The collaboration is to “Donate a minimum of S$50.00″ and receive a cookbook by this award-winning Executive Chef of the Year 2011 (see poster below).

This project has so far raised more than S$10,000. We are working with various parties to promote the sale of this easy-to-read book.

If you are interested to get a copy, please send in the booking form (which you can download via the link below) to Assisi Hospice or call us at 6347 6441 (Susie) / 6347 6442 (Norlidah).

Please also reach out to your friends and associates. The book can be viewed at Assisi Hospice.

All donations are eligible for 2.5 tax deduction.

 Click here to Download Booking Form 

Assisi Hospice's Charity Fun Day!

Calling all volunteers, sponsors and donors to join us for our delightful annual community event of the year!  

Come and be a part of our mission in caring for the sick and the underprivileged.

Email your queries or interest to help to Teo Siew Hong at:

teo_sh@assisihospice.org.sg or call 6347 6441 / 6347 6442.

MORE will be done to ensure Singaporeans nearing the end of their lives are well cared for, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said last night.

A national strategy for palliative care is being formulated and it will, among other things, help determine the resources that are needed in this area.

Details will be announced soon, he said at the 42nd anniversary dinner of Assisi Hospice, one of Singapore’s oldest and most established hospices.

Mr Gan noted that with people living longer and the rise in chronic diseases, the medical care that people require at the end of their lives will change significantly.

For example, while in the past, people often died of acute illnesses such as infections or heart attacks, people today increasingly die after a period of progressive disability due to an incurable condition, such as advanced cancer, progressive organ failure or advanced dementia.

Although palliative care historically focused on patients with advanced cancer, there is increasing recognition that patients with non-cancer conditions can also benefit from palliative care, he said.

Addressing about 600 people, including Temasek Holdings’ chief executive Ho Ching, the patron of Assisi Hospice, he said Singapore has made good progress in developing palliative care services.

While they began as home hospice services and inpatient hospices, such services are now available in acute hospitals and piloted in a few nursing homes.

Currently, there are seven inpatient and home hospice providers which serve about 5,000 palliative care patients yearly.

The number of health-care professionals trained in palliative care is also on the rise, with the number of nurses trained in palliative care increasing by about 14 per cent over the past year to 294 this year, from 257 last year.

He noted that the Lien Centre for Palliative Care had been asked by the Ministry of Health to work out the national strategy for palliative care, with input from the palliative-care community.

Former health minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed last year that a code of ethics may be included in the national strategy.

Mr Gan also encouraged Singaporeans to actively make choices on end-of-life care before they are struck by a debilitating illness.

“While death is inevitable, it need not be filled with agony and helplessness,” he said at the dinner at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Through advance care planning, patients, families and health-care professionals are encouraged to talk more about end-of-life care and treatment decisions before palliative care is required.

This is already taking place in some hospitals and nursing homes today.

Under the Project CARE pilot, seven nursing homes in the central region are working with Tan Tock Seng Hospital to improve their palliative care and advance care planning capabilities.

Early results have been encouraging and the ministry will have more such projects in the coming few years.

The ministry will also continue to work with the palliative care community to raise awareness of end-of-life issues, as many continue to have misconceptions about this subject.

Mr Gan said some hospice care workers had told him that patients and family members who are referred for palliative care sometimes decline the referral as they see it as “futile care”.

“I thought it was a lost opportunity for the patient and family to make the patient’s final journey as meaningful and comfortable as possible, and avoid inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering to the natural process of dying,” he said.

This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s 42-year-old Assisi Hospice will be redeveloped as part of national plans to expand and train the professional pool for the palliative care sector.

Speaking at the hospice’s charity dinner Monday evening, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said with longer life expectancy and a rise in chronic diseases, the medical care which people need at the end of life will change significantly.

The Assisi Hospice has been offering compassionate and holistic care for its patients over the past four decades.

And by end 2014, the new purpose-built wing will be housed adjacent to the current complex at Thomson Road.

Ms Irene Chan, executive director of Assisi Hospice, said: “There are some features that we want to bring into the hospice that affirms life. For example, family rooms for families who stay with their loved ones during this difficult time of their lives, as well as common dining rooms where patients and families can share a meal together.”

