Come December, Mr Retnam Sahadevan (top) will be celebrating his 80th birthday at Bethany Methodist Nursing Home (BMNH) by Methodist Welfare Services (MWS), having lived here for the past 15 years.
The widower, who has lost contact with his children, suffers from a host of ailments including dementia, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. He has lost both legs to diabetes. Now in a wheelchair, he also needs help for activities of daily living such as toileting and bathing.
The Supervised Community Access Programme
More than 7 in 10 of our residents are highly dependent on help for simple activities such as bathing or feeding. Despite this daunting situation, the multi-disciplinary team at BMNH is focused on helping as many as possible to move about in their wheelchairs independently outside the Home.
The team assesses the residents to ensure that they have good vision, areable to push a wheelchair, have the ability to make safe decisions, and can feed themselves.
The residents go through three stages of training to ensure they are able to venture out alone.
First, they have to strengthen their muscles in the gym, then learn to handle their wheelchairs on gentle slopes within the home. Finally, they will practise using their wheelchairs just outside the Home under the watchful eyes of staff, before they are allowed to go out further.
Despite his poor health, Retnam was able to regain sufficient strength with help given at BMNH. He is able to wheel himself to visit nearby shopping malls, the coffee shop and the neighbourhood park, accompanied by staff or volunteers.
To help beneficiaries like Retnam, this year’s MWS Fellowship on the Greens Charity Golf will be raising funds for BMNH.
Many of the chronically-ill and frail residents at BMNH are in their twilight years, and need nursing care and help with even simple daily activities. Our residents are primarily from low-income families and have little or no family support.
Over 70 per cent of them require intensive nursing care and help in their daily activities such as feeding, toileting and bathing. They receive medical, nursing and dental care, as well as occupational therapy and physiotherapy to alleviate their pain and suffering.
Under the care of MWS, beneficiaries receive the help they need without worrying over the expenses. More than 80 per cent of the residents either pay minimal fees or do not pay.
Bethany Methodist Nursing Home is run by Methodist Welfare Services. It is a residential home for sick, frail and elderly residents with weak or no family support.
Over 70 per cent of them require intensive nursing care and help in their daily activities such as feeding, toileting and bathing. The residents receive medical, nursing and dental care, as well as occupational and physiotherapy to help improve their functioning.
SUPPORT * the cause by giving online at give.asia/movement/it_s_all_about_them
Photos courtesy of Methodist Welfare Services
By the Methodist Welfare Services Communications Team