This is a follow-up to my earlier blog on this subject matter: Today, I listened to Gerard Ee (who just turned 60), chairman of the Council for Third Age, who said a few words during the STOP Campaign at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The festival raises awareness of relationship violence such as elder abuse and abuse of women. He mentioned that passive abuse such as you ignore or neglect an elderly is also considered abuse. “Caring for an elderly can take some energy and the stress can get the better of you,” he said. “But it is about becoming aware.” He suggested to take breaks such as get a relative to help out. “You need to recharge yourself.” Caregiving isn’t just about taking care of your loved one, it is also about taking care of yourself.

(PHOTO CREDIT: A HELPING HAND © Woo Bing Siew | Dreamstime.com)

Congratulations to volunteers Roselyn Ho, 62, and Hoon Thye Yong, 82, for winning the Good Deeds Award contest, which ran on the Straits Times’ Stomp. They appeared in “My Paper” today. For the past six years, Ho has actively volunteered at several organisations including Food from the Heart, Ren Ci Hospital, Toastmasters International and the Singapore Women’s Council Association. Reported in the newspaper, she said about her award, “As long as I can walk, even with polio, I will always help others. So there is no excuse for able-bodied people not to volunteer.” Hoon has been volunteering for the past 25 years and is a familiar sight at RSVP. For the past six years, he has been visiting Ang Mo Kio’s Thye Hua Kwan Hospital to sell light snacks to patients and their families. The fund he collects goes to the Patient Welfare Fund. He said in the paper, “Volunteerism is n my blood and I want to help people. It gives me a reason to wake up each morning.” We all have lots to learn from these two. Though volunteer work is unpaid, we should do it with full commitment as we would with paid work and in doing so, we find it satisfying to give back and we learn something about ourselves in the process

I am not going to take credit for this title. It actually came from my publisher’s note on the humanitarian magazine that I am working with. His thoughts mirror mine and I thought I would get this off my chest and put it in my perspective. In this journey that I have been going through in terms of putting up my website and blog to help, educate and inspire seniors, I have come across my share of disappointments over people and organisations who promise to support me but when push comes to shove, they are no where in sight! Things are already tough and they don’t have be made even tougher. If you can’t deliver on your promise, then just say you can’t. Your honesty would be respected … but don’t give lip-service because it is what the other person wants to hear. The funniest thing about all this is the things that I am asking people on their support are so minor (not even monetary support) and they don’t take two months either to decide! When you say you can and don’t, it is totally frustrating for the recipient as they needed that support. In the first place, why would they ask if they didn’t need it!!! I believe you get to see a person’s true character and in the end of the day, maybe it is better not to be working with people who have such half-ass commitment.

In saying this though, I have on the other hand gotten some fantastic support from people and organisations that I never thought would support me. These people have gone the extra mile and believe in me and the work I am doing and I can’t be more grateful. A big thanks to those people. You know who you are! You have given me renewed hope that there are people still left in this world who do honour their good intentions.

SENIOR MAN CASUAL PORTRAIT © Serghei Starus | Dreamstime.com

In the “Today” newspaper on Thursday, there were startling details on abuse of the elderly. It said that last year’s figures showed seniors aged 80 and above were the most vulnerable to elder abuse and the most common types of abuse were physical and psychological abuse, as well as negligence. According to Xinhua News Agency, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan noted at the National Family Violence Symposium 2009 that though the current numbers of reported elder abuse remain small with an average of 178 reported cases every year, each case is one tragedy too many. The “Today” article said that 70% of seniors today live with their families and are emotionally and financially dependent on their children. The article further highlighted that local reports show the perpetrators in two out of three reported elder abuse cases were victims’ children. “This may reflect the children’s inability to deal with the stress of caregiving, rather than malice,” said Dr Balakrishnan. This is very sad to hear of children abusing their parents but it also highlights the importance of education for caregivers on how to handle such a tough situation and that they are not alone. There is help available and they need to ask for it.

Ladies, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October. If you are 40 and above and haven’t gotten your mammography screening, please do so. There are also a lot of talks on breast cancer during this month as well as subsidised/discounted screenings at some hospitals (you can check out MY LINKS on Agelessonline). For more information on breast cancer, check out the Breast Cancer Foundation. Take care of your breasts and don’t forget to do a breast self-examination once every month. A mammography may cause some discomfort and pain but that doesn’t mean you should put it off. Treating the cancer early on if you have it is much better than finding it later when it has spread. Make the appointment today!

