Sin, BMNH Chairman, and Mr Chan Kum Kit, MWS Chairman, look on.
Official opening and Dedication Service of Bethany Methodist Nursing Home
FEBRUARY 22, 2003 was chosen to commemorate the official opening and Dedication Service of Bethany Methodist Nursing Home (BMNH) as it was a date easy to remember.
And, when articulated in Cantonese, the date begins to sound like “Ru Yi”, “Tsui Yi”, which reflects the heartfelt desire that all the consecration and happenings of the day will flow according to the will of God.
Nestled in the Choa Chu Kang heartland, BMNH was privileged to have Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for Transport and MP for Hong Kah GRC, to declare the Home open.
He commended the Methodist Welfare Services for “rising to the challenge of running a large nursing home”, which he said, would “help the Government meet the changing health care needs of our elderly as Singapore’s population ages, and more and more Singaporeans require some form of institutional medical care”.
Noting that BMNH now has services catering to both institutional and day care for the elderly, he said: “Over time when the Home is more established, I hope that you will apply to be an approved provider under the Ministry of Health’s Framework for Integrated Health Services for the Elderly.
“This would include providing home medical and home nursing services to facilitate and encourage families to take their elderly relatives home. With this, Bethany will be able to meet MOH’s plan to provide a seamless and high standard of care.”
Touching on the role of voluntary and welfare organisations, Mr Yeo said: “Volunteers bring with them passion, dedication and commitment. They make a big difference in the level of service that can be provided to those needing such care. This has a remarkable healing effect on the residents and parents they deal with.”
BMNH, which the MWS runs today, is a far cry from its first humble Methodist Home for the Aged Sick (MHAS), situated at St George’s Lane. The capacity for housing residents in BMNH is almost 12 times that of MHAS (a sizeable 24 residents). Today, 80 per cent of the beds in BMNH – or 225 of the 282 beds – have been taken within a year of the commencement of the Home’s operations.
Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, who officiated at the Dedication Service of BMNH, impressed upon all that the running of a home like Bethany was in line with what the Bible challenges – of caring and healing the elderly sick.
He said Jesus showed His love through holistic care (physical, social, emotional and spiritual). Jesus healed regardless of social backgrounds, hence the residents that BMNH receives come from all walks of life, professing different faiths.
Finally, Bishop Dr Solomon reminded that cost was entailed in caring. This takes the form of time and skills poured in through volunteers as well as financial resources.
BMNH is the answer to increasing health care needs of the greying population. The majority are incapable of living independently owing to old age or chronic degenerative diseases. Its basic medical treatment, nursing and rehabilitative care, such as physiotherapy services, are in line with the recent promotion of the step down care. Step down care aims essentially at driving medical care costs down as the ageing population increases.
BMNH and the MWS stay committed to the task of meeting the health care needs of the elderly as they are reminded of John Wesley’s saying:
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.”
Our prayer and hope is that Bethany remains a house of figs that brings refreshment; the oasis in the desert for all who are housed within.
FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE
‘Jesus showed His love through holistic care (physical, social, emotional and spiritual). Jesus healed regardless of social backgrounds, hence the residents that BMNH receives come from all walks of life, professing different faiths.’
— Bishop Dr Robert Solomon.