments. With this pilot, caregivers of home palliative cancer patients will be able to tap on custodial care service for respite care to allow them to attend to their commitments without compromising on care provided to their loved ones.

Launch of Caregiver Resource Booklets

5.     In addition to availing a range of services to support caregivers, good socio-emotional support is needed for caregivers to cope with their responsibilities and help them feel confident in making informed decisions for their loved ones. Community partners, such as SHC, play an important role in empowering caregivers, by providing them with helpful information and directing them to services that they need. To this end, SHC has produced three resource booklets for caregivers of patients with advanced illnesses which contain practical information for them to better care for their loved ones and themselves.

a.     The first booklet, Nutrition in Advanced Illnesses, contains information and food recipes on maximising your loved one’s nutrition, comfort and quality of life, especially when they have lost their appetite and are losing weight.

b.     The second booklet, Understanding the Final Hours, focuses on the period just before death occurs, which can range from the last hours to short days. This booklet will help better prepare caregivers on what to expect in the remaining journey.

c.      The third booklet, Caring for Yourself After a Death, is a resource that provides tips on how to help the family cope with the loss of a loved one and where to seek additional bereavement support.

6.     These valuable resource booklets are available in hard copy as well as on SHC’s website, and I encourage everyone to take a look at them for useful advice.

Normalising End-of-life conversations

7.     In the course of the Ministry’s engagements with caregivers, we have heard feedback that one source of stress for caregivers is not knowing what their loved ones want, especially at the end-of-life phase when they are no longer able to express their wishes. Perhaps this can be attributed to the perception that conversations about death and dying are taboo in our culture. Hence, Singaporeans do not readily talk about death and end-of-life issues. But it is important to understand our loved ones’ values and care preferences and share our own with them so that they are prepared and can fulfil our wishes with peace of mind.

8.      In order to do so sensitively, the Ministry has been partnering community stakeholders to promote public awareness of palliative care and end-of-life issues through educational talks and arts programmes, such as today’s event. At last year’s Community Engagement event, SHC launched a Community Engagement Toolkit for healthcare workers which included materials such as brochures on palliative care and Advance Care Planning (ACP) in four languages, a set of conversation cards and a personal journal workbook, to help facilitate more of such conversations in the community.

“Granny Cool” Lifebook

9.      To better provide different perspectives on end-of-life issues, SHC launched its Lifebook series in October 2018, which illustrates palliative care through the stories patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists and volunteers. I am holding the second Lifebook titled “Granny Cool”. It is a narration of a grandmother’s last days from the perspective of her grandchild, who witnessed first-hand how her grandmother’s last days were treated with dignity by the hospice team. Personally, I appreciate the different perspectives conveyed through each Lifebook and have found the stories extremely moving and insightful. Though they are easy to read, the messages they convey are powerful. I encourage families to read the Lifebooks together and use them as a tool to begin talking about your end-of-life wishes. They are available in public libraries as well as on the Singapore Hospice Council’s website.

Closing

10.      For many Singaporeans, it seems more natural to invest our time and effort to live well, and not many of us intentionally reflect on and plan to leave well. Because how we leave affects those we leave behind, I encourage you to use the Lifebook as a tool to start talking about your end-of-life preferences with your loved ones today. Take some time to visit the booths to better understand how to begin planning and what palliative care is about.

11.      Once again, thank you Singapore Hospice Council for organising this meaningful event and South West CDC for the continued support. I would also like to commend our community partners for their efforts in supporting caregivers, through the SHC initiatives I highlighted earlier, as well as through other initiatives such as South West CDC’s Caregiving @ South West programme. Truly, it takes a whole-of-society effort to support both seniors and their caregivers, and community partners like SHC and South West CDC play a crucial role in enabling all of us to live well and leave well.

12.      I hope you enjoy the activities at the various booths and the line-up of exciting programmes prepared for you.

Thank you.