The hospice currently has 36 beds, serving some 1,000 patients.

The hospice’s model of care comprises an inpatient service, home care service and a day care centre to meet the different needs of its patients and their families. With operating expenses coming to about S$7 million this financial year, it’s hoping to raise about 60 per cent of this amount at its annual charity dinner.

Palliative care is one area that the Health Ministry is focusing on under its primary healthcare masterplan.

Mr Gan said: “While the palliative care sector had historically focused on patients with advanced cancer, there is increasing recognition that patients with non-cancer conditions can also benefit from palliative care. Hence, we need to continuously modify our care model in order to respond to changing disease profiles and tackle new sets of medical complexities and challenges going forward.”

This includes adding more professionals to the sector.

The number of nurses trained in palliative care has gone up by 14 per cent over the past year.

As part of efforts to enhance training, Mr Gan said Project CARE, a three-year pilot programme funded by the Health Ministry, will be scaled up across the healthcare continuum in the coming years.

The project is currently being taken on by seven MOH-funded nursing homes near Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The aim is to improve end-of-life care provision.

Care staff from the nursing homes undergo palliative care training to facilitate Advance Care Planning discussions with patients and their families on the patient’s care goals and treatment preferences at the end of life.

Mr Gan noted death is still a taboo topic, with families of patients deeming end-of-life care as “futile”.

He said his ministry will continue to work with the community to correct this misconception.

Singapore currently has seven inpatient and home hospice providers.

They serve about 5,000 palliative care patients every year.

– CNA/cc

Expansion a response to growing needs of Singapore society

Assisi Hospice is looking forward to newer and bigger premises by the end of 2014 to cater to the increasing need for palliative care in Singapore.

The new hospice will be situated next to its current premises at Mount Alvernia Hospital on a 0.55 ha site. There are plans to double its inpatient, day care and home hospice care abilities.

The hospice can serve 36 inpatients at present.

The present Assisi Hospice will have separate wards for children and adults when it is expanded in 2014.

Speaking to CatholicNews, Assisi Hospice’s executive director Irene Chan said the expansion “is a response to the needs in the community”.

Singapore faces an ageing population, a smaller family size and many are struggling to care for their loved ones who are ill, especially those who suffer from complicated symptoms and require psychological, emotional and spiritual attention, she said.

“We believe that, along the values of our patron saint, St Francis of Assisi, every life is sacred and should be revered … We believe no one should have to live in pain and die without dignity. Families should be supported as our care is focused on both the patient and the family.”

The management and staff recognised “the limitations of the current infrastructure” as far as the enhancement of current services and the development of new programmes are concerned, she added.

The current building used to be a convent belonging to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM) nuns, who founded and who own the hospice.

They have spent the last 42 years providing compassionate palliative care, enabling patients to live their final days in comfort and dignity.

Plans for expansion began in 2008 during a visit by the hospice’s patron, Ms Ho Ching, executive director and CEO of Temasek Holdings. The board and management “were encouraged to go and pursue this dream … as a response to the needs in the community”, said Ms Chan.

While the current provision of inpatient, day, and home hospice services for adults and children will remain, the hospice will also strengthen its bereavement service, set up common dining rooms for patients and family members, and family rooms for family members to stay over.

“We will also have a separate inpatient hospice wing for children who are very ill and their families,” Ms Chan said. There are no separate wards for children and adult patients presently and it would be ideal for the children to have their own space as their needs are different from adults’, she said.

Executive Director, Irene Chan

As the hospice also aims to be a training and research centre, space will be set aside for training purposes. The hospice “will work with local and foreign experts” to meet different training needs, said Ms Chan.

The Ministry of Health would support the hospice expansion by helping to fund the new building, training and upgrading staff skills, and advocating the role of palliative care in Singapore, said Ms Chan.

FMDM Regional Leader Sr Barbara Pereira said the FMDM Sisters “are happy with the redevelopment plans as it allows us to continue to grow our mission of providing compassionate care to those faced with life-threatening illnesses”.

By Darren Boon
darren.boon@catholic.org.sg

Last week, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced it will be working with the Assisi Hospice, one of Singapore’s oldest hospices, to boost its capacity and develop it into a centre for palliative care training. This is as it prepares to release a National Strategy for Palliative Care. 

