THE new perception of a retirement village is not of a nursing home for the elderly sickly and poor, but of a bustling residential centre for the new generation of active, elderly Singaporeans.
Their profile will be different from previous generations. They are likely to be in their 50s and form the bulk of Singapore's changing elderly population.
The new silver generation will mostly be well-educated and relatively financially independent when they retire. They are also likely to be healthy enough not to require round-the-clock nursing home care.
Their key concern, be they married or single, childless or otherwise, is to grow old gracefully and aspire to quality, individual living. They do not want to be dependent on their children and understand their children's need for their own space.
This new aged generation will reshape the traditional notions of ageing.
So, their concept of a retirement village is not a nursing or sheltered home, or for that matter a 30-year lease HDB studio flat.
Having travelled more and sampled more of life's pleasures, they will expect a finer lifestyle. What they are likely to expect of a retirement village will be a menu of homes, tailored to price and affordability. Facilities they expect may include a well-being centre, exercise facilities, library, swimming pool, hairdressing salon, bistro, security, emergency back-up, communal lounge, gardens and guest suites where relatives can stay for a fee.
Retirement developments should be in a high-growth area in Singapore. The social interactions possible within such a village concept would provide an ideal environment for continued active retirement. The families of these senior citizens would desire to visit too - with the grandchildren having a swim and then lunch or dinner with their grandparents.
Such retirement villages will not become cut off from society at all and older people will unlikely end up alone.
I hope the authorities and developers will embrace such a concept for new ageing citizens and not wait until it is too late to discover that the bulk of us have happily and actively retired to neighbouring countries.
Julia Ng (Ms)
Source: Straits Times, 22 May 2010
Showing posts with label Retirement homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Retirement homes. Show all posts
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Think beyond a single housing solution
Q Isn't it best to allow older folk to age in the same neighbourhoods they have lived in for decades rather than in isolated retirement villages?
We have to stop thinking that there is a single housing solution for older people. Many who choose retirement communities do so because they find living in their own homes - ageing in place - very isolating, even depressing. Even if you have a child or friend visiting every day for an hour, you are still alone for 23 hours. A positive development would be if 10 years from now, an older person in Singapore can say: 'There are four different ways I can age: I can live with my son or daughter, I can bring in home care, I can go to adult day services or I can go to a beautiful senior living community.' This is really about enabling choices.
Q What is the typical profile of someone who lives in a Sunrise community?
At Sunrise, more than 80 per cent of clients are women, many of whom are single or widowed. They have been career women and can thus afford private paying senior living. We also have people whose children live overseas. Most of our residents are in the 78 to 88 age group, so they are the parents of baby boomers.
Overall, only about 8 per cent of older folk in America - or about two million people - live in senior living communities. Generally, the vast majority would have the option of living with or near children. But what if only 2 per cent to 8 per cent do not have that option? Do the maths. It's still a huge market.
If only 1 per cent of seniors in Singapore were to find senior living most attractive and affordable, that's still 3,300 people. Forget hundreds, just build one retirement home.
The marketplace will tell you whether or not it's attractive. If someone builds a retirement community older folk want to go to, the marketplace will take care of it. We started with US$12,000 (S$16,400) and built it to US$2 bil- lion.
Q The Government here released land on a 30-year lease which developers can use to build Singapore's first retirement home. But no one is interested in building on such a short lease. Would you build on a 30-year lease?
I would never build a community on a 30-year lease. Our buildings have special features for non-ambulatory residents, are elegantly designed and richly furnished and therefore quite expensive to construct. They are designed for more than 50 years of expected service.
Once they are full of residents paying a monthly rental for room and services, they are also an income-producing asset that can be sold, but a 30-year lease would sharply reduce its value.
It would also be hard to justify capital improvements and expenditures in the last decade of the lease which would be detrimental to residents.
Q What has been your biggest innovation so far at Sunrise?
Our biggest innovation was in services for Alzheimer's or dementia patients. Our communities have special neighbourhoods set aside for memory care. Each resident's suite is small but the common areas are spacious and with barrier-free access to the outdoors. There are no dead ends so residents never feel trapped. We take very iconic design elements from a house - like a living room - and make sure it's there. We also have things from their past - like sewing machines and old pianos - sprinkled throughout these 'reminiscence neighbourhoods' as we call them. Residents may not recognise family members, but some may be able to play a song from 60 years ago.