(SUCCESS SENIOR ASIAN BUSINESSMAN © Arekmalang | Dreamstime.com)

In today’s newspapers, “Today” and “New Paper”, I read that more than 700 unionised companies are committed to re-employment of older workers after they hit retirement age. This is before the 2012 re-employment legislation kicks in. The papers say that more than 5,000 workers have been re-employed. So what about non-unionised companies? Are they prepared for 2012? Somehow I doubt so and really do hope that they start preparing now before it is too late. All the recent news about hiring older workers is good but if no one seems to take heed and we are preaching to deaf ears, what’s the point? Also, the Labour Movement, the newspapers say, is asking to scrap the 10% wage cut when the employee is re-employed upon hitting the retirement age. This will come up in the review of the new legislation. This whole thing started in 1999 when the Government raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 and passed a law that lets companies cut older workers’ pay by up to 10%. But now as businesses move to more performance-based pay, there would be “less reason” for the cut. Kudos on that measure as seniors could use the extra amounts and put it towards enjoying their golden years

PHOTO CREDIT: INFRARED REMOTE CONTROL UNIT IN HAND © Alexey Arkhipov | Dreamstime.com

A friend just passed me a wonderful You Tube video that you really need to watch. It is fantastic and speaks volumes! She had passed me another one several months back that was quite good too. Just click below and watch:
You Tube – What is that?
You Tube – Lost Generation

Minister of State for Community Development, Youth & Sports Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (above) shared during the Asian Gerontology Experience (AGE) symposium (organised by Institute of Policy Studies, Council for Third Age and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy) held early this month that ageing will become an important issue for Asia’s developing countries, including rising regional players like China and India. “The number of Chinese residents aged 65 and above will double to 230 million in 2030, making up one in six people in China. While India will have a more youthful demography because of its higher birth rate, the number of residents aged 65 and above will also double to a very sizeable 120 million in 2030. We also need to take into account Asia’s fast changing social environment. This includes smaller family sizes, the rise of nuclear families, the growing role of women in the workplace and better educated new-old.” The symposium had over 30 participants from various regions including Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and China. Participants came from various sectors including academics as well as from Government departments and there were sessions on gerontological training and research in academia, in the social service sector, in the public sector and in the business sector. They shared their experiences and learned new things from each other in hopes they may be able to carry it back to their own countries. Since ageing affects every country, it is important that the various Governments lend the necessary support and provide resources to deal with this population change before it becomes to late. As Minister Lim Boon Heng from the Prime Minister’s Office said during the dialogue session at the end of the two-day symposium, “Ageing is going to have a lot of implications … and it is not good to not have answers. … Need to look at ageing even if you have a young population. By the time, you look at it, they would have already aged.”

Another of our Agelessonline advisers has won an award! Zaibun Siraj, 62, (above) who usually sports a purple patch in her hair and runs her own consultancy firm and teaches people the power of laughter, is one of six seniors who won the 2009 Active Agers Awards last night. The other winners include: Chhua Bak Siang, 61, a Mandarin-speaking guide at the National Museum of Singapore and a volunteer at Fei Yue Family Service; Rajam Sadanandan, 62, who is enrolled in UniSIM’s General Studies Programme and getting a degree; Ruby R Ng-Ong, 72, who initiated a choral group called The Peranakan Voices and is learning to play the ukulele; and Sabapathy Gopalakrishnan, 74, who started exercise classes in his neighbourhood as well as the Brisk Walk Club there. Lastly, there is Sam Liu, 73, who won the Active Agers’ Infocomm Champion Award 2009. He helped start the Cyberguide programme at RSVP and is a volunteer IT trainer for the organisation. Congratulations and kudos to all six! You show Singapore and the world that seniors should be respected and that “old is not ‘over the hill’” as Gerard Ee said in his speech last night! I do hope other seniors will follow your zest and passion in life.

Our own Agelessonline adviser/ambassador, 66-year-old Lionel De Souza, was given the “Most Outstanding Crime Prevention Ambassador” Award for 2008 – 2009 by Eric Low Siak Meng, vice-chairman, National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), on October 3, 2009 at the Immigration Checkpoints Authority (ICA) auditorium. This is the second successive time that De Souza havs received this award; the first time was for the years 2005 – 2007. De Souza, a retired police officer, runs his own private investigation agency, and he is active in the community as a grassroots leader and the assistant honorary secretary of the Singapore Police Retirees’ Association. Kudos Lionel.