At the new nursing home, residents can enjoy 24-hour nursing facilities, physiotherapy sessions, art lessons and companionship. Forget vacant-eyed old folk confined to bed. Nursing homes can be full of life, as Radha Basu discovers.

Sitting in her wheelchair on a sun-drenched balcony, Madam Catherine Lee, 70, is a picture of concentration, gnarled fingers carefully rolling coloured bits of paper into little balls and sticking them onto a sketch of a large butterfly.

Her friend and neighbour, Madam Helen Wong, 79, does the same, as they occasionally chat with each other and a group of friends huddled around them. They are not at an art class but a new nursing home launched by Pacific Healthcare where, starting from $1,000 a month, residents can enjoy 24-hour nursing facilities, physiotherapy sessions, art lessons and that rare commodity: the companionship of others their own age. The 259-bed home, which already has 21 residents, was officially inaugurated by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Heng Chee How last week, and is an answer to the Government's call for more facilities offering long-term care for the elderly and the infirm in a homely community setting rather than a sterile hospital one. The home will help meet the needs of Singapore's rapidly ageing population - in 25 years almost one in four Singaporeans is expected to be aged 65 or above, up from about one in 12 today.

Pacific Healthcare executive chairman William Chong alluded to this, saying that medical advances had increased life expectancy - with many here already living way beyond 80.

'Yet the greatest irony of a longer life is that we spend a larger percentage of our life with chronic disease, which makes simple daily activities such as bathing, having meals and moving around harder,' said Dr Chong. 'Most of us will need assistance some day.' While acknowledging that home care was still the best care, he said the practical demands and circumstances of modern life - such as smaller families and working children - often made it difficult. 'So we're trying to make this place an extension of the home, with constant care and companionship,' he said. The residents seem to agree.

'We get good care and a chance to learn something new,' said Madam Lee, alluding to her regular art classes and lessons in qigong, an ancient Chinese regimen of exercise and meditation that strengthens both body and mind. But what residents love most is having someone to talk to all day long. Madam Lee, for instance, lived alone in a three-room Housing Board flat, after her husband died four years ago. 'My children and grandchildren used to visit often, but they have busy lives. Now I can chat with others my age any time I want.'

Her eldest son, Mr Alan Tan, said it was his mother who suggested she stay in the home after seeing it being built. She suffered a minor stroke late last year and has severe hypertension. 'We were looking for a place that offers round-the-clock care and she suggested the Pacific Healthcare Nursing Home, which she would often walk past,' said the 49-year-old, who works in an insurance company. After looking at some older homes which seemed old and dank, he settled on it. 'She likes cleanliness and lots of sun,' he added. Although employing a maid to look after his mother may have been cheaper, it was never an option, said Mr Tan. 'Maids are not trained to be nurses, and we wanted proper care.'

FEES AND FACILITIES

What: Pacific Healthcare Nursing Home.
Where: Lengkok Bahru, near Jalan Bukit Merah. 
Fees: $1,000 to $3,600 a month, depending on room type and medical condition of resident. Facilities include nursing care, food and board, exercise and counselling sessions and monthly medical check-up.

Source: Straits Times, Mind Your Body, 9 March 2005