Source: Straits Times, 28 Apr 2010
We have to stop thinking that there is a single housing solution for older people. Many who choose retirement communities do so because they find living in their own homes - ageing in place - very isolating, even depressing. Even if you have a child or friend visiting every day for an hour, you are still alone for 23 hours. A positive development would be if 10 years from now, an older person in Singapore can say: 'There are four different ways I can age: I can live with my son or daughter, I can bring in home care, I can go to adult day services or I can go to a beautiful senior living community.' This is really about enabling choices.
Q What is the typical profile of someone who lives in a Sunrise community?
At Sunrise, more than 80 per cent of clients are women, many of whom are single or widowed. They have been career women and can thus afford private paying senior living. We also have people whose children live overseas. Most of our residents are in the 78 to 88 age group, so they are the parents of baby boomers.
Overall, only about 8 per cent of older folk in America - or about two million people - live in senior living communities. Generally, the vast majority would have the option of living with or near children. But what if only 2 per cent to 8 per cent do not have that option? Do the maths. It's still a huge market.
If only 1 per cent of seniors in Singapore were to find senior living most attractive and affordable, that's still 3,300 people. Forget hundreds, just build one retirement home.
The marketplace will tell you whether or not it's attractive. If someone builds a retirement community older folk want to go to, the marketplace will take care of it. We started with US$12,000 (S$16,400) and built it to US$2 bil- lion.
Q The Government here released land on a 30-year lease which developers can use to build Singapore's first retirement home. But no one is interested in building on such a short lease. Would you build on a 30-year lease?
I would never build a community on a 30-year lease. Our buildings have special features for non-ambulatory residents, are elegantly designed and richly furnished and therefore quite expensive to construct. They are designed for more than 50 years of expected service.
Once they are full of residents paying a monthly rental for room and services, they are also an income-producing asset that can be sold, but a 30-year lease would sharply reduce its value.
It would also be hard to justify capital improvements and expenditures in the last decade of the lease which would be detrimental to residents.
Q What has been your biggest innovation so far at Sunrise?
Our biggest innovation was in services for Alzheimer's or dementia patients. Our communities have special neighbourhoods set aside for memory care. Each resident's suite is small but the common areas are spacious and with barrier-free access to the outdoors. There are no dead ends so residents never feel trapped. We take very iconic design elements from a house - like a living room - and make sure it's there. We also have things from their past - like sewing machines and old pianos - sprinkled throughout these 'reminiscence neighbourhoods' as we call them. Residents may not recognise family members, but some may be able to play a song from 60 years ago.
Source: Straits Times, 28 Apr 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Baby boomers want retirement homes
Some among the baby boomer generation would prefer that to burdening loved ones
Some have known first-hand the emotionally exhausting task of looking after elderly parents who lose their strength and senses, bit by agonising bit.
Others have heard about the hard realities of ageing from friends and colleagues who have gone on arduous caregiving journeys themselves.
Born between 1947 and 1964, Singapore's one million baby boomers are better educated, independent and more affluent than their parents.
As they hurtle towards old age, some among them are arriving at a common resolve: They don't want to live out their last days by burdening loved ones, mired in dependence, decrepitude - possibly even depression. They want to live and die in self-contained retirement communities, cared for by paid professionals, surrounded by friends - and visited often by family.
Singapore has one of the fastest- ageing populations in the world with the number of those aged 65 and above set to triple to 900,000 in the next two decades.
But as of now, there are no residential communities for retired folk here despite a sharp increase in the number of elderly people living alone or by themselves.
There were 22,000 elderly people living alone in 2005, up from 15,000 five years earlier. Another 25,000 elderly couples live on their own.
As of last year, Singapore had 166,500 people aged 40 and above who were single, up from only 112,700 in 2000.
A two-day conference, the Ageing Asia Investment Forum, which starts here tomorrow, will focus on the opportunities and challenges of setting up retirement villages and aged-care services in Singapore and the region.
Retirement-home advocates like Ms Ricca Liu, 64, and Ms Anne Holloway, 61, are among a relatively small but significant group of older folk swimming against the tide of experts who extol the virtues of ageing in place and inter-generational bonding.
Ms Liu, who is divorced and has no children, returned home to Singapore after 35 years in Europe to be with friends and family and care for her aged mother, Madam Joyce Liu, 88. Mother and daughter live alone in a private apartment in the Orchard Road area.
