President Halimah Yacob Visit

Shortly after her investiture, President Mdm Halimah Yacob, paid a visit to the Tsao Foundation to learn more about community-based aged care and active ageing programmes in the country and to spend some quality time with the elderly. The Foundation hosted her on 20th Nov 2017 at its Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA) Centre at the Whampoa Community Club.

The President met with the participants of Hua Mei EPICC, a day-health programme providing integrated medical and psycho-social care to frail elders who are nursing-home-eligible, which had been piloted at the Foundation’s Hua Mei Centre for Successful Ageing in Tiong Bahru.

She also visited ComSA’s Hua Mei Clinic for ambulant elders, which combines a medical service with care management, social care and counselling in a person-centred medical home model.

Together, the two programmes are making holistic and integrated primary healthcare in the community - from health promotion to chronic disease management and frail care - more accessible to Whampoa elder residents, thus supporting the common preference among Singaporeans to age in place.

At ComSA’s culinary studio, the President joined the participants of ComSA Kawan who were enjoying the results of a healthy breakfast cooking demonstration. She also interacted with Whampoa residents and students from the Bendemeer Secondary School who were engaged in the “Rumah Whampoa” project on curating heritage recipes of personal meaning to them. The two are examples of ComSA’s drive to empower elders to assert their roles and voices and continuously engage in the life of the community.

The President complemented the Foundation for its pioneering work and showed a keen interest in ComSA as a demonstration model to co-build an integrated system of services for healthy ageing, lifelong learning and community participation that also fosters an age-friendly environment and intergenerational solidarity.