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I realise that there have been questions popping up about SCDF and ambulance. From contacts with my friends and even family members, there seem to be a lot of misconception of what we do in the nursing field. What we can do, what we cannot do, bed situation and the such. Following from Hardwarezone threads, I thought it might be helpful if I started a thread on nursing. A little background. Graduated from nursing over 15 years ago Worked in C class and B2 ward in a restructured hospital Worked in major OT in restructured and private hospital Worked in Accident and Emergency department in restructured and private hospital Lecturer in nursing Attachments include SCDF posting when going for a specialist course Of course the on and off volunteer missions overseas So ask me anything. If I can answer without compromising my identity or place I work, I will do so, within reason. p/s with O levels coming out soon, this thread is also for those who might consider nursing as a career but cannot seem to get the on the ground info

Any one has any good private nursing home to recommend? Asking for friend.. he stays with unmarried elderly aunt who has grown old and needs one person assistance. But she relatively well educated type and she herself is keen to explore a nursing/aged home where she can meet similar likeminded people and can talk to and go do stuff like visit zoo together .. I think she feels bored at home and wants to try out an alternative arrangement.. money and fear of abandonment not a concern here.. Anyone in similar situation or know a good private nursing home which can meet these kind of needs? Any input from social worker also greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

i am starting a new thread .... coz i dun think its related to the one about nursing home in JB. anyone got experience of putting their elders in local nursing homes ? can tell ? I need to understand more about this as this is on my consideration list.

So sad breakup song to share. Please add on to the list.

Quite sad to learn of this. Cases of the elderly being basically abandoned by their kids at these nursing homes are reported to be on the rise. The report also mentioned that these aged parents being forsakened by their children did not want want go to the Small Claims Tribunal or resort to the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents because they were ashamed to be left there in the first place and did not want to further embarrass themselves to seek outside help. Granted some families genuinely faced financial difficulties or have strained relationships with their elderly but to dump them at the elderly homes is really not the right thing to do. One particular case was brought up which a local Singaporean even abandoning his mum at a JB nursing home and refused to pay up or pick up phone calls from the nursing home (Check out the embedded video from 1min 38s onwards). In the Chinese news, he was interviewed and claimed his two sisters would pay up and that he did not give two hoots what others thought of him as long as he live a happy life. From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1208889/1/.html Cases of families defaulting on nursing home payments on the rise By Vimita Mohandas/Lip Kwok Wai/Wee Leng | Posted: 20 June 2012 2123 hrs SINGAPORE: Some eldercare facilities in Singapore are seeing more cases of families defaulting on their payment and also facing the challenge of trying to contact family members. About half of the 110 patients at Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home have defaulted on their payments, which ranges from about one to two months. To help these financially strapped families, the home works out instalment plans and even offers subsidies, but more often than not its hands are tied as families are just not able to fork out the expenses. Some remain uncontactable, simply abandoning their loved ones. The home said it has tried to seek help from the Small Claims Tribunal and the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents, but it is not as easy as it seems. Manager of the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home Then Kim Yuan said: "We as a caregiver of the patient can help apply for this tribunal (The Maintenance of Parents Act), but we have to be authorised by the patient or by the parents. "Unfortunately, most of the time we don't get the permission because to them, it's a shame to be abandoned in the nursing home. If they were to force their children to pay for the expenses, they will feel even more embarrassed". Mr Then added that the process at the Small Claims Tribunal is also long and tedious and family members usually do not turn up for these sessions. The home also feels that the small fee that they have to fork out for the mediation process is not money well spent. This problem has also spread across the causeway to the Comfort Ville Home nursing care centre in Taman Johor Jaya. Representatives from the home said they have tried to contact Singaporean Joseph Tay, whose mother was admitted in March. The home alleges that Mr Tay owes them 6000 ringgit. Staff-in-charge at Comfort Ville Home Goh Ker Xin said: "When we admit a patient, we will collect a one-month deposit from the patients' families. However, Mr Tay said he couldn't afford it and we still decided to help him. But he hasn't come back to visit his mother and has disappeared." Mr Tay, who is unemployed, said he could not afford the bills and that his siblings would settle the expenses. Responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia, the Ministry of Health said it does not condone the abandonment of patients in residential healthcare institutions, such as nursing homes or hospitals. "We are saddened to see such occurrences," a ministry spokesperson said. "In such situations, institutions will engage the family on an amicable resolution, such as financial assistance through subsidies, Medifund, charity dollars or payment by installations. "The Maintenance of Parents Act can be exercised by elderly patients to pursue his/her child for maintenance, should such an unfortunate situation occur." - CNA/wm

