Care Comes with Fun and Games at All Saints Home’s Silver Lifestyle Clubs
At the All Saints Home’s (ASH) Silver Lifestyle Club, the atmosphere is more like a recreation centre with seniors laughing as they take part in horticulture, karaoke, tabletop games, and more.
In fact, the Club’s care staff provide a full suite of services, including maintenance daycare, dementia daycare, community rehabilitation, centre-based nursing, and home care services. Clients also receive individualised physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
The club’s unique ‘rewards’ system and specially tailored activities, which encourage seniors to stay active and socialise with each other, infuses these Community Care services with an element of fun.
The Story Behind the Silver Lifestyle Club
The inspiration behind the Silver Lifestyle Club was born through years of interaction with the clients about their needs and desires. Clients often expressed that they hoped to retain their dignity by doing similar activities that they did before, in their younger and more able-bodied days. This sparked the idea for the ASH team to recreate these exciting experiences for them. Through role playing of the seniors’ past occupations and engaging in their favourite hobbies, the ASH team hopes to empower them and improve their quality of life.
Beyond Physical and Medical Care
ASH runs three such clubs in Singapore – their oldest branch is co-located within their Tampines nursing home. Their second in Yishun Central, co-located within Yishun Polyclinic, is pending reopening at time of this article’s publication. Their third SLC is a standalone branch in Yishun Fern Grove, surrounded by nature, which provides outdoors activities such as Tai Chi and ball games for seniors who love to get some sun.
The ASH team recognised that improving seniors’ quality of life goes beyond addressing their physical and medical needs. Seniors also need to socialise with friends and take part in community activities, and are encouraged to stay active and keep up with current affairs through games and quizzes.
Calling this the “life-centric” approach, the team came up with activities that help seniors relive their younger days, and feel independent and in charge. They also give the clients the choice to role-play their past occupations or pursue their favourite hobbies.
Rewards to Recognise Efforts
At the clubs, seniors are asked to choose a role they’d like to play that matches their interests (e.g. chef, singer, storyteller, gardener). Each senior gets a badge showing their chosen ‘role’, and a points card that gets a stamp for every activity they complete.
The tokens on these cards earn them snacks and even playtime with arcade machines like claw machines, whack-a-mole game, or the indoor basketball hoop machine.
It’s a unique system that was inspired by a programme that ASH runs at their nursing home called the pasar petang (Malay for day market) activity, whereby residents can earn “money” through participation, and exchange it for items, hand massage services, and more.
Among Family
The ASH staff notice positive shifts in the seniors’ moods since joining the clubs. Some have become more open, active, and vocal. Others with dementia seem more calm and cooperative.
“Being at All Saints Home is a life-changing experience for me. All Saints Home and the staff have helped me in ways I couldn’t have imagined and more. I am at home here among my friends and family.”
– Mdm Ng Siew Tin, a client at SLC @ Yishun Fern Grove
Learn more about the Silver Lifestyle Club here.
*As of 9 September, safe distancing measures have been implemented across all open SLCs and SLC @ Yishun Central is pending reopening.