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong explained that this is because Singapore’s changing lifestyle and healthcare needs bring about new challenges for end-of-life care. 

He said that while many deaths in the past were a result of acute illnesses like infections of heart attacks, deaths today are increasingly a result of a period of progressive disability due to incurable conditions like advanced cancer or organ failure. 

He added that Singapore will need to continuously modify its care model to respond effectively to these needs.

As part of the Ministry’s plans, Mr Gan said Assisi’s new hospice is expected to be completed by 2014 and will serve about 1,000 patients annually through inpatient care, day care and home hospice care services. 

The new hospice is also aimed at catering to twice the current patient load. 

938LIVE speaks to Irene Chan, the Executive Director of Assisi Hospice about MOH’s latest initiative. 

She feels said it was an important and very positive step to improve the quality of palliative care in Singapore. 

“We want to applaud MOH for this vision of first recognising the needs are there in the community, and also realising that for Singapore, we need to be creating a centre of excellence for palliative care. With a step up in this commitment, we do see more resources for the community as well as not just in terms of provision of capacity, but also capability of hospice workers. 

It’s really what the community needs, and we’ve been working with MOH to look at issues such as the ageing population and the fact that family size is shrinking. So it is then anticipated that more hospice beds are needed in Singapore. And the other consideration is that the current Assisi Hospice is not purpose-built, and the size limits the growth of the programmes and support services that we want to be providing.” 

Irene tells us more about the challenges that the hospice sector faces. 

She said one of their main obstacles is a lack of awareness among Singaporeans about what a hospice is and the kind of services it provides. 

“Facing the hospice sector, there are greater challenges. And one of these challenges would be awareness. I think many Singaporeans are not aware that hospices exist and what hospices do. SO for many people, they may think that the purpose of a hospice is end-of-life care. But what does that really translate to? It means that it’s not so much that it’s waiting for the end of life to come, but looking at when a person is at this stage, what else can we do to enhance the quality of life, maintain it, improve it through medical nursing, psychosocial support and how we can support families on this journey.” 

Apart from a need to create more awareness about the importance of hospice care in Singapore, Irene shares some other challenges hospices face at the moment. 

“Key challenges would be as mentioned, awareness. But next is also hospice workers. We don’t have enough trained and skilled hospice workers. So there is great urgency for us to step up in the area of training. And finally, there’s a need to translate the needs of the community into the work that we do. I think generally, hospices are very holistic in terms of our care of a person. But traditionally, we have always focused on people with cancer. But there are also other people who are not suffering from cancer and who need end-of-life care. As well as young people… In Assisi, we take care of children as well as young adults from 20-50. The needs of these people are very different from those at say, 70-80 years old. So being a service provider, we need to be able to respond appropriately to the needs of our patients and their families.”

Irene reveals that in order to improve standards of hospice care in Singapore as our population ages and family sizes shrink, greater dialogue about the needs of patients and families is necessary for the community to understand these needs and cater to them. 

“I believe that if we’re opening to looking at the needs of our patients and their families, then we are able to redesign our services and not just for hospices but for healthcare services in Singapore. So perhaps people can start talking about how they wish to be cared for, where they would like to be cared for… and then for the community to raise these resources to meet the aspirations.”

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By Project REBUILD’s Project Coordinator and Asst Project Coordinator, Ivan Woo and Elizabeth Yeo.

 On October 22, 2011, Project REBUILD, also known as the Singapore Community Bereavement Project, organised two educational forums on grief and bereavement for professionals and the general public. The forums, held at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, addressed two areas that are considered challenging in the field of palliative care: 1) Grief and Bereavement Among Children and Adolescents and 2) Child Loss. The professional forum, “How Do We Care for Children and Teenagers in Grief and Bereavement?” received 130 professionals, while the public forum, “Will I Ever Get Over My Child’s Death?” had 70 attendees from the general public.

