Kampung Admiralty is an 11-storey “vertical kampung” that is conveniently located next to Admiralty MRT station. It is a modern retirement village with plenty of amenities.

The development, designed with the elderly in mind, houses residents aged 55 and above. They live in two towers of studio apartments. The units are installed with senior-friendly features, like support bars, non-slip flooring, and emergency alarms. At the entrance of each unit, there are benches to encourage residents to hang out together.

But that’s not all! Kampung Admiralty is also the first HDB project to have a childcare centre and playground right next to senior centres and NTUC Active Ageing Hub. This is to encourage intergenerational bonding, which is great for the young and the old!

The NTUC FairPrice at the basement has wide aisles that allow wheelchair users to pass through easily. An urgent care centre on the ground floor and two levels of specialist care allow not only residents of the building but also everyone in the area to benefit from better medical care. With a rooftop garden, a community farm, and a hawker centre that seats 900 people, Kampung Admiralty is even a good destination for a day out for anyone!

With its success, Singapore plans to create more places like this where the elderly can age gracefully and healthily. By 2026, a similar retirement village will be built in the neighbourhood of Yew Tee, with more to follow!

Do you think a place like Kampung Admiralty can foster a strong sense of community? Would you like to spend time with your family there?

Therapeutic Gardens are outdoor gardens that improve people’s mental, physical, and social well-being. Singapore’s NParks has achieved this by designing the gardens according to what research has shown would benefit visitors to the park.

Tiong Bahru Park has four zones that are filled with many varieties of colourful plants, including edible fruits and vegetables! People can engage with the garden through their senses of sight, smell and touch, and connect more deeply with nature. The park’s pleasant environment will help you forget your worries and enter another world for a while. Health benefits include reduced stress and increased emotional well-being – ahhh, how relaxing... Hopefully, no bugs come to disturb your peace!

These elderly-friendly parks are usually located near eldercare facilities and greatly benefit the old folks there. As a community garden, visitors can walk, rest, or garden at their own pace. The park provides both lively and quiet spaces which encourage seniors to interact with others, and even make new friends!

Bringing your grandparents for a walk here can help them become more alert and feel less stressed. If your grandparents have green thumbs, they may want to grow fruits and vegetables which may give them joy and a sense of achievement. Besides improving mental health, such healthy physical exercise also reduces aches and pains and lessens the chance of falling!

What are some activities you’d like to do in a park or garden? Are there any parks or gardens nearby that you wish to bring a loved one with dementia to?

When people with dementia stay indoors for too long, they can feel lonely and restless. Fortunately, Singapore has Dementia-Friendly Communities (DFC) to cater to their health and social needs.

Dementia-Friendly Communities (DFC) are designated neighbourhoods where people with dementia can live more safely. The environment has been designed to give better support to people with dementia and their caregivers. The residents, business owners, volunteers and the community are more aware of dementia and its symptoms, thanks to education and training programmes. That way, people with dementia can lead more independent, meaningful lives at home and in the community.

The buildings and spaces are also designed to make moving around easy for elderly residents in general. Flats and signage have bright colours and larger text to make them more easily readable. Small ramps (instead of steps), railings, and multiple resting spots help make the estate accessible for the elderly to continue with their routines and hobbies.

There are multiple Go-To Points in each DFC that serve as “safe return” areas. Staff at these points will assist in reuniting those who are lost or unable to identify themselves with their caregivers. In the event a person with dementia is missing, there is also a mobile application available to help find missing loved ones.

With these features, living in a DFC can help people with dementia feel welcome, comfortable, and respected. That, in return, can improve their overall well-being. As of 2021, there are eight DFCs in Singapore, with more planned for the future. The first DFC is in Yishun.

Would you like to be a dementia friends volunteer?
You can read more about it here: https://dementiafriendly.sg/home/about!

Is your neighbourhood a DFC estate?
What DFC feature do you like best?

Dementia is a decline in cognitive function, meaning that it affects the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and understanding. As dementia progresses, patients may find it challenging to perform daily activities. Let us take a look at what is being done to help make Ah Ma more comfortable at home!

Being a superhero is hard enough without worrying about changing into costumes! “Adaptive clothing” are items designed for people, including dementia patients, who may have difficulty dressing themselves. Besides offering comfort and ease, it also allows Ah Ma and her caregivers to dress her… seamlessly!

Changing the environment around dementia patients can help make their lives easier and safer too. By modifying tools and devices loved ones often use, they can continue to be independent – these items are called “assistive technology”.

An example of assistive technology is Buddy’s cosy corner design: By laying out items on shelves around Ah Ma’s chair, she can quickly access items without relying on her family for help. Similarly, the utensils and tools Grace bought enable Ah Ma to continue cooking for her family. This way, Ah Ma can make her delicious bee hoon more easily – yum!

The cosy corner that Buddy constructed for Ah Ma is inspired by The Algot from “Hack Care: Tips and Tricks for A Dementia-Friendly Home” by Lien Foundation, Lekker Architects and Lanzavecchia + Wai Design Studio. The guide to a dementia-friendly home is styled to look like an IKEA catalogue and is fun to browse. It provides plenty of ideas to “hack” – meaning “modify” – easily available furniture for greater use. Head to hackcare.sg, where you can find instructions on The Algot from pages 34 to 53. The safe cooking utensils that feature in this comic are also from pages 132 to 133.

