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Lawrence Lin
Where do the elders in Singapore go? Stay with their children and take care of the kids if possible? Move to a one room flat all alone? Or stay at a nursing home and clock the time?
Its frankly very depressing stuff and the situation is not going to get any better. Let me share with you some of the real life accounts I have came upon.
I came upon a certain nursing home in Singapore that is ‘heavily’ subsidized by the government. It is one of the cheaper nursing homes to live in. This low cost is reflected in the type of labor they hire – foreign nurses. Perhaps this is because they cannot afford to hire the more expensive local nurses.
Foreign nurses are not only cheaper but they also stay on the job longer. Taking care of the elderly, especially those that require special attention, is not easy. Most local nurses will be very reluctant to take up such a tough job – especially when the money earned is not high enough to appeal to them.
Foreign nurses also have to sign a bond with the home before they are permitted to come over to Singapore to work. The bond deters them from changing jobs and they have to finish the bond period of two years. They have to pay a hefty sum if they terminate the contract any earlier than the stated period.
Unlike their Singaporean counterparts who enjoy the freedom to job-hop, these nurses cannot leave if they dislike their working environment. There is nothing they can do even if the department is understaffed and bed occupancy is at an 87 percent high.
So when you have foreign nurses who cannot understand Chinese let alone dialects in a stressful, understaffed environment, can you imagine what will happen to the poor elderly folks there?
Imagine if able-bodied seniors were forced to stay within the nurse’s circle of vision, not being able to walk around the ward let alone go outside for a breather, simply because the nurses did not understand what the seniors were saying? Imagine if the manpower shortage led to a slow strangulation of freedom within the nursing home?
Far from being respected as older and wiser human beings, the elderly are reduced to infants after being stripped of their means of communication. For instance, imagine a scenario when a senior needs to pee but the nurse does not understand what he or she is saying. So the senior wets his or her pants, soils the bed and incurs an undignified scolding from the nurse.
In an environment of widespread miscommunication, combined with the natural declining physical condition of the seniors, these nurses are apt to blame the seniors for wrongdoing not entirely of their fault.
In addition, sometimes, these foreign nurses while certified overseas, might not be amply trained in taking care of the elderly and are not customer service oriented. Life in a nursing home run by these nurses is thus almost certain to be a rather miserable experience.
Think about it. You work so hard most of your life just to end up being sent to a place that is maybe worse than a prison! Even then, being in a nursing home in Singapore is not cheap, though it is already heavily subsidized.
Instead of depending on the government, maybe it’s time we ask ourselves, what can or what will we do for the old?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_389283.html
how sad, yet so true.
in a country such as singapore, the old doesn’t qualify for ‘retirement’, for life is hard work even behind the walls of an old folks home. there is none of those ‘vacations’ you get to enjoy in the later years, or any of the happy-family-with-you-carrying-your-grandson scenarios you’ve envisioned it to be.
while blame may be attributed to the government, the onus ultimately lies on the individual.
i would invest in some trustworthy funds, maybe snap up something on the property market to hold as an investment, and purchase one of those insurances. then maybe… only maybe, would i be able to enjoy what’s left of my life (which i daresay is hard-earned enough).
for a start ensure that people earn enough for themselves, able to support his or her parents (assuming both are still around), have enough for their own retirement if not some savings to buffer against sudden job lose or major illness from wiping out or being made bankrupt due to medical fees, before starting a family of 2 kids? people with not much money do not have much options open to them.
what a loooong sentence, lol….
what can or what will we do for the old?
Simply,charity begins at home.Be filial and caring to your parent or grandparent or your love ones who brought you up.Do not harbour any thought of sending them to those old folks home.,dun believe in anyone who tell you its cheaper over there..
Stay with your parents….
I see couples rushing their pet dog to the “animal doctor” but had never visit or have forgotten when is their last time they visit their parent ,grandparent or parent in laws….
And boys and girls…when is the last time you see your Ah Mma or Ah Kong?..Ok…This weekend.yes this weekend,go buy a packet of soon kueh and kopi o kowkow and pay them a visit.They will be very happy.Trust me this time.
If you can do it,chances of you landing in the old folks home is slim……
one solution for solving the nursing problem is National Service for females.
