Abstract

With longer lives, enabling the population to stay optimally healthy, functional and strong is essential for the well-being of older people and their families, reduce health and long term care costs, and address manpower issue with population ageing. Healthy longevity requires an all-of-society strategy, and all-of-community responds; as such, Tsao Foundation’s ComSA (Community for Successful Ageing) at Whampoa is a pilot and experiment of such a community scheme, and is reflective of the current Healthier SG policy directive.

Established in 2017, ComSA (Community for Successful Ageing) at Whampoa is a pilot to build a community wide approach to forge an integrated system of comprehensive programmes and services to successful ageing in a very aged and low-income estate in Singapore. Taking a population health, life course, preventive, and systems approach to community service planning, ComSA’s goal is to optimize the seniors’ health, function, wellbeing, and ability to age-in-place through community engagement and a one-stop “longevity central”, the ComSA Centre. Sited at a centrally-located community centre, it aims to meet the needs and aspirations of older people of different profiles – from the very fit and healthy, to the dying – through senior activation and empowerment, inter-generational community development, and an integrated suite of services designed based on an initial ethnographic study and population survey, which identified complex intertwining health and social needs, dementia, and social isolation as priority issues. The one stop ComSA Centre has: 1) a health and social care integrated, person-centred medical home (primary care clinic plus care management services, including a specialized dementia care management team) equipped to care for seniors with complex needs; 2) a home care team that provides home based, palliative and end of life care; 3) a day centre for otherwise nursing home eligible, frail and frequently cognitively impaired seniors; 4) a café that anchors programs on empowerment, social prescription and community development, tapping into the strengths of the community to mobilize volunteer manpower and other resources; 5) a ComSA Club (an older people’s association of community advocates) which takes actions by seniors, for seniors and for the community; 6) the Learning Room (providing learning programs for self-care, care giver training and support, and longevity preparation in health, social relations, mental and physical fitness, and financial preparation). Taking a person and family centric approach, all the services are customized and integrated based on the needs of the older person, and where applicable, the caregiver and family. Working with the grassroots, other community and hospital partners, ComSA’s aim is to create a new whole- community model for successful ageing through collaborations as well as community engagement and development.

Though still a model in evolution, research and evaluation has shown some positive results, generated data to improve implementation, and offered insights and learnings about the older people it serves, the community and emerging trends that need to be addressed. This symposium aims to share this model as an approach to healthy population ageing.

Speakers:
1. Overview - Dr Paul Ong, PhD, Chief Strategist (with focus on population health, health policies and systems)
2. ComSA Centre - Dr Raymond Leong (Medical Director), or Winsy Togelang, Director, Clinical Programs
3. Community Development - Susana Harding, Director, International Longevity Centre - Singspore (ILC-S)
4. Research and Evaluation - Su Aw, Research Fellow, ILC-S