Professor Robbie Goh, Provost of Singapore University of Social Sciences
Mr Greg Tan and Mr Adrian Tan, Co-founders of SG Assist
Ms Carrie Tan, Grassroots Adviser of Nee Soon South
Distinguished Guests
Partners, Sponsors, Patrons
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very glad to join you for the launch of the Age+ Living Lab.
Helping Seniors Age Well is a Collective Effort
2. Our society is rapidly ageing. In 6 years’ time, we estimate that 1 in 4 of us will be 65 and older. So, we really want to prepare well, so that we can ensure that our seniors can continue to live independently in their homes and in their communities, and for them and their families to have peace of mind.
3. This is something that we need to work together as a whole society. Not surprisingly, this was an important theme that emerged during our Forward Singapore conversations. What are we doing to prepare well for a society where we have more seniors? What do we need to do in our homes, in our neighbourhoods, and in our estates? What kind of infrastructure planning do we need to have? What kind of services do we need to have? What kind of coordination do we need to foster? What kind of planning is needed in terms of services?
4. And so, the collaboration between the Singapore University of Social Sciences and social enterprise, SG Assist, is an excellent example of what is possible. You have to see this collaboration in light of the overall architecture that we are putting in place and prepare for ageing. Together, SUSS and SG Assist, you have created the Age+ Living Lab and this is a resource centre where our seniors as well as their caregivers can explore, try out, feel, and touch assistive products that can enable their loved ones, the seniors, to age in place more confidently and to help lessen the load on caregivers. So, it is really about both the seniors who need a bit more help living in his or her own neighbourhood, and the caregivers who toil tirelessly to look after their loved ones.
5. This laboratory fosters two-way sharing between solution providers, who are innovating and finding new solutions that they would like to bring into the community as well as the people that will use them. This two-way sharing enables existing solutions to continue to be improved upon, and new solutions to be developed and designed in order to address seniors’ and caregivers’ needs. So, this two-way process is absolutely critical. In fact, by bringing together businesses, community partners and the members of the public, this innovative partnership, I’m confident, will go a long way to improve our seniors’ quality of life and support those who wish to age in place and to delay institutionalisation as long as we can.
Improving the Physical Living Environment for Seniors
6. We had also recently announced the broad umbrella framework, Age Well SG – this is an important national programme, an important vision for the future. Because when you look at ageing, you either wring your hands in despair and say “This is a problem,” or you can say, “Well, it is coming our way. Let’s embrace it, let’s turn this into an opportunity, let’s make sure we do all we can, as a whole nation, to make ageing a natural process, but supported by everyone in Singapore.” Age Well SG helps to support seniors to age actively and independently in their own homes and communities.
7. It is a nation-wide transformation of our whole society across areas of housing, transport, active ageing, and care services. Now, this is not to say that things have not been happening on each of these fronts. But the key is to stitch them together to coordinate better, to plan more holistically. You can have holistic plans, but we need to also go into each community and neighbourhood and make sure you stitch it all together, including bringing together the myriad of partners who serve seniors in different ways, and ensure that we see the seniors, and not just the challenges that the seniors face inside.
8. Now, there are three objectives. First, we want to improve our physical living environment by making it a lot more senior-friendly. A lot of us take things for granted; a barrier here, a barrier there, we can surmount it today, but our future selves will face difficulties, not to mention our present seniors. So that is number one, physical environment, inside the home, in the corridor, in the block, in the estate, between locations.
9. Next, to encourage active ageing through an expanded network of pervasive Active Ageing Centres, with more diverse programmes suited for all seniors. From the idea that active ageing is centre-based – the centre is the place that you go into; it is constrained by the fact that the four walls limit the number of people you can take – to one which uses the centre as the base, as a springboard to capitalise on all the surrounding infrastructure and facilities in order for active ageing to be all around us. Programming in the community and not embedded within the four walls of the centre.
