SINGAPORE – Earlier this year, when 67-year-old Khoo Ai Choo fell in her Redhill rental flat after going to the bathroom at midnight, she crawled to a wireless alert alarm system to activate a button and record a message that she needed help.
A few minutes later, a staff member from CareLine, a 24-hour telecare service by Changi General Hospital to support seniors, responded and called an ambulance to take Madam Khoo to a hospital.
It was a lifeline as she does not own a mobile phone, she told the media gathered at her flat for an interview on Wednesday.
Madam Khoo, who lives alone, has fallen two more times in the middle of the night since.
Each time, she has managed to get help by pressing the alert buttons installed near her front door and in the bathroom.
She used to own a walking stick but now uses a walking frame.
The alert system is manned by the active ageing centre at the void deck of her block during working hours and, after that, the CareLine team.
In the past 3½ years, around 800 seniors have received emergency medical assistance through the alert system, said the Ministry of National Development (MND).
On Thursday, it added that it will progressively expand the system to all seniors aged 60 and above living in public rental housing as part of the Age Well SG programme.
As at June, the system has been installed in about 8,600 units in 52 rental blocks, benefiting around 10,000 seniors.
The expansion will help 26,800 more seniors living in around 170 rental blocks, MND said.
The wireless alert system is an upgrade of an older pull-cord system, which seniors could use to activate an alarm at the void deck to alert anyone within hearing distance.
It was also connected to an active ageing centre but that was only during day working hours.
