YONG-EN

CaresCaresThink Better Now… Chopin, Bach and Mozart- Listening to classical music has been shown to enhance memory.

Laugh- After watching funny videos, cortisol levels dropped, and performance on memory tests improved. Study results suggest lowering stress will improve memory.

Learn A New Language - Native English speakers who studied Chinese for 6 weeks had better neural network connections than those who did not.

Water- drink lots of water, it is good for your brain and overall health.

Boost Recall Later… Less TV - A 2005 study in Brain and Cognition found the risk of Alzheimer’s increased 1.3 times for every additional hour of TV for people age 40-59.

Exercise - According to a study at Boston University, decreased fitness in your 40s can reduce brain volume two decades later. Continue a healthy exercise plan to keep your brain engaged. Join a gym.

Get Crafty - Indulging your creative side in your 40s was shown to reduce the likeli hood of memory problems by 73-percent ac-cording to study by the Mayo Clinic.

Sleep - Quality sleep in your 30s, 40s and 50s can lead to better mental functionality later on. The sleep you get during those

Meeting growing and pertinent needs of the disadvantaged in our community to the best we can is what we do in Family Support Service at Yong-en.

Amongst children from low-income families in our Tuition programme, we noticed a rising trend of children who are lacking basic foundation in reading – a critical skill needed for further learning. This can be attributed to the demographic profile of the students. Many come from homes where both parents are taking multiple jobs to support the family and/or homes with one stay-home parent who is lacking in English. This results in little to no follow-up at home, and the poor reading cascades, resulting in the child’s poor academic results. Our usual methods of teaching through assessment books in Tuition classes is hence not sufficiently addressing this pertinent need, so a change in direction was necessary.

In 2019, we embarked on a collaboration with Calvary Community Care (C3) to tackle this issue. We began running their GROW (Gain Reading, Oral and Writing skills) programme; training up our volunteers and working closely with C3 to help our children. We conducted this programme for the younger age band of 6-8 years old, and include weak readers from the older age bands. Each week, our volunteers sit with the children to go through a rigorous and structured syllabus beginning with phonics, followed by reinforced learning with integrated readers. As the syllabus progresses, the children are taught how to write and also words that are frequently used in our daily lives.

With regular revision and reinforced learning each week, the children are able to catch-up over the course of 30 lessons.

Such programmes, valued at $300 per child, are beyond the financial ability of the families we serve. Yong-en helps to alleviate this financial burden and make it possible for these children to compete on an equal footing. With better learning fundamentals in place, this leads to greater social mobility, allowing our children achieve greater heights in life.

QR CODE FOR EASY TRANSFERS Please key your NRIC# and Hp# in Reference No. Field to receive a tax exempt receipt.

Your personal donation is eligible for 250% tax-exemption. Your Donation is multiplied: For FY2019, donations (made between 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020) will be entitled to dollar-for-dollar matching, for IPCs like Yong-en,

under the Bicentennial Community Fund. (BCF matching is cap at $400,000)

Blk 335A Smith Street #03-57 (S) 051335 Tel: 6225 1002 • Fax 6225 5218 www.yong-en.org.sg • mail@yong-en.org.sg

“The programme is very timely. My daughter just started school, so this programme is very good, helping my daughter read better!”

Mdm Halimah (mother to Siti)

Provide equal footing for our Children

Renovations at Yong-en@ChinatownYong-en is embarking on phased renovations at our Chinatown office from 21st October 2019 to 29th February 2020. Grateful thanks to Care and Share for renovations funding – a timely renovation after 20 years at Chinatown. It is business as usual for Yong-en’s services. Main line remains at 6225 1002.

Tips to Ageing Well Successful ageing is defined with five indicators: no major diseases; no disability; high cognitive functioning; high physical functioning; and active engagement with life.1

years is deeper and more restorative than the sleep we get as we age. That deeper sleep may give the brain a chance to get rid of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s and inflammation that can damage brain cells.

Ready for Active Ageing…“Active ageing” includes intellectual engagement and continued social interaction along with an overall healthy lifestyle.

Keep Socially Active – Make friends, join community programmes.

Read – Read, keep curious and engaged in life.

Volunteer – Helping others help to boost one’s confidence and happiness level.

Fibre – Research shows dietary fibre intake is tied to successful aging.

Hearing Well - Hearing plays a key role in maintaining strong social networks and engaging in opportunities for intellectual stimulation. Individuals with untreated hearing loss are more likely to avoid or withdraw from social situations. They are more likely to experience social rejection, loneliness and depression, and have a greater chance at developing Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Credits (Adapted from): https://www.sciencedaily.com; https://www.starkey.com; http://www.smj.org.sg

1 http://www.smj.org.sg/article/successful-ageing-singapore- prevalence-and-correlates-national-survey-older-adults

Blessed Christmas

A Happy New

Year

&

IMPROVING LIVES, IMPACTING COMMUNITIESDecember 2019 Newsletter MCI (P) 049/03/2019

Tel: 6225 1002 www.yong-en.org.sg

UPDATE FROM YONG-EN CARE CENTRE

PARTNERING US We are dependent on public donations to sustain majority of our services and your gift will go a long way. No gift is too small – Thank you for your partnership in giving! DONATION BY CHEQUE

Please make cheque payable to “ Yong-en Care Centre” , mail it to Blk 335A Smith Street, #03-57, (S) 051335 and indicate: * Name *Address *NRIC/FIN No. * Contact No

Why Bukit Merah?

Yong-en has been seeking to grow our work in aged care for the past five years, hampered only by available space in Chinatown.

Imagine our delight when we were approached by Kreta Ayer SSO with this co-location option. The opportunity is too precious to ignore.

