50th Anniversary Dinner of the Catholic Welfare Services

By: Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister for Prime Minister's Office

By: Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister for Prime Minister's Office

At 8:00 pm at Bliss Garden Restaurant,Singapore Expo

1. Yesterday I participated in the fund-raising golf tournament organized by the Catholic Business Network at Sentosa. The CBN raised $277,000 for Caritas, which is funding many of the services run by Catholic Welfare Services (CWS). This evening, I am pleased to be here to celebrate with you the 50th Anniversary of CWS.
2. CWS has done a lot of good work over the years to fill the needs of society, such as by providing support to the poor and the elderly, and providing help to those in crisis. We are grateful to the CWS? role in social service.
3. As CWS celebrates its 50th Anniversary, how can it play an even bigger role in the future? This must be a question that Church leaders are pondering over. What new services would you offer? Last night over dinner, one Catholic businessman wondered whether help can be offered for families who have become homeless because of financial difficulties. Can they be temporarily housed, and helped on their feet again? And what should you do with respect to existing services you provide?
   Perhaps you can play a bigger role in supporting an ageing population. We are at the threshold of rapid ageing - our baby boomers will join the ranks of ''elderly'' in a few years. You already run 3 nursing homes. Assuming the same level of demand that we have now, the need for nursing home beds will double in 10 years, and triple in 20 years.
   
   

   Caring for the Elderly

4. Villa Francis is being relocated from Woodlands to Yishun, and it will be a bigger home. You are now discussing development of St Theresa's Home, and in due course the same will apply to St Joseph's Home. One of the issues you should consider is how the 3 homes can work more closely with one another, to save costs and maintain standards. In the past, it was an advantage for the Catholic Church to have several groups of passionate people with the energy and dedication to start new services. In today?s high cost environment, and rising standards, greater integration would be an advantage.
5. The Catholic Church already has a hospital (Mt Alvernia), nursing homes and hospice care. How can it develop a seamless continuum of care for the elderly? I think the resources of the Catholic Church are not fully exploited.
6. Although nursing homes are a necessity, we want to help our seniors to grow old in their homes as far as possible. Services such as day care, home care, escort, transport, befriending services are required and will be expanded over time. Partners such as CWS are welcome to work with the Government.
7. We also need to support our caregivers. Respite options such as elder-sitting and caregiver support groups are important. CWS can tap on its volunteers and church facilities to provide for this. The Government will do more to provide information and referral, develop relevant services, and promote the use of the caregiver training grant (which provides $200 subsidises to train a caregiver).
8. Some of our elderly become bed-ridden, wheel-chair bound and highly dependent on others because they were not taken care of correctly at an early stage. When that happens, then to the family a nursing home seems the most beneficial option for everyone. I am sure the people working in your homes have inspiring stories to tell of how lives have been transformed with correct early intervention. I know of some, from NTUC Eldercare, with operates 5 Silver Circle day care centres. One woman was highly dependent on a maid for everything after suffering a stroke. Her daughter sent her to a day care centre. Encouraged by others there, she soon learnt to make a cup of tea for herself, and now moves freely about, and enjoys looking after her grandchild! Another woman suffered deep depression and had to be fed. She was referred by Changi Hospital to the day care centre. Within 3 days she was able to feed herself, and in a week she was singing.
9. I mentioned to some of you recently that the objective of a nursing home must be to discharge patients to the warmth and comfort of their families. How can you exploit the resources at your disposal, to return even more patients to their families?
   
   

   Active Ageing

10. We should also provide more opportunities to keep seniors active and socially connected. In the community, we are promoting the Wellness Programme.
11. The Church is a valuable avenue for active ageing. It is a place where people already come together to worship and meet each other. It is ideally positioned to promote wellness among its members.
12. Seniors can also contribute their time and expertise in the community. The Church provides a platform that enables them to do so. It can encourage seniors to serve in the various Ministries of the Church. Through this, seniors remain socially engaged as they interact with their peers and/or the other volunteers of that Ministry. In some of these ministries, they may even work together with younger parishioners, thereby promoting intergenerational bonding.
    
    

    Conclusion

13. All over the world, CWS and other organizations affiliated to religions have traditionally played an important role in social service. In the coming years, they will increasingly play a major role in supporting the needs of an ageing population. As CWS celebrates its 50th Anniversary, CWS can consider how it can gear itself up to continue to meet the needs of our ageing population.
    
    MCYS Speech No: 64/2009
    Date Of Issue: 19/08/2009