Speech by Senior Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office, Mr Heng Chee How, at the MOH Committee of Supply Debate 2016

ACTIVE COMMUNITIES FOR SENIORS

(A)      INTRODUCTION

1.         Madam Chair, Ms Joan Pereira and Ms Tin Pei Ling asked how the Government would promote good health in seniors and how we plan to encourage more seniors to participate in these health programmes.

2.         Indeed, health promotion is a key plank of our active ageing initiatives under the Ministerial Committee on Ageing. This is because good health is the basic condition for successful ageing.

3.         We will expand our efforts to promote seniors’ health both in the workplace and in the community.

(B)       AT THE WORKPLACE

4.         Many of our seniors are still gainfully employed. This is a good thing. It is a good thing also for mental health maintenance. In order to further extend their longevity in the workforce, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) are bringing health screening and health education to the workplace and going “deeper” by customising the programmes for seniors working in different work environments.

5.         HPB started with a programme at the taxi service centres for taxi drivers of the Comfort Delgro group in June 2014. HPB knows that taxi drivers are always on the road and therefore have very little time to attend health related activities. By observing their schedule, HPB found that taxi drivers need to send in their taxis for servicing every month and the golden opportunity to reach out to taxi drivers is therefore during this time when their taxis are being serviced and the taxi drivers are waiting for their taxis to be serviced. So HPB brought health screening to the service centres, and stationed health coaches there. Taxi drivers get to check in with the health coaches every month when they send their taxi for servicing. The health coaches will help the drivers understand their health screening results, and customise a health action plan with specific health goals together with the taxi drivers.

6.         The programme was subsequently extended to bus captains, and it was customised to address other issues that are pertinent to bus captains, such as hydration, ergonomics and stress management. As the bus captains had even more challenging work schedules, HPB and the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) had to organise the health screening at bus depots early in the morning with the active support of the Public Transport Operators, namely SBS Transit and SMRT. I was there at 4am at one of the screening session. The bus captains came in, reporting to work, and were excited about getting screened for their health status. We followed up with a series of workshops and coaching at bus interchanges over a few months, to improve their health outcomes.

7.         This sustained effort paid off. Madam Chair, I am pleased to share that in less than 2 years, some 15,000 mature workers in the transport, retail, cleaning and security sectors have participated in this series of workplace health programmes. More importantly, it is not about the activities, it is about the outcomes, the outcomes in terms of their health screening results have improved. Almost half of bus captains with abnormal screening results initially showed at least one improvement, either in their blood pressure, blood glucose or cholesterol at their second health screening which was about eight months later. Of these, about half achieved normal health status in all aspects of their health screening.

8.         We are very encouraged that many of our mature workers have made a real transition to a healthier lifestyle. Mr Loh Ah Tee, a SMRT bus captain who has been driving buses for the last 32 years, took part in HPB’s “Healthier Workers, Happier Workers” programme in June 2015. Following the first screening where he found out that he had borderline high blood pressure and a high body mass index (BMI), Mr Loh has followed up with his polyclinic doctor and attended health coaching sessions at the bus interchange almost every month. From doing very little exercise, he progressed to performing about 30 sit ups and 40 push ups every morning. Mr Loh and his wife have also made changes to their diet, swapping out for wholemeal options and reducing their food intake. Over a period of eight months, Mr Loh lost 4.5kg, which was a big step towards a healthier BMI. At the recent health screening in January 2016, Mr Loh’s blood pressure also returned to normal.

9.         We will continue to customise workplace health programmes for mature workers in other sectors such as healthcare, logistics, and education. Our target is to reach out to 120,000 mature workers in seven sectors by 2025.

(C)       IN THE COMMUNITY

10.       Next, about the efforts in the community. In the community, we are systematically promoting seniors’ health education via the People’s Association’s Wellness Programme. In particular, we want to multiply and expand the access to health education programmes by leveraging on PA’s existing community and social nodes. We hope that more seniors will be encouraged to participate in preventive health and health education activities, if these are just a few steps from where they live. Bring it closer, make it more convenient and at the same time urging our seniors to come participate.

11.       In several communities, we are bringing preventive health and seniors’ health education right to the Resident’s Committee (RC) Centres. For example, in Bedok, a “Wellness Time” has been set aside each week in each of the four RCs in Bedok. The seniors are invited to come down to the RC regularly to take part in workshops run by community organisations on caregiving tips, mental wellness, preventive health and chronic disease management. This is the seniors’ personal wellness time, and they also build strong friendships and provide peer support to one another.

12.       For example, Ms Celia Teo, a retired teacher who lives in Bedok, lives alone and often finds herself staying at home and feeling restless. Since starting to attend the Happy Kopitiam programme as part of the Sunflower RC’s Wellness Time on Fridays, Ms Teo has gained a better understanding of various health related topics including dementia. She also says that she feels happier because she has something to look forward to every week at the RC, and the RC is close to her home.

13.       Beyond physical health, cognitive activity and social interaction are also important for overall health and wellness among our seniors. In Tampines Central and several other locations, we have started a weekly news sharing programme done in collaboration with journalists from the Singapore Press Holdings. These journalists from the Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao volunteer their time to drop by the Neighbours’ Hub which is a cosy corner in the void deck every Friday. They go there to read news articles to our seniors and to engage them on current affairs.

14.       In addition, MOH partners organizations to bring preventive health services to the doorstep of our seniors. We are experimenting with putting health checks, vaccination, dental, eye and foot checks and even hearing tests on wheels so that they can come to locations closer to our seniors in the community. For instance, many seniors find it inconvenient to travel to specialist outpatient clinics (SOCs) to get a proper hearing test or for the fitting of hearing aids, even though the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund subsidises such hearing aids. The National University Health System has retrofitted two Hearing Buses, to bring audio checks to different neighbourhoods instead. The mobile Hearing Bus has started its journey of screening for seniors in Yuhua, Bukit Panjang, Nee Soon Central, Whampoa and Tampines West as a pilot. We will see how it goes.

15.       An example of an integrated system of preventive health, health education and social wellness activities have also been rolled into one is at Paya Lebar. PA has worked with The Goodlife Cooperative (TGLC) in Paya Lebar to integrate preventive health services with social outreach and wellness programmes. Seniors can access these basic health monitoring services weekly at the Paya Lebar Wellness Centre where retired volunteer nurses will provide health advice and help seniors take their blood pressure, monitor their blood glucose level and take their height and weight measurement. TGLC actively reaches out to the community to encourage them to drop by to check their health. This is complemented with daily programming and interest groups at the Paya Lebar Wellness Centre to encourage seniors to take part in physical exercise, whilst keeping in touch with their neighbours and friends.

(D)       CONCLUSION

16.       Madam Chair, the best way to enable seniors to age well is to enable them to stay healthy. This is a meaningful effort that can succeed only with the support of everyone –community based organizations, grassroots leaders, healthcare providers, family members, employers, unions and most of all, the seniors themselves. By working together in every workplace and every neighbourhood, we can and will build a Nation for All Ages.

Thank you.