'Having had no children, I do not expect and cannot rely on anyone to look after me in my old age,' said Ms Liu. Rather than live alone in a condominium with paid help, she hopes to live in a 'comfortable and well-administered' retirement community with round-the-clock nursing facilities, home-help services and optional leisure activities.
Her cousin, former advertising executive Ms Holloway, who lives with her 81-year-old Singaporean husband, has similar dreams. 'We are prepared to pay for such services. But someone should offer them to us.'
She added that while she respects the Government's moves to get people to 'age in place' - by building age-friendly infrastructure, such as wheelchair ramps, in the community - such a 'one size fits all' approach may not suit everybody.
'A part of living in a developed, increasingly affluent society is about having choices as consumers,' she said. 'And right now, we hardly have any as far as retirement living goes.'
While Ms Holloway also has no children, there are plenty of mums and dads who also harbour hopes of living in self-contained communities of older folk, with their own care services, grocery store and even hair salons. And many of them are looking not at upper-tier homes that cater solely to the rich, but to ordinary Singaporeans.
Nurse manager V.T. Devi, 55, a mother of three grown-up children who lives in a four-room HDB flat, said she too would prefer to spend her old age in a retirement home. She spent eight years nursing her mother-in-law who had Alzheimer's disease. The older woman died in February.
Singapore needs retirement villages which combine nursing and elder-care facilities with the comforts, conveniences and freedom of home, said Ms Devi, who works in an old-age home.
'This is particularly true for my generation who do not want to live with our children and be full-time child minders for our grandchildren.'
That's a sentiment that is sure to strike a chord with others. A survey of baby boomers commissioned by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and released last year showed that one in four said he would not mind living in a retirement village.
Of them, half were below 50, a third had tertiary education and 70 per cent had no children or just one or two children, said sociologist Angelique Chan from the National University of Singapore who conducted the survey.
Nursing homes that offer a 'home-like environment', meanwhile, have already proved to be a hit, said Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home executive director Low Mui Lang.
Her facility has a 'residential living area' for relatively independent dementia patients where residents have their own rooms and even cook breakfast in their own pantry. The facility, which opened with 32 beds in 2006 and now has close to 60, is almost full. Private patients at the facility are charged between $1,540 and $1,780 a month, depending on the level of care.
While Housing Board estates are gradually becoming elder-friendly, with food centres, shops and salons in close proximity, getting older folk to access inexpensive home health-care or domestic-care services may not be easy if they are scattered in blocks that accommodate younger people as well, said Ms Low.
'Given the shortage of services such as home nursing and physiotherapy, it may be more efficient and productive to house the elderly in a couple of blocks in each estate and get professional elder-care staff to visit them regularly.'
In late 2006, the Government made a Jalan Jurong Kechil site available for sale to developers interested in building retirement homes. But that has had no takers yet.
Property developer Daniel Teo, who is interested in building retirement homes, said that one problem is that the land comes with a 30-year-lease, 'which is simply too short' for any developer to build an economically viable project.
'Imagine leasing a place to a 55-year-old and telling him you may need to move out when you are 85,' said Mr Teo, a former head of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore. 'That will simply not do.'
The Government, on its part, said recently that it would study a suggestion by Nominated MP Laurence Wee that those interested in developing such villages be given the option of 60-year land leases - or 30-year leases that can be extended for a further 30-year period.
Mr Teo hopes a decision can be taken soon, given that there is a growing demand for retirement homes. 'When the silver tsunami hits, we do not want to be caught unprepared.'
Source: Sunday Times, 4 Apr 2010
Some have known first-hand the emotionally exhausting task of looking after elderly parents who lose their strength and senses, bit by agonising bit.
Others have heard about the hard realities of ageing from friends and colleagues who have gone on arduous caregiving journeys themselves.
Born between 1947 and 1964, Singapore's one million baby boomers are better educated, independent and more affluent than their parents.
As they hurtle towards old age, some among them are arriving at a common resolve: They don't want to live out their last days by burdening loved ones, mired in dependence, decrepitude - possibly even depression. They want to live and die in self-contained retirement communities, cared for by paid professionals, surrounded by friends - and visited often by family.
Singapore has one of the fastest- ageing populations in the world with the number of those aged 65 and above set to triple to 900,000 in the next two decades.
But as of now, there are no residential communities for retired folk here despite a sharp increase in the number of elderly people living alone or by themselves.