Singaporean females may be “conscripted” as nurses under Ministry of Health with the similar structure that of the SAF. Singaporeans can expect better healthcare service and a lower medical bill since we will be paying our Singaporean girls NSF’s wages of a few hundred dollars as compared to a thousand over for a Foreigner’s service.
this will address the 2 years gap between Singaporean male and females, and ensures everyone goes to university or workforce at the same age with the same amount of contributions to the country.
like the SAF, those interested in nursing can sign on to be a regular with the MOH. for all the reasons the PAP made Singaporean male serve NS: every single of them are thus valid too.
besides, we should ask ourselves what will happen during emergency times e.g. war, natural disaster?
the foreign nurses will take the first air ticket back to their motherland and vacate our hospitals, crippling our healthcare industry. there wont be any nurses to go about saving lives and treating the wounded in the emergencies with high casualties.
Singaporean females will get to understand the hardship of reservist training and how it feels like to be forced to sacrifice their youth to a nation which have since sell the people’s loyalty to foreigners.
Reply to#4-Alex tan
So easy meh!!.Since angmohs are so easy to find here ,are you not afraid that our local girls get married to them or to foreigners and flee the country?Joke aside,this happened before in Israel when military draft was first introduced for both sexes.Those girls of legal age were married or match-made to Jewish males living in foreign lands.I do not know how patriotic and loyal are the Singapore girls to their country.Your idea seems fair to local guys like us,but will it work to solve the problem
of finding good and caring nurses.
@4
Brilliant! With our women being able to contribute to national service, that would increase the amount of manpower that can be shunted towards increasing the service standards. Things that they might learn are essential towards their lives later on, just like us who have contributed in terms of serving in the Armed Forces.
This would in turn reduce the dependence on the foreign workers that these nursing homes are want to hire. However, the issue that the article is on, is dwelling on the poor remuneration that the nursing home is offering, and that the working hours are long and tedious. That these nursing homes are heavily subsidized and yet they are not able to afford the service desired by one and all.
On a side note, if our women counterparts start serving the NS in the health sector, who would fill the labor required in other sectors? Foreign talent? Isn’t this digging a hole to fill another hole?
There are other reasons that these nursing homes are the way they are. It could be due to the similar reason why there are more and more after school childcare centers sprouting out. More couples have to work harder and longer so as to afford the life that they are living, and will not be able to care for their children, much less their parents. This might be a generalization and that there might be situations even much more dire.
Then simply remember a friendly suggestion that if one could not afford quality nursing homes, one simply had to turn to JB for an alternative.
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/02/nursing-homes-in-johor-bahru-revisited/
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_337089.html
It is evident in this case, that a civil servant chose to house his parent over there. Then in support of this policy, we can see what kind of people we have within the government. Efficient, calculated, economical and emotionless. Sans emotion to cloud their judgement (rem cooling off period not even needed) everything decided would be judged solely on its merit.
There are careful considerations made with profits as the main guiding principle. And then there are others. I am curious what we will choose.
Alex. u just penalising those not yet penalised. why not remove the penalty altogether?!?
Alex tan’s comment (December 12th, 2009 1.42 am) is very interesting.
It seems quite a good idea, that Girls between the age of 18-19 should be compelled to serve a year or two in the national health service. Someone commented that it will result in shortage of workers in other sectors. This is ridiculous. What can an 18-19 year old girl with no experience in life do to “other sectors”!!!!!! At that young age, they are just starting to wean off the school system and they are starting life.
Unfortunately, Alex tan;s suggestion might not work… I would estimate the number of health care workers needed, even if we get rid of all the foreign worker health care workers in the nursing home, might be perhaps 3000 at most. But the cohort of 18 year old girls coming out of our school system EACH YEAR is easily 10,000 or more EACH YEAR. Yes, there is demand for the nursing staff, but not quite so much each year. So in principle though the suggestion seems ok, in practice it just cannot be implemented. The numbers don’t fit.
Zero
Save up cash. Have filial piety. Never give up on your parents. Keep them mentally and physically active.
THAT is the solution.
hi zero
about 20000 Singaporean males are conscripted yearly, and since there are more females than males in Sg, I can safely assume 20000 Sg females will be conscripted.
they will go through a Basic Medical Training(BMT) of 5 months, then be posted into a wide range of healthcare units ranging from taking care of the elderly in homes to handling general admin work processing in MOH. im not only talking about NSFs for nurses only, but the complete overhaul of the entire Ministry of Health system.
