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Art therapy and befriending services: Doctors should prescribe these in some cases
Instead of just giving patients medical treatment, imagine being able to improve their lifestyles or address their emotional needs. It’s called social prescription.
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Factors such as enabling health promoting behaviours and preventing social isolation are more important for the health of the elderly than just clinical care.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Lee Kheng Hock and Gan Wee Hoe
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After one fall too many, the 70-year-old’s hip bone, ravaged by decades of unhealthy lifestyle and poor nutrition, finally broke.
More than bones were broken. The familiar rhythms of her life were shattered as simple activities, such as getting out of bed, going to the toilet and going downstairs to her favourite coffee shop for breakfast, were now impossible without another person’s help. Family members had to reorganise their lives to care for this once happy and independent person, who became demoralised, helpless and trapped within her flat.
