The Moral Home for the Aged Sick - where the aged sick get more than just nursing care

In the seventh part of our weekly series on charities here, The Straits Times looks at the Moral Home for the Aged Sick, which has been tirelessly providing nursing care to needy elderly citizens since 1986.


HELPING HAND: Madam Chan, 83, who was partially paralysed by a stroke six years ago, is one of 33 residents whose stay at the home is paid for. -- PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

MADAM Chan Sock Chiang has helped others all her life, but she now needs a lot of care herself. Six years ago, the confinement maid suffered a stroke which left the right side of her body paralysed. She couldn't walk, or even go to the toilet on her own. Madam Chan, now 83, was then living in a one-room rental flat in Ang Mo Kio with her unmarried son, who worked as an odd-job labourer and could not care for her full time.

But then a relative took her to the Moral Home for the Aged Sick, and Madam Chan was finally able to get all the help she needed.

'I was so handicapped, I couldn't even move my right arm. Luckily the home tolong (helped in Malay) me,' she said of the home, one of the welfare projects run by the inter-religious Chee Hoon Kog Moral Promotion Society.

She is one of 115 residents at the home, which was first set up in a refurbished community centre in 1986, catering to only 26 residents before moving into its current premises in Jalan Bilal, off Bedok Road, in 1994.
Now, it can take in up to 120 residents as well as five day-care patients.

Thirty-three residents, including Madam Chan, do not pay for their stay - the Government contributes $260 a month while the home subsidises the rest. It also gives each of them $20 a month as pocket money.

The others pay between $500 and $1,100 monthly, with the home offsetting part of the fees for about half of them.

The residents - most of them above 75 years of age and suffering from illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure or dementia - are looked after by nurses and attend daily physiotherapy sessions.

For recreation, they play games such as mahjong and bingo, or just watch television. Wednesdays are special - they get to watch action movies such as Hong Kong martial arts flick Once Upon A Time In China.

On some days, they get to go out, chaperoned by volunteers, who also organise activities such as singing performances or simple games.

The home needs about $1 million a year for operating expenses - which it gets through government subsidies, fees and donations from individuals and organisations, such as the United Workers of the Electronics and Electrical Industries, an employees' union.

Some people walk in to give 'a couple of hundred dollars' or food such as cakes or buns, while others donate red packets from their wedding dinners, said society chairman Lee Kim Siang.

'We are very particular in our spending. We don't gasak (do it without thinking). We give good quality service but we cut down on wastage,' said Mr Lee, who also chairs the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, which runs social services.

The home's main expenses are the wages paid to staff, food, medicine and items like adult diapers. While the home can do with donations of equipment such as oxygen tubes, Mr Lee does not foresee any need to start active fund-raising soon - in fact, it has never felt the need to do so.

'Singaporeans are very kind. If you're doing a good job, people will see.'

Ho Ai Li
hoaili@sph.com.sg
The Straits Times Interactive. 10 September 2005

Charity facts
Name: Moral Home for the Aged Sick

What it does: Help the elderly who are wheelchair-bound and have illnesses such as stroke or high blood pressure.

Money it needs each year: About $1 million

How it raises funds: It does not hold fund-raising activities but gets government subsidies, fees from residents, and donations from individuals and organisations

Office premises: 1 Jalan Bilal, off Bedok Road

How much it has in reserves: Nothing. The Chee Hoon Kog Moral Promotion Society gives it $100,000 each month for operating expenses. The society spends about $4.35 million a year running 15 welfare and community services and has reserves of about $6 million.

Staff: 43 nursing and administrative

Volunteers: About 40 active ones

Is it online? Yes, at www.chkmps.org.sg

Why you should donate: It provides nursing care and meals for the aged sick, many of whom cannot afford such care

Who to contact if you want to help: Call the home on 6441-0619/6442-2268 or e-mail lilian@chkmps.org.sg