Sg females NSFs will have to perform Standby Guard Duty through the night in Emergency Departments and I’m very sure there are always work to be done wert second from changing baby diapers to sorting patients medicines and profiles.
please do note that excessive labor is a Happy Problem. it can easily be solved by having Malaysia style of ballot-NS.
I’m not exactly here speaking up for equality between the 2 sexes, but addressing a critical need that is compounding as the population age.
@4 alex tan
Excellent idea. We are seriously in shortage of healthcare workers. You can see so many foreign nurses everywhere. If war or some disasters will to strike here, who can we depend on? My feelings are our hospitals will be crippled.We cannot even sustain our healthcare when we need it. With the numbers of wounded, dying back home and none of our women can help without aid. When we carry rifles to fight in the front line, it is comforting to know that our females counterparts are trained to deal with casualties back home.
@6 curious citizen
I believe we are not in dire needs for these age group of 18-20 to start working and contribute to our economy. Like us, to be taken out to serve NS at that age and put back into the labour force after 2 years is the best answer to your question.
@)8 zero
If we take into consideration the healthcare sector as a whole and not just nursing homes, i believe that add up to many times more.
Of course national service for girls can be implemented with a little creativity and imagination.
It does not just have to be nurses aides or healthcare attendants. After a period of basic training, the women can be stratified into the combat minded who can go into service vocations, the more book-ish who can go into our neighbourhood schools to help out children who are struggling at the back of the class like in those bus advertisements, or the nursing-minded who can go into nursing homes and long term care facillities to serve the people who built our country and gave us the prosperity we were born into….
Maybe its time to realise that CPF will not pay for your retirement, and that during your working life you need to plan for what may happen to you. Reliance on your children to look after them is akin to burdening your kids with a financial debt long before they are able to even earn a pay cheque.
So the idea is;
a) Stop relying on the Govt. and start planning for yourself. And,
b) Ask yourself (honestly) what is the root cause of needed to legally enforce filial piety, is it because children are selfish, greedy and feel alienated from their parents…and if so why? Where did they, and from whom did they learn these traits?
Hello Alex
I still like your idea very much but i’m somewhat skeptical regarding the implementation aspect.
For guys, 20000 of them a year doing bmt, ocs, etc…in the SAF is not a problem, and also to deploy them doing all sorts of silly stupid work like marching and national day parade and crowd control and going to australia for a month training, all bullshit no-value, no-harm-to-anyone activities just to pass the sentence of 2 years.
However, if you deploy 20000 female workers a year and send them to REAL LIFE situation not mock-jungle training, who is responsible if this half baked nurses make mistakes and do stupid things in the hospital causing the patients to die?
As with males in NS, some of these females in the proposed female NS, would just simply hate the job, and would be more prone to make errors. However, for males, they could mess up and nobody cares it is internal problem of SAF. However if the female nurse mess up in the public hospital what are the repercussions? Examples: administering wrong medicine, forgetting to dispense medicine, failure to operate a machine correctly, forgetting to do certain procedures correctly which a professional trained and really-interested nurse might do better.
I agree that the simpler jobs definitely can be done by this new NS girls. However, how many simple jobs are there? 20,000 of females coming out a year… to what level of skill you want to train them? simple jobs are fewer – as mentioned cannot sustain 20000 a year coming out… yet more complex jobs, do we trust them with human life in other sectors of health care, as someone suggested?
If the idea is great, i am only wondering why no other country in the world had done it… the reasons might be related to some of the issues which i just mentioned…
Zero
I don’t work in a nursing home, but i see quite a number of nursing home patients with their foreign nursing aides. While i do agree that their competency is nowhere close to that of our local nurses, i would say that their skillset is quite appropriate for the nursing home setting. They come from cultural backgrounds where living is probably more communal, and they are not averse to doing menial work. What communication barriers there are, are quickly overcome as they pick up dialect phrases relevant to the setting.
