Stroke, fracture patients can learn daily activities again after leaving CGH
By Poon Chian Hui, The Straits Times 8 Jun 2012
A FACILITY that helps elderly patients ease back into home life after a fracture or stroke,the first of its kind in Singapore, was opened yesterday.
Called Grace Corner, the 32-bed facility at Peacehaven Nursing Home rehabilitates elderly people for six to 12 weeks after they are treated at Changi General Hospital (CGH).
They learn to carry out daily activities such as eating, showering and cooking, so that they can be independent at home despite their weakened condition.
Called the Transitional Convalescent Facility, it 'helps to plug the gap between hospitals and home', Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said when he opened the place in Upper Changi Road North.
The idea for it came from an expert panel the Health Ministry formed after elderly patients showed they preferred to return home to recuperate after being discharged from hospital. Although community hospitals provide rehabilitation, patients are typically discharged after two to five weeks.
With the new facility, the elderly have more time to learn how to make their own drinks, get themselves in and out of bed and shower on their own. This is on top of daily rehabilitation sessions carried out by therapists and nurses.
Since it was piloted last December, the facility has cared for 33 patients, all above the age of 50. Twenty of them have been discharged.
A scoring system that assessed the ability of those discharged to carry out daily activities such as eating and showering found that they had improved by an average of 41 per cent.
Their sense of well-being also rose by 77 per cent.
Eight in 10 could also move as well as before they were hospitalised.
Peacehaven executive director Low Mui Lang noted that the facility helps people save money and receive professional help.
'It is very expensive to hire a professional to provide therapy at home. And it is not possible for family members who are not health-care professionals to provide 24-hour care,' she said.
Other, less feasible, options include remaining at the hospital or going to a nursing home, where daily therapy is not a given.
Staying at Grace Corner costs from $300 to $1,400 a month, depending on the qualifying level of subsidy for the resident.
One first-timer is Mr Kwek Soon Teng, 51, who had a stroke 13 years ago. In January, he slipped and fell on a flight of stairs and fractured his left heel.
Mr Kwek, who lives alone in a two-room rental flat, said in Mandarin: 'In a wheelchair, it's really inconvenient. Household chores like sweeping the floor, I cannot do.
'The hallways are also very narrow, so it's difficult to manoeuvre the wheelchair.'
After an 11-week stay at Grace Corner, he 'walked out using just a walking stick,' he said.
Mr T.K. Udairam, group chief executive of the Eastern Health Alliance, of which Peacehaven and CGH are members, hopes to convince other nursing homes to set up their own equivalents to Grace Corner.
Nursing homes should become a place for people to get help in reintegrating into the community, he said. 'Nursing homes should not be like old folks' homes.'
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