Caring for our seniors
Caring for our seniors
AIC’s Silver Generation Office (SGO) continues its outreach in engaging seniors, sharing about Healthier SG, and assisting with enrolment. A recruitment drive to strengthen SGO’s pool of Silver Generation Ambassadors was held in partnership with local Key Opinion Leaders and attracted a healthy number of volunteer sign-ups. To invite the next generation to help seniors age healthily, a meaningful collaboration was forged with the National University of Singapore, which piloted a module for students to be involved in SGO’s work and befriend seniors.
Engaging our seniors
Since April 2022, SGO volunteers have engaged with thousands of Singapore’s seniors through their Preventive Health Visits (PHV) programme. The volunteers, known as Silver Generation Ambassadors (SGAs), have been making rounds and visiting seniors in their homes, encouraging them to get their routine vaccinations and helping them enrol for Healthier SG.
SGAs also continue to encourage seniors to receive their influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations.
Senior Engagement Application
The Senior Engagement Application (SEA) is an online, senior-cum-volunteer management system developed by SGO. SGAs use the system when they conduct physical or virtual engagement sessions with seniors.
In 2022, SEA facilitated the successful onboarding of over 1,500 SGAs. The SEA system also efficiently tracks all SGO volunteer’s training progress towards being certified as an SGA for the Preventive Health Visit programme.
With SEA, SGO is also able to identify the number of hours SGAs have dedicated in supporting our seniors at a glance. In recognition of their contribution, close to 500 SGAs received the Service Award.
SEA is constantly being improved and refined, with more modules to improve engagement, planning, and volunteer deployment added. SGAs can choose to connect with seniors in-person or virtually via the system’s Tele-Engagement option. Following the engagement, seniors are then referred and connected to relevant community partners to support their needs.
In 2022, SGO has made over 3,800 referrals for seniors to engage in various active ageing programmes within their community, link them up to employment or volunteering opportunities and to encourage them to plan early for their future needs through Advance Care Planning as well as Lasting Power of Attorney.
Recruiting Silver Generation Ambassadors
From September to November 2022, a Recruitment Campaign was rolled out to strengthen our SGO’s current pool of SGAs.
The campaign’s multi-touch amplification included displaying quotes from existing SGAs on Digital Display Panels at Housing Development Board (HDB) estates, television screens at food courts and coffee shops, and across social media platforms such as SGO’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
SGO also worked with local Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) like Belinda Lee, Chen Xi, Sujimy, Nurul Aini, and Guna, to further the campaign’s reach on social media. The KOLs contributed to the recruitment narrative by adding their own perspectives and documenting the journeys of real-life SGAs, from receiving training, to being qualified to engage with seniors.
Collaboration with NUS
Given Singapore’s rapidly ageing population and increasingly diverse needs, SGO collaborated with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to lead a pilot module, ‘GEN2061: Support Healthy Ageing SG’.
As part of NUS’ Communities & Engagement Pillar, the module seeks to impart the fundamental concepts of volunteerism and enhance students’ understanding of helping seniors in their community age healthily.
SGO staff and NUS student conducting PHV engagement as part of the on-the-job training.
In anticipation of seniors’ increasing care needs, SGO is currently actively reaching out to various Institutes of Higher Learning to engage students on the important role they play in the lives of Singapore’s ageing population.