Your point that care of the elderly should first be shouldered by us is valid, but it’s not fair to bash foreign nurses just to prove your point.
zero
aren’t our NSFs soldiers handling real rifles, real ammos, real grenades, real tanks and real danger too?
we have 18, 19 years old NSFs driving tanks and firing ballistic missiles that can kill countless lives and your saying our females cant be responsible to be nurses?
i fail to see how our males are put into real danger while their same-age females cant pick up similar responsibility.
besides, we are already having lapses by healthcare staffs(foreigners??) today, especially the recent overdose of 2 cancer patients. our healthcare standards will definitely be better off serviced by true blue Singaporeans, instead of foreigners’ weak ability to communicate with Singaporean patients.
you have sidestepped my suggestion of a Malaysia style of ballot-NS. Ministry of Health can determine the amount of NSFs it wants.
sign-on regular nurses, who have received more training and experience, can be tasked to take up higher responsibilities of helping out in Intensive Care Units and major surgeries. exactly the way how Staff Sergeants equivalent of a Senior Nurse.
like the SAF, we can also lower the rising unemployment rate among Singaporeans.
please note, no other country in the world had done it?
is this reason valid enough to shoot down this proposal?
didnt the PAP claim they are exceptional talents and Singapore has done what no other country has done?
i can see a PAP-ingrained of cover-backside mentality from your statement.
vote for Change, vote the PAP out.
Those of us who do not take care of our parents, beware there is retribution! If your children see that you neglect their grandparents either at home or by just putting them in old folks home.
Your time and turn will come also eventually when the same will happen to you in years to come and when you challenge them their reply will simply be , but did’nt you do the same to grandpa and grandma when they became old?
So lets all try our best to do whats right for our old folks who brought us up for we have only ourselves to blame for coming inot this world. Yes our parents had a part to play in it but blame also falls on us for beint he “fastest sperm” !
Of course, if our folks need medical care and have to be in a home so it must be so but if they are able , let them grow old with us.Find it it your heart to appreciate them and acommodate them as best we can.
When my dad who passed away from cancer last july was asked by his doctor whether he wanted to go to a hospice, his reply was “whatever for, I have a home to go to”, that touched my heart. When he left us I told my mom who said the MJ song “Gone too soon” was appropriate for my dad. But jokingly I said we should chnage the song to :”TOOK TOO LONG” cos he survived for 3 years when the doctors gave him 6 months.
On hind sight , I wished he had taken a bit longer to stay with us.
Hi alex tan
i am not trying to shoot down your proposal – on the contrary i like it !
i agree that it does not mean that it would not work just bec no other had tried before. However it would be prudent to study other countries eperience if there are any Well if indeed no one tried it why not we try it Tell the highly paid PAP about your proposal I think it is an good one why they not think of it with their high salaries!!!
Yes about your balloting solution I overlooked it Yes it seem to be a good idea too!
Only last issue is the conparison with NS men making mistakes with ammo and guns vs a NS nurse make mistake kill the patient In the former it is an internal SAF matter house problem all under military laws and those hurt are also likely to be NS own group of people
In the latter it is a different thing – How can the unlucky patient a member of the paying public affected by a negligent NS nurse sue? How and who to sue? We are talking of 18 year old girls making a mistake and the paying patient died I don’t think this is a serious enough problem that happens often but it has to be debated
your proposal is still good i think despite all i said aboe
zero
how to do 2 years NS when it takes 3 years to train a nurse?
Recently many more news of mishaps, errors , human errors in hospitals.
medical hub?
if a native senior citizen say i want eat liu lian, will foreign nurse mistaken it for something else?
Perfect communication?
No flaws?
Experiment?
it’s interesting to observe how sg is dealing with such issues. There seem to be only 2 parties being blamed: government and foreign nurses(for “stealing jobs”) In my opinion the real problem lies within the society itself. For example why no one raises questions about the responsibility of children whose parents ended up in such dire state.. These kids have had the love and care of their parents and are probably well off due to their parents support and now don’t bother to look after their old folks. Why do you think it should be the government’s responsibility to look after elders when it’s their children who must be held responsible. We’re not talking about exceptional cases where elders lost their kids due to circumstance(death, disease, etc). We’re talking about elders whose children are well off and perfectly capable of taking care… i guess some day they will understand how it feels to lose your child’s love and care. Unfortunately SG society has become too materialistic and has become Darwinian believing in survival of the fittest.
