For our HMP671 class on Global Health and Aging today, Jersey organized a site visit to Chelsea Retirement Community. Having only read about these community living arrangements, but never been to one until today, I must admit it was a mind-blowing experience.
The entire campus was built on a 58-acre plot, housing roughly 500 seniors. More impressive was the extensive range of living options; Craftsman-style Cottages, ranch-style Garden Apartments, skilled nursing center, assisted living suites and studios, and Alzheimer'r care residence. The interior of these buildings were incredibly well-maintained, decorated with bright wallpapers, peppered with '50s movie posters, and extremely high-tech. I remember stepping into a home theatre which can house roughly 100 people for a movie that is activated by a one-touch button! There were also numerous cafes and very brightly-lit dining halls with each resident's name tag clearly placed in front of their seats. The newest initiative at CRC was the implementation of a dorm-style dining facility where residents had an allocated cap of meals per week and swiped their card to enter the dining hall ( sounds familiar?!). They also had the luxury of food-to-order option, rather than simply being subjected to whatever was on the chef's plate for the day.
Of course such living arrangements were only available and affordable for the middle-class denizens, but it really set me wondering if this form of housing arrangement will be possible in Singapore. Having seen so many destitute Singaporean elderly people living in isolation in their one own room flat, and being left under the aegis of the neighborhood moral centers for the elderly...what I had witnessed today was simply miles apart! (no pun intended) Land scarcity, ageism, funding, and immature skills and experience in developing these facilities are just some of the challenges I can foresee moving forward.
I've recently learnt that the Singapore Housing Development Board, together with the Third Council for Aging, have been lobbying for studios for elderly, retirement villages. Not too long ago, I also wrote a paper criticizing the lack of consistency in how the current policies for aging-in-place have been instituted. Given the land scarcity in the Singapore, the model of CRC which revolves around plenty of open spaces and greenery to encompass the 7 elements of wellbeing, is simply not possible. I would imagine that this idea when extrapolated to Singapore, will just morph into another high rise building stacked with elderly people. Minimal exercising space, minimal outdoor activities. Besides, there is still an unspoken stigma against elderly housing in Singapore, and private developers aren't really interested to enter this market. The government ought to incentivize the private developers to put aside land for these retirement villages. We also have much to learn from other countries which have much expertise with managing assisted living options and integrating the entire continuum of care in a single retirement village. Learning to respect the autonomy and independence of our elderly is sadly a concept that many Asian societies have neglected. Aging and the progressive waning of cognitive, physical abilities are always deemed to work in hand.
That aside, today I spoke to a number of entrepreneurial HMP alumni at a networking dinner who had set up their own consulting, legal, healthcare services mid-career. This has set me thinking....
