SINGAPORE- Seniors in the West have a new eldercare centre at Block 704, West Coast Road which offers services ranging from day care to community rehabilitation and dementia care.

It is run by voluntary welfare organisation Sasco.

The 800 sq m facility can care for a total of 85 seniors. Three-quarters of its places have been filled since it started operations late last year.

The new centre is a good initiative as it helps seniors age more gracefully closer to their homes, and in an environment that they are familiar with, said West Coast GRC MP S Iswaran. He was speaking at the facility's official opening yesterday.

Under the Singapore Programme for Integrated Care for the Elderly (Spice), a multi-disciplinary team including nurses, physiotherapists and doctors will also take care of old people who are more frail, wheelchair-bound or require devices like urinary catheters.

In addition, centre staff will work hand-in-hand with their families to ensure care-givers can provide the necessary support when elderly patients return home.

The centre will also provide services such as art and music therapy.

To encourage people to come back for rehabilitation, Sasco will provide specially-outfitted vans for those who are wheelchair bound, and door-to-door services to shuttle a patient between his home and the centre.

"This undoubtedly means added convenience for busy caregivers," said Sasco chairman C V Nathan.

Fees for a place at the centre may range from $40 to $70 a day before Ministry of Health's means-tested subsidies, Sasco said.