Orange Valley Nursing Homes re-opened its Changi branch yesterday after a year-long renovation.

Changi Care Village, which has 120 beds, features new additions, including a garden with shrubs, flowers and fruit trees.

This will allow residents to participate in horticultural activities, which the private nursing home operator said help promote sensory and cognitive stimulation.

The garden also houses pets such as rabbits and birds that residents can care for.

Orange Valley Nursing Homes chief executive Lyn Edel Yip said at the reopening ceremony that the home will focus on "holistic person-centric care".

"With its unique open outdoors spaces, green features and rustic old charm, we hope that Changi will evolve to be more than a home for our residents."

She added: "Residents get to go out into the garden for morning walks, get involved in feeding our residential birds and rabbits, and participate in gardening activities.

"Horticultural therapy has been noted to promote social functioning and self-esteem, and this is especially so in patients with conditions such as dementia."

Other renovations included replacing the roof tiles and repainting. The care facility, which opened in 1993, is Orange Valley Nursing Homes' first nursing home and one of five the operator has in Singapore, with over 900 beds in total. Orange Valley Nursing Homes is a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings.

Ms Yip said: "At Changi Care Village, we hope to be able to provide a communal space where our residents will feel safe, happy and a sense of belonging in their golden years."

Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman attended the ceremony and helped plant a tree to commemorate the reopening.