Latest news with #CommunityCareWorkPlanSeminar2025
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Methodist Welfare Services launches platform to match volunteers with suitable opportunities
A demonstration of The Healing Nation digital portal at the launch of the initiative held at the Methodist Welfare Services Nursing Home on May 29. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO SINGAPORE – Individuals, businesses and community groups can now be matched to suitable volunteer opportunities on a new volunteer portal called The Healing Nation. Launched by Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) to mark SG60 and the 140th year of the Methodist Church in Singapore, the platform hopes to boost volunteerism here. There are 143 volunteer opportunities with more than 100 charities that cater to different interests, needs and availability. These include facilitating workshops for children, offering seniors barber services, befriending rough sleepers and supporting persons with intellectual disability in water play. The charities work with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth's 24 SG Cares Volunteer Centres, which are community-based organisations in each town appointed to coordinate volunteer efforts and resources to meet community needs. The charity shared its plans at a media briefing at the MWS Nursing Home in Eunos on May 29. MWS hopes to get people to pledge a total of 1.4 million hours of volunteer service in 2025. Close to 180,000 volunteer hours have been pledged by Methodist schools, churches and individuals since the platform was piloted within Singapore's Methodist community in April. The platform is now open to everyone in Singapore. Built by fund-raising platform the volunteer platform's algorithm uses artificial intelligence to learn users' preferences and improve matches over time. The platform can also track the hours of community service clocked by the individual or organisation. (From left) Kampong Kapor Community Services executive director Lee Yean Wun, Methodist Welfare Services board of governance chairman Eugene Toh, Bishop Philip Lim, Methodist Welfare Services CEO Calvin Ngo, and founder and CEO Pong Yu Ming at the launch of The Healing Nation initiative at the Methodist Welfare Services Nursing Home on May 29. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO Separately, MWS also aims to raise $1.4 million to fund social and healthcare services beyond its own services. It will hold an open call for charities to receive funds to help 1,000 families. About $600,000 has been raised so far. Mr Eugene Toh, chairman of the MWS board of governance, said many charities here have been building their own volunteer bases, but MWS hopes to help spur greater partnership in the care sector with shared resources and mutual support. 'In a world where things are interconnected, whether it's ageing, chronic illness or isolation, our response must also be interconnected,' he said. The Healing Nation platform will run until February 2027. Speaking at the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) Community Care Work Plan Seminar 2025 on May 28, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had highlighted the growing demand for community care to meet the needs of Singapore's ageing population. He said the 'centre of gravity' of care will shift from hospitals to communities, helping seniors who are healthy to stay healthy, and those with chronic diseases to manage them well. MWS started in 1981 as a small nursing home, and has since grown to 23 centres, with programmes serving more than 16,700 families and individuals who experience poor health and financial distress. The charity provides services such as casework, counselling, medical and rehabilitative care, home-based, community-based and residential care, as well as a debt clearance and asset building scheme. Madam Li Chang, 50, was recommended by The Healing Nation platform to volunteer at the charity Riding for the Disabled Association Singapore in April. The housewife volunteers for 2½ hours on Wednesday mornings, helping to facilitate equine therapy programmes for people with special needs. Madam Li, who has previously volunteered at the MWS Nursing Home in Yew Tee offering pastoral care to residents, said she had wanted to try something new. 'I grew up in the city, so I'm fascinated by horses,' she said in Mandarin. She also hopes to take her 18-year-old son, who has autism, to an equine therapy session. Those interested can sign up for volunteer opportunities at The Healing Nation website at while organisations that wish to upload their volunteer opportunities can e-mail mcs140thn@ Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Stronger support for seniors in the community; those seeking care to have one point of contact: MOH
Stronger support for seniors in the community; those seeking care to have one point of contact: MOH SINGAPORE - Plans to ensure seniors have a single point of contact for community care are in the works , as the authorities work on integrating such services for a fast-ageing population, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on May 28. Beyond expanding individual community services, integration will make it easier for families to access services and move between different ones , he said at the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) Community Care Work Plan Seminar 2025. Mr Ong, who was also appointed Coordinating Minister for Social Policies on May 21, laid out the vision for community care. 'It must be a system that every senior can count on, regardless of your health status. When you are well, community care prevents us from falling sick. If we are sick, it supports us to manage the disease and prevent it from progressing,' said Mr Ong. 'If we become frail, it supports our families to take care of us and organises the different services that we need. If our families are unable to take care of us, the system then steps in as a last resort.' The urgency to transform community care is unmistakable. By 2030, Singapore will have one million seniors aged 65 and above, with possibly half of them living with a chronic disease. The number of those who need help with at least one activity of daily living is expected to almost double within a decade, from an estimated 58,000 in 2020 to 100,000 in 2030. More seniors are also expected to be staying alone – from 76,000 in 2023 to 122,000 in 2030. Mr Ong listed three areas of change. Firstly, strong coordination is needed in the community care sector to tie together the various services as they expand. This will mean that seniors who need a combination of services to serve complex needs can move across services easily. Mr Ong said the Health Ministry (MOH) and AIC have reorganised community care into smaller sub-regions. Providers in each region are encouraged to form a network together , under a centre that will be the dedicated point of contact for seniors who need long-term care services. This so-called Integrated Community Care Provider will bring together the four commonly used services, namely those at Active Ageing Centres (AACs), day care services at Senior Care Centres, care at home under the Enhanced Home Personal Care service and rehabilitation at home under Home Therapy. 'To a family and to a senior, they should see it as just one service... with one contact, one coordination point,' said Mr Ong. This way, when a senior falls ill and needs rehabilitation or support services, the provider can help to put together the relevant services to restore him to health, said Mr Ong. If his conditions progress, it may then provide home personal care or other necessary services. When he recovers, he can return to the AAC to lead a more active lifestyle, he said. Secondly, efforts to make commu nity health services more accessible will be stepped up. Mr Ong said he heard from doctors that there are patients in their 40s and 50s seeking help at the hospital because of their diabetes, with a few even suffering from gangrene. Early actions, with a combination of lifestyle adjustments and medication, could have prevented progression of chronic diseases, have prevented the progression of their diseases. These patients could have done something earlier to prevent the progression of their diease, but they either did not know they were sick, or even if they knew and had enrolled in Healthier SG, they did not follow up with their health plan. This is a significant gap which community are can help close, Mr Ong said. 'For (Healthier SG) to be truly successful, we got to go beyond the GPs. The GPs needs to be supported and reinforced by effective community care services.' Mr Ong said the three healthcare clusters have set up community health posts, with about nine out of 10 AACs having one at or near their centres. Nurses at these centres can attend to patients. These posts can do more to help seniors, especially in catering to walk-ins. For instance, they can help seniors enrol in preventive health programme Healthier SG, which pairs each resident with a primary care physician, or follow up with their appointments and provide lifestyle coaching and health advice. Thirdly, outreach to seniors needs to step up, so the authorities will have information on every senior, and no one will die alone at home without anyone knowing. Silver Generation Ambassadors, People Association's volunteers and other volunteers have to work together to visit every household in the community, and share data so that every senior is known, Mr Ong said. He said the political office-holders in his ministry's refreshed team - Dr Koh Poh Koon, Mr Tan Kiat How and Ms Rahayu Mahzam - will all have a role in the community care sector. This includes areas such as manpower, coordination, community health posts and outreach. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
