Caring for Seniors

Stronger community-based support. Inclusive digital tools. Find out what we the participants have to say about caring for our seniors.

We want a caring and inclusive society that supports seniors as they age. COVID-19 drew attention to the mental and social wellbeing of our seniors, particularly those who are socially isolated, or forced to take on labour-intensive work. We want to see communities that are proactive in supporting our seniors. We aspire to revive the kampong spirit with everyone looking out for one another, building communities of care at the local level. We hope that seniors will be able to live out their silver years meaningfully.

We also want to support families and caregivers of seniors, who experienced additional stress in caring for their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. At home and in schools, we want to build a culture of taking care of seniors in our households and looking out for our neighbours. We hope to see more inter-generational interactions.

We want to encourage a spirit of volunteering in society, to ensure that there is sufficient community-based social support for our seniors. Seniors are also capable of contributing in their own ways and supporting their peers, and should be encouraged to do so.

We should think about how to foster the kampong spirit in a natural and friendly way, so that there can be communal support. Working collaboratively is important in terms of helping seniors age in place.

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Digital literacy for seniors

We want to ensure that our seniors are equipped with the necessary skills and tools to be connected to the wider community, and to lead active lives. During the Circuit Breaker period, we saw that the halt in face-to-face activities affected the social lives of seniors, especially those who were less digitally savvy. It was also difficult for official information on COVID-19 to reach our seniors, as many depend on word-of-mouth sources for the latest news. We should continue to help our seniors learn digital skills, and help them overcome their hesitation about picking up new technology and adapting to new ways of living and working.

We therefore need to be more proactive in designing digital applications and tools that are inclusive. Those who are more digitally-savvy should step forward to guide those who need help connecting digitally.