So i propose very simple solution:
Chase the ungrateful children of the elders and investigate their financial statements, properties tax them accordingly so that it goes to support the old folks’ homes because forcing them to live together will probably subject elders to even more abuse. Since there should be plenty of funds coming in, hiring locals will not be a problem for the old folks home management. Just don’t oursource this to private companies or everything will be back to square.
And to everyone reading this… take the responsibility in your own hands start with yourself…. don’t try to shift the problem away to someone or something.
#21 alien@sg,
” For example why no one raises questions about the responsibility of children whose parents ended up in such dire state..”
well, is this not clear that Apathy is the problem? People know about these issues. They act and behave like a Apathetic. That is the most pathetic about singaporeans.
Singapore will change for the better when majority be honest with their conscience and stop behaving apathetically. So, though born not apathetic, many consciously choose to behave so. That is the problem.
More elderly are booking a place in ‘Changi’ and letting the government look after them. All your needs, including medical, are well taken care off.
It’s about time the government did something for the elderly. If there is sufficient numbers, who knows, they might open a special wing just for the elderly.
With such foreign nurses who cannot communicate effectively with the elderly, going to a nursing home is the fastest way to die.
Local nurses cannot accept the low pay of these foreign nurses, because if they do – they themselves will also end up in a nursing home one day!
There are three level of nursing:
State-registered nurse are 3 years course (Nanyang poly, or previously School of nursing)
Assistance Nurse (AN) these are the O-levels
Nursing aide (healthcare-assistance) .
In the earlier years, the student nurse of school of nursing, while they go on course, they have hospital attachment (almost like full time) under supervision of SRN , nursing sister and matron. (nursing sister is somewhat like platoon commander, there are 2-3 per ward, taking charge of all the SRN, AN, NAs in that ward, while matron are like CO, taking charge of one block of hospital ward)
Anyway, the female NS can do nursing duty (they are no different from those A-level holders, who are nursing students of School of Nursing, while they study nursing (after A level), they have On-Job-Training).
Also, the manpower requirement is a lot more than we think.
There are hospitals, outpatients, and nursing homes. They can also perform duties at SAF as medics too (service medics), or as ambulance assistant with SJCDF, Some can also be sent to MOE for training to be childcare centre assistance, or kindergarden teachers. KK hospital also can get these ns-female to help to nurse the babies.
It is good if female has NS in nursing, or MOE-childcare centre, baby-ward, or kindergarden. These females will learn skil to help the sick, and the babies. It will be a boost for our dwindling population, as many female are simply too career minded.
If females has some nursing skills, it is helpful for them to take care of their parents (when their parents get old, they will need nursing help, and it is useful for the female to learn that skil)
Just like many male NS medics or clerk, they learn nursing skill or office skil like typing , filing etc…. and these are useful life skills too.
If female do NS in nursing, they can also take over some service medics of SAF, thereby release more man to do the tougher type of SAF duty.
In a war time, having our females with nursing skill also help t stabilise the home-ground
i think drafting females for nursing or its related professions deserves more thought & more input from people who work in those fields to contribute their kowledge.
kudos to Nursing post #25 on December 13th, 2009 2.38 am
for sharing.
females doing NS? Another reason for our gov to raise tax?
by then, males should also help to give birth to babies.
to alex, your mom should have tell you that giving birth to you is ten times more difficult than doing NS.
how can giving birth be more difficult when 1 does it with love? anyway there is no law that forces women to do so. if there is a law that mandates (or womendates?) women who reach a certain age to give birth please share with everyone here. & oso, those who do not are not sent to jail or DB for not giving birth wad.
those who harp as if giving birth is like serving NS so way off the mark, simply because few countries have conscripted armies.
lol…
I am happy that for once, such an article did not demand for actions by the government. Instead, it appealed to the ordinary wisdom of an ordinary person to take responsibility for the care of their elderly, or at least those who had been responsible parents.
On the plight of the foreign nurses and care-taker, let’s look at the other side of the coin. Singaporeans, I think, are not keen to look after elderly. And that is why we had to resort to employing foreigners. The language barrier could be the only saving grace for these foreigners. Taking care and being surrounded by elderly is emotionally draining. The communication barrier could be the only thing that saves their sanity.
There are not enough local nurses willing to work at the nursing homes. It is a compromise bet having foreign nurses or caring for the patients by urself. Whats ur choice?