In this year’s educational forums, Project REBUILD has the honour of having Dr. Alicia Pon as one of the invited speakers. Dr. Pon is an overseas expert in grief and bereavement support for children and adolescents from Hong Kong. She serves as an Honorary Lecturer and Research Fellow with the University of Hong Kong and is also a Clinical Therapist in private practice. Joining her were some of our local experts who specialise in supporting children and adolescents or journeying with individuals who have experienced the loss of a child. At the professional forum, the local experts include Mrs Saradha Ramachandran, Senior Counsellor, Help Every Lone Parent (HELP) Family Service Centre, and Dr. Chong Poh Heng, Deputy Medical Director and Consultant Palliative Care Physician, HCA Hospice Care. At the public forum, we have Ms Carolyn Ng, Senior Counsellor, Children’s Cancer Foundation, and Ms Helen Ko, Executive Director, Beyond Age as the local speakers.

 During the professional forum, the speakers reminded the audience that grief touches children in manners similar to adults. However, children may not have the words to describe their emotions and would tend to express their grief through non-verbal means. It was also highlighted that children, given their short attention spans, tend to grieve in episodes and it is normal for them to “take a break” from grieving through play. Perhaps the greatest take-home message for the professionals is that children are very resilient, and adults, with a desire to protect the child, often overlook the importance of empowering the child to take on an active role in the healing process.

 In the public forum, the speakers recognised that child loss, being untimely, is often difficult and can produce the most heart-wrenching pain and intense grief known to mankind among the bereaved who have suffered such a loss. To manage such a loss, the audience was given insights to possible ways to support both younger and older adults who have experienced the loss of a child. Verbal feedback received from the audience after the forum suggests that they are glad that Project REBUILD has organised a forum that addresses an important and difficult, but conventionally neglected area in grief and bereavement work.

 Feedback given by the audience was positive and encouraging. Over 90% of the professionals agreed that the professional forum has provided them with useful knowledge to care for children and teenagers in grief and bereavement and over 80% of this group of individuals have expressed increased confidence in caring for children and teenagers in grief and bereavement. Among members of the general public who have attended the public forum, more than 90% agreed that the forum 1) provided them with ideas on how to support someone who has lost a child and 2) increased their confidence in supporting survivors of child loss.

 The two forums are part of the education initiatives of Project REBUILD, a collaborative effort between Assisi Hospice and the Lien Centre for Palliative Care, started in 2009. It has as its vision, to build a community safety net for all bereaved individuals in Singapore, and is a first attempt to bring together education, clinical services and research for bereavement care in Singapore.

Attended by Assisi’s Patron, Ms Ho Ching and the Catholic Church’s Archbishop Nicholas Chia, this is one of Assisi’s major fundraising events in the year to support the cost of operations that amounts to some S$6 million a year.

This year saw a special announcement by our Guest-of-Honour, Health Minister, Mr Gan Kim Yong who revealed to the audience how his Ministry is working closely with Assisi Hospice on plans for the building of a new purpose-build hospice on the piece of land next to Assisi’s current location. 

 Exciting plans are now on the table to look at Assisi doubling her capacity and building infrastructures that can better support the holistic care of our patients’ and their families’ – catering to their physical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual needs.  The building plan also includes design of training facilities that will help Assisi Hospice develop as a centre of excellence in research and training in palliative care.

The Charity was an evening of much enjoyment and entertainment which begun with opening number by our very own FMDM Sister, Sr Linda Sim, Alan Smith, Dr Ong Yew Jin and Friar Derrick Yap from the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor. 

Other entertainment highlight included a guest performance by Mrs Jeannie Tien, Mr Timothy Lee and Mr Ling Dong Ming and stage entertainment by Vocaluptuous and Martin Elias Reyes.

Our auction saw elegant and luxurious items generously sponsored by companies such as Pan Pacific Singapore, The Singapore Shawl, The Hour Glass, The Asmara Bali and Vinum Wines, as well as individual sponsors. 

With charitable hearts our guests supported the event and auction, and by the end of the evening we raised S$927,588.

We remain humbly grateful for all the support we have been receiving from our donors, sponsors and volunteers for our cause.  Thank you all most sincerely and God Bless!

For more more information on how to make a donation, please contact Ms Teo Siew Hong, Senior Manager, Community Engagement at 91711846 or email her at teo_sh@assisihospice.

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