Yong-en’s centre at Bukit Merah is expected to be in operations by March 2020.

Why Active Ageing?

By 2030, about one in five residents in Singapore will be 65 years or older.

An NUS study spanning 14 years found that half of the seniors in Singapore are frail, mostly due to malnutrition, lack of exercise and chronic diseases. 80% of seniors aged 60 years and above served by our social assistance programme are pre-frail or at risk of frailty.

Our target group of beneficiaries: i) Community ambulatory seniors aged 60 and above. ii) Pre-retirement and/or early retirement community aged between 45 and 59.

Yong-en is one of the early pioneers in Dementia Day Care in the nation and we are known for our work in aged care. In the past five years, Yong-en has been seeking to grow our aged care services in Chinatown vicinity but faced challenging constraint of space. In May, Yong-en was offered an option to co-locate with Bukit Merah SSO at the former Bukit Merah Library building. After robust discussion and prayers, Yong-en accepted the offer of setting up an additional small centre (315sqm) in Bukit Merah.

Physically healthy or with stable chronic medical conditions, nil or mild cognitive impairment.

More educated seniors are doing relatively well in ageing successfully. However, low-income and middle income seniors are not given much options to live out their silver years. What are we doing for seniors who are pre-frail? Yong-en Active Ageing addresses this need in practical and meaningful ways.

What’s unique about Yong-en’s Active-Hub (Yeah!)?

Holistic programme led by experienced Aged Care experts through an over-all thrust of Engaging, Enriching and Empowering Seniors. We are partner-ing Lien Foundation to offer Gym Tonic – a well-researched methodology in strengthening muscles over a 12-week commitment. We are also offering the ‘Share a Pot’ programme – a com-munity based initiative by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital that marries both good nutrition and physical activity in a cosy social environment.

91% Overall Satisfaction score was received in our latest Active Ageing programme survey.

Additional measures in future pro-gramme assessments: Frailty scale, grip strength and balance measure-ments. Empowering Check-list.

Yong-en expects 400 seniors to benefit from Yeah! at Bukit Merah by Year 3.

How about cost consideration?

Indeed, it has been carefully evaluated. Thanks to grants and funders, majority of our services in Bukit Merah will be covered for at least the first two years.

What is missing is the start-up cost. For Bukit Merah’s site renovation, some funding from Care & Share Funds will be tapped on, with remaining amount of estimated $300,000 to be fund-raised.

We believe that existing and new partners and donors will support our proactive and up-stream efforts to lean on our strength in aged care. To address senior frailty and to serve an additional 400 precious lives.

What do you need from your partners?

To continue to support and give generously please.

We are grateful to each and every supporter. You have enabled us to improve lives and we so appreciate you!

Being located in Bukit Merah allows for enhanced Active Ageing to be provided; to engage in more ‘upstream’ and proactive services that are preventive and health promoting while reaching out to a new community comprising of many seniors. A Gym for Seniors will be made available as part of Yong-en’s Active Ageing overall thrust of Engaging, Enriching and Empowering Seniors.

Home Care and Active Ageing teams will be relocating to the new space. This would free up some space in Chinatown site for scaling up of Dementia related services. Active Ageing Programmes (Cool 60s) in Chinatown site will continue, as usual.

Yong-en’s mission remains unchanged – we exist to show God’s love to disadvantaged individuals and households through value-added services in Chinatown and beyond.

Support and enable us to continue Improve Lives and Impact Communities!

We caught up with Yong-en’s Executive Director, Ms Beryl Ng,

to gain better insights to the Bukit Merah new site initiative.

Why Yong-en @Bukit Merah?

Ageing actively in 2019

Joy Club performance at Advance Care Planning Week

Batik Class

Visit to ACS Pri

Chinese New Year Celebration at Deutsche Bank

LPA Talk with SMU Law Professor Lee Pey Woan

Literacy game stations by ACS Pri

Happy Programme Chess and Checkers Event

Community Indian Drumming Workshop @ Esplanade

Photography class

Art and craft class

Gardens by the Bay with Deutsche Bank

At Changi Jewel with Citibank

At Marina Barrage with

CDACChinese New Year

Celebration

Yong-en will acknowledge all gifts for starting up of Yong-en’s Active-Hub (Yeah!) at Bukit Merah centre in our next newsletter (tiered-acknowledgement) – For gifts received before 29th February 2020, if you are donating to this new enhanced Active Ageing programme, kindly indicate for ‘ Yeah!’ in your giving. Thank you.

Balestier Heritage Walk

Outing with Moody’s

Mid Autumn Celebration with Credit Suisse

Tan Chin Tuan Mothers’ Day Concert Digital Literacy Class

Memory Works

Health screening

PROGRAMMES FOR YONG-EN ACTIVITY HUB (YEAH!)Regular Activities Workshop TalksGYM Tonic Art Therapy Advance Care PlanShare a Pot Horticultural Therapy Planning my Retirement WellHAPPY Programme Creative Writing Workshop LPA/Will/Estate PlanningHan Yu Pin Yin Class Vocal / Choral Training Crime PreventionHappy Happy English Class Stage Production Eating WellJoy Club TCM for Seniors Medical TalkTrail Blazers (Hiking/Walking Group) Caring for Caregivers

Baking HealthyDiabetic Wound Care Prevention & ManagementCaring for Caregivers

Urban Photography Senior’s Mental Health Music Therapy - UkuleleReturn to Tea Dance

Keeping up to the beat! Understanding and Communicating with YoungstersTCMBecoming Digital Savvy

Understanding Dementia and how to delay or prevent onset

There are Outings, Festive Celebrations, Karaoke Sessions, Cooking Demonstrations etc.