SINGAPORE – Getting seniors involved in the community, and rallying those with the means to donate food and groceries to low-income families, is how the Jurong Spring neighbourhood is tackling the silver tsunami and income inequality.
On Sunday, residents from low-income households queued with their shopping trolleys to collect rice, instant noodles, oil, Milo and fresh vegetables at Jurong Spring Community Club.
Volunteers put chairs out for those in the queue to sit and chat with one another while waiting for their turn.
Among the beneficiaries was Madam Teo Kim Keew, 76, who even received help from a volunteer to carry her food items home.
The retired cleaner, who lives alone as her husband is staying in a nursing home, said: “I don’t need to shop after getting food from the volunteers... It’s very good, they have coffee, bread, rice, everything I need. They also always offer to help me carry things home.”
An MP for Jurong GRC, Mr Shawn Huang, said that most of the donated groceries come from residents in the private and landed property homes on the east side of the constituency, near Chun Tin Road and Beauty World shopping complexes.
“They’re very encouraged, enthusiastic to do something more. It’s not just about receiving, actually, giving gives them a lot more satisfaction and ability to say that they are really part of the community,” he added.
“We are experiencing the silver tsunami now. We see many more elderly people needing more help, needing more care. Hospitals and day care are only one part of the equation, but how can we activate the community as a whole to take care of our seniors collectively?”
The proportion of citizens aged 65 and above increased to 18.4 per cent in 2022, up from 11.1 per cent in 2012, the annual Population In Brief report noted in September. It was 17.6 per cent in 2021.
By 2030, around one in four citizens, or 23.8 per cent, will be 65 and above.
Mr Huang hosted Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr Maliki Osman, on a tour of Jurong Spring as part of a ministerial community visit on Sunday.
The visits restarted in October after a two-year hiatus, with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong visiting Yio Chu Kang.
He said the visits will be helmed by ministers from the fourth generation of the People’s Action Party leadership and will involve bringing the Forward Singapore initiative to residents.
Forward Singapore, launched in June, is a government exercise calling on Singaporeans to offer ideas to shape and strengthen the nation’s social compact.
As part of the visit on Sunday, Dr Maliki toured the Block 505 Jurong West Street 52 Market and Food Centre before going to Jurong Spring Community Club, where activities for residents included bingo for seniors, a mass fitness dance and a healthy living showcase.
Mr Huang said activities such as bingo, which started virtually during the pandemic, are aimed at getting senior citizens who live alone to come out of their flats to interact with volunteers and neighbours, so that they are not isolated.
The healthy living showcase featured charity Diabetes Singapore; Jurong Spring Community Health Post, where National University Health System community nurses and staff provide healthcare support to residents; and wellness social enterprise Fullhealth.
Formerly known as Community Telehealth Service, Fullhealth operates 3m by 2m booths in void decks where residents can measure their body mass index, blood pressure and blood glucose, as well as check their eye condition using retinal imaging.
Fullhealth co-founder Gan Teng Fong, 34, said the enterprise aims to have a booth set up in Jurong Spring Community Club in the first quarter of 2023.
Dr Maliki told the media that it is heartening to see young people running such enterprises to help the community cope with the ageing population, an issue not unique to Jurong Spring.
He said that in the past, healthcare was mainly seen as an issue for the Ministry of Health and polyclinics to tackle.
“But today, young people are trying to reach out, and creating new opportunities for themselves to be connected... I see a lot more young people with so much drive, so much energy. They have a cause that they want to champion, and this is something that I think will bode well for Forward SG.”