Our alumni and students from the Gerontology programme brought cheers of Chinese New Year (CNY) to seniors in nursing homes and the community in the heartlands of Singapore! For the first time, we joined hands with People’s Association (PA) for a number of meaningful CNY initiatives for the seniors.
Planning started as early as October 2020 with the planning of two special activities - Meals on Wheels and the Chingay Watch Party.
The team personally delivered calligraphy couplets and Chingay light sticks to nursing homes and care communities around Singapore such as Adventist Home for Elders, CareCorner, Renci, Evergreen Brighthill, Moral Home for the Aged Sick, Lion Befrienders (10 locations around Spore), See Narayana, St Joseph's Home, APEX Harmony Lodge, SingHealth Group (Outram Community Hospital and Seng Kang Community Hospital) and St Luke's Elder Care.
Two days before Chingay on 18 Feb 2021, the team conducted a Chingay Reminiscence Workshop online with SingHealth community hospitals, APEX, Adventist and St Luke's ElderCare Centre. The Chairperson of Chingay, Miss Jeanie Tan, shared the Chingay history and its 2021 digital version, while our SUSS student startup, Social Gifting, did a AngBao Fish demo.
On the day of Chingay on 20 Feb 2021, 20 Gerontology alumni members led 80 PA young volunteers to deliver over 700 bento sets (sponsored by Peach Garden) to seniors at Jalan Besar GRC before the Chingay Watch Party commenced.
The team has also reached out to 400 seniors in 20 nursing homes/care centres for the Chingay Watch party and provided 40 sets of Prosperous Yusheng and 140 individual meat floss packets sponsored by the S R Nathan School of Human Development (NSHD) to the seniors on 20 Feb 2021.
After the Chingay Watch Party, our Gerontology alumni members and faculty visited the Alzheimer’s Disease Association to run a 1-hour Reminiscence workshop for their clients in English, Mandarin and Hokkien. The seniors thoroughly enjoyed the recollections of past Chingay editions, CNY traditions and special Chingay props with their family members/caregivers.
This is a fitting celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Gerontology Programme which has strong alumni in the field working in the sector for the care of seniors. In these challenging times, we hope we have successfully brought joy to the seniors in nursing home and care communities!