Are there any difficulties you see your grandparents experiencing around the house? What are some ways you can help them feel more comfortable?

You must have a favourite song – one that makes you want to sing or dance along. This is because music holds a special place in every individual’s heart and mind. It provides personal and social meaning and an intangible emotional experience for most people.
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Just like pedalling on a bicycle, research has shown that enjoying music is an activity that is largely preserved despite the severity of dementia and brain impairment. Many doctors prescribe music therapy to people with dementia, which is used to address and stimulate cognitive functions, emotions, and memories.

But the choice of music that people with dementia listen to matters. Seniors and people with dementia may struggle with current hits on radio stations today because they are unable to identify with them and find a connection. After all, they grew up listening to different popular music in various languages!

VintageRadio.SG is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides a digital service designed for seniors to keep them informed, entertained, and engaged.

The station is also hosted by familiar voices from that era. That, coupled with vintage songs and oldies, may help people with dementia rekindle memories and experience an emotional connection, while also heeding news and advice from recognisable voices.

VintageRadio.SG also serves curated content that offers digitally disconnected seniors an easier, guided way to be online. This allows them to discover and explore the digital world in a safe environment, without spam or phishing scams.

Music on VintageRadio.SG is streamed 24 hours, and DJs are present from 8AM to midnight. This reassuring throwback to the old days can garner positive reactions from people with dementia and assist in reminiscing, putting them in a good mood and, in some cases, even help with remembering the past better.

What does music mean to you? What responses do you usually observe in other people after an activity involving music?

Dementia day care centres aim to provide supervision and care for loved ones with dementia during the daytime. It allows for caregivers to focus on work or to take a rest from the demands of caregiving.

For example, if on a regular day parents are working and children are at school, a grandparent with dementia may be alone at home during the day. Even if family members with dementia are still independent, letting them attend a daycare centre means they are always cared for, which helps to give caregivers peace of mind. Many of these day cares are located in heartland neighbourhoods, which makes it convenient for families to send and pick up their loved ones.

What is it like inside of a dementia day care? Many of these are also made to look like environments that are familiar to older folks with styles common in decades past. From retro television sets to old-school marble-topped coffee tables, these items help to make visitors feel comfortable and easily puts them in a mood to reminisce about their past. Colour contrast also helps with wayfinding. The colours of chairs, cushions, even toilet seats distinctly stand out from the walls and floors and are easily seen.

Day cares offer many activities for visitors with dementia, keeping them physically and mentally active. The centre manager and the team are always thinking of new and interesting activities which may include art-making, music and dance, gardening, cooking, as well as puzzles and games.

Sensory therapy may also be available, which can involve sitting quietly in a dim room with a variety of light effects, or touching and smelling spices and herbs. Many find that focusing on only one or two senses can be really calming and grounding. There’s plenty of opportunities to socialise and make friends.

Yet it is not uncommon for family members with dementia to be resistant to visiting day care centres. It is understandable that some are nervous the way everyone is on, say, the first day of school. Meanwhile others worry that day cares are like nursing homes where clients live permanently under the care of nurses. In fact dementia day cares are actually a lot more flexible with visits and clients who are registered don’t always come in every day. The idea is to have them still be able to benefit from living with the family and enjoy plenty of their company.

In Singapore, AWWA runs two day care centres, at Ang Mo Kio since 2015 and at Yishun since 2018. Agency for Integrated Care offers Day Care that caters specifically to different needs including dementia. Meanwhile, NTUC Health offers a more general Senior Day Care.

Centres usually take in clients slowly to better accommodate new people and get to know their personalities and habits gradually. Everyone calls each other with informal nicknames and creates a warm and friendly environment. It is a home away from home!

What activities would you like to see in dementia day care? Would you consider volunteering there?

Did you know that dementia is an umbrella term used to describe the decline of brain functions, and that it is not the name of the specific condition itself?

Of the over 400 types of dementia, the World Health Organization has identified Alzheimer’s Disease as the most common. It affects the brain’s ability to transmit information which causes difficulty in recalling new information.

Dementia affects people differently. Symptoms vary from one individual to another, and some people with dementia may even have different types of dementia at the same time as well. However, some common ones have unique characteristics. Vascular dementia is caused by lack of blood flow and oxygen, Lewy body dementia affects movement and balance, whereas Frontotemporal dementia may show symptoms much earlier, between 40 to 60 years old.

Our brains are fantastic organs! They control everything that you do and work hard to think, learn, feel emotions, and store memories. However, sometimes how a brain works and how people think can change. The brain uses electrical signals, just like a computer! With dementia, some of these signals get lost or mixed up.

Even though no cure for dementia exists, there are treatments to reduce its progress and improve the lives of people living with it. Meanwhile, many doctors and scientists around the world are working hard to find a cure for it.

Regardless of the type of dementia your loved one has, the most important thing is to always give them your love and support. This will remind them that they are not alone and help make their days happier and brighter!

After reading all these bite-sized comics, what is your biggest takeaway? How would you use and share the information in these comics?