Wah KHAW!!! So who gave the family the idea to dump their mother at JB?? At JB, the social welfare group or whatever u call it, cannot do anything to the family but in S'pore, they have some laws on this, right?? http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews...2-292240/2.html Old and alone in Johor Baru nursing home IN A nursing home in Johor Baru, a 90-year-old woman waits patiently for a visit from her family. Her memory isn't the sharpest. When asked if she has had visitors in the year since she moved into City Heart Care nursing home, she was silent. The assistant admin manager of the home, known only as Ms Abi, shook her head in response to this reporter's question. Madam Kong A W is one of 14 Singaporeans who live at the nursing home, said the owner of the home, Mr Jeremy Yeo. Most enjoy visits from their families who live across the Causeway. The nursing home is a 30-minute drive from the Woodlands Checkpoint. A typical nursing home in Singapore charges about $1,000 a month for each patient. A check with four JB nursing homes indicated monthly fees ranging between $610 and $800 for a month's stay. Mr Yeo, a Malaysian in his late fifties, claimed that Madam Kong's family stopped paying for her nursing home bills after her son died. Said Ms Abi: "She (Madam Kong) has not asked about her family, and we have not told her. To her, we (the nurses and caregivers) are her family." When The New Paper on Sunday visited the nursing home two weeks ago, Madam Kong was chattering incoherently to nurses in a mixture of Malay and Hokkien. Around her in the room, other patients watched TV from their beds. Outside the window in the yard, a visitor, a woman in her 60s, was feeding a patient. Madam Kong's face lit up when she was offered some traditional Chinese New Year peanut cookies from a roommate, a Chinese Malaysian in her sixties. "Kamsia, kamsia (thank you in Hokkien)," she said. Said Mr Yeo: "I cannot put her out on the streets, can I? It's not right to throw her out." While he said that her case is exceptional, he also revealed that he has "two or three" other similar cases involving patients whose relatives stop paying for them to be kept in the nursing home. These other patients are Malaysian, he added. Mr Yeo said Madam Kong was first admitted to the nursing home on June 29 last year. As she is bedridden and requires a higher level of care, her stay at the home should cost $800 a month. He said that Madam Kong's son and daughter-in-law paid $900 for her first month's stay there, and then only $400 the following month. But soon after, Madam Kong's daughter-in-law called the home to inform Mr Yeo that Madam Kong's son had died. He said: "The only time I saw her and her husband was when Madam Kong was first admitted. "She called some time later to say that her husband had died, and that she had no money to make any further payments." So Madam Kong has been staying at the home for free since August last year. This arrangement is set to continue until she dies, said Mr Yeo. He added: "We tried to contact her family many times, but were not successful. They also have not come to visit since admitting her. "So we just take care of her...As long as we can cover costs, I will take care of her." TNPS tried calling Madam Kong's daughter-in-law with the contact numbers Mr Yeo gave, but the calls went unanswered. Ms Abi said the home does not stint on the services Madam Kong receives, including food and diapers. "There is no difference in the way she is treated (as compared to the others in the home)," she said. City Heart Care is made up of nine bungalows situated within walking distance of each other. Five of the bungalows are owned by Mr Yeo, while the other four are rentals. The home employs a total of 40 staff, made up of nurses, cooks, and caregivers. A doctor and physiotherapist also makes house calls when necessary. Of the home's 125 residents, 14 are Singaporeans. Mr Yeo said that Singaporean residents began arriving at the home one year after it opened in 1993. The longest-staying Singaporean is a woman who has lived there since 1994. Her family pays $550 a month of nursing home bills, he said. Said Mr Yeo: "For the first few years after we opened, we had about two to three Singaporean residents check in each year. "Nowadays, we get at least five a year...We also receive enquiries over the phone frequently." The high demand for beds at the home has prompted Mr Yeo to buy and develop a tenth bungalow. "The renovations will be done in about three months and, by then, we will be able to accommodate a maximum of 140 residents," he said.