A NEWLY expanded day-care centre for the aged in Chinatown is now set to take in more clients.
Yong-En Care Centre at Smith Street now has a new hall, which means it can take in more dementia patients and provide better therapy and care for them.
The hall, which took 11 months and $350,000 to build, now accommodates 23 day-care patients with early-stage dementia. There is space for 12 more.
When the centre's Dementia Day Care services started in 2002, all activities for the elderly took place in a central hall.
The extra space in the new hall means that the healthy senior citizens who go to Yong-En daily while their families are at work or in school can be separated from the dementia patients.
The extra space has also made it possible to group the dementia patients according to the severity of their condition.
Those with more advanced dementia can now undergo therapy away from distractions and noise, Yong-En's nurse manager Griselda Ong explained.
The therapy mostly involves cognitive games, which challenge dementia patients via mathematical or word exercises.
The bulk of the cost of the new hall was covered by donations from the Tote Board and Chinatown Business Association, but the centre is still $70,000 short.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Heng Chee How, who was at yesterday's event, said the Government will do all it can to widen the care options and support it gives to these patients and their families.
'But we need to look at care options that start at home, with the caregivers,' he said, noting that more could be done to give them proper training.
Dementia now afflicts 25,000 people above the age of 62, with the number expected to swell to 187,000 by 2050.
The cause of dementia is still not known, but medical professionals say the risk of it can be lowered by keeping the mind active with challenging mental activities such as Sudoku and taking more Vitamin B.