There were 22,000 elderly people living alone in 2005, up from 15,000 five years earlier. Another 25,000 elderly couples live on their own.
As of last year, Singapore had 166,500 people aged 40 and above who were single, up from only 112,700 in 2000.
A two-day conference, the Ageing Asia Investment Forum, which starts here tomorrow, will focus on the opportunities and challenges of setting up retirement villages and aged-care services in Singapore and the region.
Retirement-home advocates like Ms Ricca Liu, 64, and Ms Anne Holloway, 61, are among a relatively small but significant group of older folk swimming against the tide of experts who extol the virtues of ageing in place and inter-generational bonding.
Ms Liu, who is divorced and has no children, returned home to Singapore after 35 years in Europe to be with friends and family and care for her aged mother, Madam Joyce Liu, 88. Mother and daughter live alone in a private apartment in the Orchard Road area.
'Having had no children, I do not expect and cannot rely on anyone to look after me in my old age,' said Ms Liu. Rather than live alone in a condominium with paid help, she hopes to live in a 'comfortable and well-administered' retirement community with round-the-clock nursing facilities, home-help services and optional leisure activities.
Her cousin, former advertising executive Ms Holloway, who lives with her 81-year-old Singaporean husband, has similar dreams. 'We are prepared to pay for such services. But someone should offer them to us.'
She added that while she respects the Government's moves to get people to 'age in place' - by building age-friendly infrastructure, such as wheelchair ramps, in the community - such a 'one size fits all' approach may not suit everybody.
'A part of living in a developed, increasingly affluent society is about having choices as consumers,' she said. 'And right now, we hardly have any as far as retirement living goes.'
While Ms Holloway also has no children, there are plenty of mums and dads who also harbour hopes of living in self-contained communities of older folk, with their own care services, grocery store and even hair salons. And many of them are looking not at upper-tier homes that cater solely to the rich, but to ordinary Singaporeans.
Nurse manager V.T. Devi, 55, a mother of three grown-up children who lives in a four-room HDB flat, said she too would prefer to spend her old age in a retirement home. She spent eight years nursing her mother-in-law who had Alzheimer's disease. The older woman died in February.
Singapore needs retirement villages which combine nursing and elder-care facilities with the comforts, conveniences and freedom of home, said Ms Devi, who works in an old-age home.
'This is particularly true for my generation who do not want to live with our children and be full-time child minders for our grandchildren.'
That's a sentiment that is sure to strike a chord with others. A survey of baby boomers commissioned by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and released last year showed that one in four said he would not mind living in a retirement village.
Of them, half were below 50, a third had tertiary education and 70 per cent had no children or just one or two children, said sociologist Angelique Chan from the National University of Singapore who conducted the survey.
Nursing homes that offer a 'home-like environment', meanwhile, have already proved to be a hit, said Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home executive director Low Mui Lang.
Her facility has a 'residential living area' for relatively independent dementia patients where residents have their own rooms and even cook breakfast in their own pantry. The facility, which opened with 32 beds in 2006 and now has close to 60, is almost full. Private patients at the facility are charged between $1,540 and $1,780 a month, depending on the level of care.
While Housing Board estates are gradually becoming elder-friendly, with food centres, shops and salons in close proximity, getting older folk to access inexpensive home health-care or domestic-care services may not be easy if they are scattered in blocks that accommodate younger people as well, said Ms Low.
'Given the shortage of services such as home nursing and physiotherapy, it may be more efficient and productive to house the elderly in a couple of blocks in each estate and get professional elder-care staff to visit them regularly.'
In late 2006, the Government made a Jalan Jurong Kechil site available for sale to developers interested in building retirement homes. But that has had no takers yet.
Property developer Daniel Teo, who is interested in building retirement homes, said that one problem is that the land comes with a 30-year-lease, 'which is simply too short' for any developer to build an economically viable project.
'Imagine leasing a place to a 55-year-old and telling him you may need to move out when you are 85,' said Mr Teo, a former head of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore. 'That will simply not do.'
The Government, on its part, said recently that it would study a suggestion by Nominated MP Laurence Wee that those interested in developing such villages be given the option of 60-year land leases - or 30-year leases that can be extended for a further 30-year period.
Mr Teo hopes a decision can be taken soon, given that there is a growing demand for retirement homes. 'When the silver tsunami hits, we do not want to be caught unprepared.'
Source: Sunday Times, 4 Apr 2010
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