Tending to gardens and the elderly

SINGAPORE – I always joke that my career trajectory has taken me on a journey from “womb to tomb”.

My earlier training was in obstetrics, but this has swung to the other end of the age spectrum, as chief executive officer of St Luke’s ElderCare.

It has been an interesting path, and it has given me an expanded and deeper appreciation of life.

I am also an aspiring gardener. I am often motivated by inspiring stories of horticultural success, and end up perspiring under the sun to make my garden work.

Alas, I do not have green fingers, and my plants invariably wither under my watch.

Perhaps I should care more than I watch.

Tending to the foundations

Preparing the soil is hard and bespoke work. ChatGPT tells me that healthy well-prepared soil is an essential foundation for strong productive plants; and my own failed experiments with cacti and other flowering plants show that not all soils are suitable for all plants.

So it is for our elders.

St Luke’s ElderCare is dedicated to enriching the lives of seniors in Singapore, offering a comprehensive suite of services islandwide.

These include community-based programmes that promote active ageing; centre-based offerings such as day care, rehabilitation and nursing; home-based services covering medical, nursing and therapy needs; and residential services for long-term care.

When we started with four senior care centres in 1999, our “soil” was basic and standard – four walls with a multi-purpose hall within a void deck. Each functioned as a gathering space and allowed for fast and frequent turn-arounds to accommodate changes in activities and programmes.

Much has changed since, and we have learnt to be more senior-centric in our facility planning and design.

Yet, the challenge remains, to transform each designed space into a desired place.

We need to curate authentic and relatable environments where our elders can flourish by doing what they love, and loving what they do.

Adapting to the seasons of life

Singapore has our own unique climate – our four “seasons” are wet, dry, hot and hazy.

We learn to live and let live, to adapt and make adaptations – to accept that the changing seasons and rhythms cannot and perhaps should not be changed.

So it is for our elders.

They have seasons too and their life rhythms necessarily adapt as well.

Each season of independence is countered by periods of dependence, each season of activity is balanced by times of rest, and each season of company with friends may retreat into comfort of solitude and personal reflection.

These rhythms may accompany physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual variations and changes over time. They need to be respected, embraced and nurtured with care.

Yet, the challenge remains to make each time-based activity meaningful.

In time-scarce Singapore, efficiency is premium; but in super-aged Singapore, rhythm is preferred. Good gardeners do not fight the seasons, they understand and work within them.

One of the most remarkable things about growth is that much of it happens unseen.

Recently, a colleague Kelvin Lim shared a story about 88-year-old Madam Kadariah.

She lives with dementia and rarely joined in the activities at our day centre despite Kelvin trying various ways to connect with her.

One day, he played the familiar folk song Chan Mali Chan, and Madam Kadariah’s face lit up – she began singing and dancing, revealing a side of her we had never seen before.

Then she said something to Kelvin which touched all of us: “Hati sangat mulia (you have a noble heart).”

What had appeared dormant was very much alive. It was simply waiting for the right moment, the right connection and the right conditions to bloom.

Growing the Garden

Tending to gardens and lives entails hard work and work from the heart – as well as a fine balance between purposeful activity and contemplative anticipation.

I remain an avid gardener who has done much watching, and continue to plant some of my observations towards creating a conducive environment for elders to flourish with dignity, independence and joy.

• Kenny Tan is the chief executive officer of St Luke’s ElderCare. A medical doctor by training, he has spent more than 15 years in healthcare and community care. He also serves as chairman of the Board of Eagles Mediation and Counselling Centre, adjunct associate professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, and is a Justice of the Peace. An avid poet, Tan has published five collections of poetry in support of fund-raising efforts.