PUBLISHED ONInvalid Date Invalid Date
SINGAPORE - Singapore's first Integrated Day Facilities (IDF) - a one-stop care centre for the elderly - will open in Serangoon in the second half of next year.
Located with the IDF will be the largest child-care facility in Serangoon, which can take in up to 220 children, including infants.
There will also be a gym and primary health-care facilities.
All these are being developed at the site of the old Serangoon bus interchange.
The site has been vacant since the interchange moved to the nearby Nex mall last year.
Up to 40 IDFs will be established, at an estimated budget of $100 million, to provide care for 6,000 elderly by 2016, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports announced yesterday as it unveiled details of the facilities.
The IDFs will offer integrated care for frail elderly, such as those in wheelchairs or with moderate dementia.
The facilities will also provide centre-based nursing and community rehabilitation as additional services for the elderly.
The additional services can be used on a sessional basis and are open to all elderly, including those who are not day-care clients.
The community rehabilitation services will be prescribed by qualified therapists.
But elderly residents who do not need community rehabilitation can also participate in maintenance exercises to retain their physical and mental functionality.
Twenty of the IDFs are expected to be new and purpose-built, with the larger ones getting gyms and social spaces open to all residents.
"We need to support our seniors to age in-place. With the new IDF located at a convenient location, many families will benefit greatly," Madam Halimah Yacob, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said at the launch of the Braddell Heights Town Night celebration.
The event also showcased the family-friendly hub being developed at the old bus interchange Residents can contact the infoline at the Centre for Enabled Living at 1800-8585-885 or e-mail information@cel.sg for more information on the new purpose-built IDF.
The centre will help families, caregivers and the elderly with information, coordination and referral services.
In this way, the elderly can have appropriate care packages suited to their needs and those of their family or caregiver, the ministry said in its media release yesterday.
This article was first published in The New Paper.