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1134251/1/.html Nursing home mistreats patient Posted: 09 June 2011 2002 hrs SINGAPORE: The Nightingale Nursing Home along Braddell Road has been suspended with effect from April 12, from admitting new patients, after some of its staff members were found to have mistreated a resident there. The incident came to light after Channel NewsAsia alerted the Ministry of Health to a video, taken by a hidden camera on a patient's bedside. The video showed an elderly woman patient sitting next to a bed without any clothes, while the ceiling fans in the room were on. After a while, two staff members were shown lifting the patient and throwing her onto a bed. In one footage, a staff member was shown slapping the patient after she moaned in pain. The old lady has been a resident of the home for the past four years. The nursing home said it has disciplined the staff involved, and placed additional measures such as getting senior staff to visit the wards and checking the conduct of its staff. The measures also include holding regular meetings with patients and their family members. In its reply to Channel NewsAsia, the Ministry of Health said: "There were significant lapses in the care standards provided to the patient in question. "This should not have happened. There should have been tighter supervision of staff rendering care to vulnerable patients. Patients' dignity and respect must be upheld at all times". A family member of the patient said: "Of course we are unhappy with the incident. "We sent her there for the nurses to take care of her; we're disappointed with what happened. "There are other old folks at the home. We hope by bringing this matter up, it will help to improve things at the home. "We have since moved our mother to another nursing home". The Ministry of Health said it will closely monitor the nursing home to ensure all additional measures required of it are properly implemented and subsequently ascertain if the suspension imposed on the home should be reviewed or further sanctions imposed. It said: "Our inspectors regularly check that all nursing homes are properly maintained, keep their patient records in order and institute effective infection control measures. "Nursing home operators are also required to maintain care standards on medication administration, fall prevention, housekeeping, etc. "Nursing homes that do not meet the required standards or which require closer monitoring for any other reason will be subject to more regular audits. MOH will also guide them on how to improve their performance". -CNA/wk

SINGAPOREANS could consider living in nursing homes in neighbouring Johor Baru, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan suggested yesterday. It would be cheaper, yet be near enough to Singapore for family members to visit and for residents to return for medical care if necessary, he said. He told Parliament yesterday that he recently visited a site in Johor Baru where a Singaporean investor was planning to build a 200-bed nursing home. He asked the investor about the costs involved, and was stunned at how low they were. He said: 'It is mind-boggling. The cost of land and construction cost is so low that my cost of putting up just a polyclinic (in Singapore) is probably more than his cost of putting up a 200-bed nursing home (in Johor Baru). 'The monthly cost of keeping a resident in a private nursing home in Singapore, you can stretch it easily to pay at least 2-1/2 months of nursing home care in Johor Baru.' If any medical problems cropped up, the elderly could be taken back to Singapore by ambulance, he said. For most Singaporeans, visiting a relative in a Johor Baru nursing home would not pose significant difficulties, he said. The investor, who is a nursing home chief executive, told him that many people visited their relatives weekly, even in nursing homes in Singapore. Mr Khaw added: 'Of course many visit daily, but quite a significant number visit only during the weekends, so what is the difference in putting them in Johor Baru?' Lol... We Singaporeans are screwed...