10. And third, to strengthen support for seniors who have care needs and also to support their caregivers, to care for their caregivers. We would want our seniors to have access to care resources and services in the community, and to stay engaged and connected with their family and friends throughout their golden years.
11. Now as part of Age Well SG, we will be rolling out “silver upgrades” in our neighbourhoods to help our seniors remain socially engaged in our community. This includes amenities that encourage an active, healthy lifestyle, for example fitness trails and therapeutic gardens, as well as more rest points and barrier-free ramps to make it easier and safer for seniors to move within the estate. We will also be improving commuter infrastructure through MOT’s Friendly Streets initiative. This will bring more sheltered linkways, more bus stops with senior-friendly features, and traffic calming measures to slow vehicles down.
12. Within our flats, within our homes, we will offer a wider range of fittings under EASE 2.0 or Enhancement for Active Seniors, to provide a safer and more conducive environment for our seniors to age in place. Now this is a second wave of features that we are going to put in homes. These are not ideas that are plucked from the sky. They are ideas that surfaced from caregivers and seniors. They have given us feedback. And even when we rolled out the initial iteration of EASE 2.0, people commented on very specific features, which may seem very micro for big planners, but actually are the most important aspect of usability.
a. From 1st April this year, our seniors can opt for new EASE 2.0 fittings for example, lowered toilet entrance kerbs. So, for toilets we have kerbs to prevent water from flowing out, but it can be a barrier to those using mobility devices. It can provide and create trip risks, so we can have lowered toilet entrance kerbs. We can input foldable U-profile grab bars to improve the safety in our bathrooms where falls tend to happen. And like existing EASE fittings, these new features will be heavily subsidised by the Government.
b. Families that have previously applied for EASE may apply again for these new fittings; so that should not be a barrier.
13. Assistive technology is an emerging and very useful tool to strengthen the home-based care of seniors, particularly those who live alone.
a. In fact, this is something that the Age+ Living Lab will be working on with our agencies and companies, to showcase and test different solutions that cater to wide a range of needs.
b. Through the Age+ Living Lab, members of the public can try out these solutions, and find out what would best suit their needs. And do not just take them home and use them, but please give lots and lots of valuable feedback on the model that we are testing. Researchers and companies can also make adjustments based on user feedback, so that the solutions can better support seniors and caregivers in their active ageing journey.
c. Now, we have also been receiving requests from HDB residents to introduce assistive technology and products to our flats.
d. So, I am glad to share that, from 1st April, HDB will arrange for commercial vendors to offer a comprehensive fall detection package to households that are keen to try them out. We will monitor the take-up rate and residents’ receptiveness to such technology before we assess whether these should be scaled up. So like the lab, we are also doing some testing. HDB will be releasing more details and residents who are interested can contact these commercial vendors directly for installation and subscription. Please give your feedback to the vendors. Please also share them with us.
e. It is through this close partnership with government, community, researchers, and corporates that we are able to innovate, test products and introduce solutions that can more effectively meet the needs of our residents.
Call for Ground-up Initiatives
14. Professor Robbie Goh shared earlier that the ‘+’ in the name of Age+ Living Lab has multiple meanings. If you listen carefully to him, it is to age better with assistive products and technology, but more importantly, the ‘+’ in the name means we are all in this positive journey together. Indeed, even as we age, we can all work together as a community to support one another.
a. So, let us continue to build and be that supportive community and “village” for our seniors, their families and their caregivers. The Age+ Living Lab is a wonderful example of what can be achieved through community collaboration. And I hope this inspires more stakeholders to join us in making a positive impact on how our seniors age in our community.
15. To close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank SUSS, friends of SG Assist, the sponsors and supporters, Ngee Ann Kongsi, and all participating partners and companies for their dedication and commitment in promoting a more age-friendly living environment. Congratulations on the opening of the first Age+ Living Lab and we hope to see more of such laboratories across Singapore in the near future.
16. Thank you.