President's Challenge 2023 to focus on caregivers

Sitting at her office desk in 2016, Ms Nadia Daeng found herself fighting back tears and staring at the screen for three hours, unable to type.

Since her father's death in 2004, the marketing executive and her two brothers had taken over caregiving responsibilities for her elderly mother and her sister, who is six years her senior and has an intellectual disability, along with depression and anxiety.

The stress of caregiving while managing her career took its toll on Ms Daeng, 39, who was diagnosed with depression and sought therapy in 2016.

While seeking treatment at the Institute of Mental Health, Ms Daeng came across a volunteer from Caregivers Alliance Limited (CAL) and joined its fully funded 12-week Caregiver to Caregiver (C2C) programme.

"It was a humbling and amazing experience. People from all walks of life came together to share the similar hardship, heartbreak and pain they had endured. It gave me a support system that extended beyond the course," said Ms Daeng.

The President's Challenge 2023 will focus on "Caring for Caregivers" and fund programmes by social service agencies that help caregivers.

President Halimah Yacob announced this yesterday during a visit to CAL in River Valley Road, where she interacted with caregivers involved in CAL's programmes. In a Facebook post after her visit, she said caregivers are an underserved segment in the community who need greater support.

"Caregiving is an important node in the social support ecosystem. Often, we focus on the beneficiaries, but caregivers themselves also need support and help to care for their loved ones.

"Caregiving covers a wide spectrum. Hence, a whole-of-society effort is required to equip caregivers with the right mindset, skills, and resources to manage their caregiving duties," said Madam Halimah.

For caregivers like Ms Daeng, support groups are a safe space to share their experiences and relate to peers.

After her mother had a stroke in 2019, Ms Daeng stepped away from work completely and focused on caring for her mother and sister, who was discharged from a residential care facility earlier this year.

Between shuttling them to medical appointments and keeping track of their medication, Ms Daeng now works as a volunteer trainer at CAL.

Since its establishment, CAL has provided help to more than 7,500 caregivers. It is gearing up to reach out to more caregivers.

CAL chief executive Tim Lee said: "Many caregivers are burdened with caregiving as they grow older and many are sandwiched between caring for a child and also an elderly parent. The C2C programmes are special because we enlist volunteer caregivers to co-facilitate the training - caregivers to caregivers.

"Beyond training, what helps caregivers is the support network of others who are just like them."

The President's Challenge is an annual campaign to raise funds for the programmes that it will be supporting for the year.

Similar to previous years, President's Challenge 2023 will support a broad range of social causes, including helping the low-income, elderly and persons with disabilities, among others.

Social service agencies can apply for funding under the President's Challenge 2023 during a six-week application window from July 25 to Sept 5 this year.

To download the application form, agencies can go to www.presidentschallenge.gov.sg or contact their respective sector administrators for details.