Extra $140m to support expansion of active ageing centres

Funding comes on top of $800m set aside by the Govt for them from 2024 to 2028

- Syarafana Shafeeq

When nursing student Abigail Lim goes for work attachments at hospitals, she often sees elderly patients alone. So when her mother Jenny Teo, 52, asked her and her brother to volunteer to do outreach for seniors in Paya Lebar as Silver Generation Ambassadors, they agreed.

On Oct 12, their family was recognised for helping seniors at a celebration for the 10th anniversary of the Silver Generation Office (SGO), the outreach arm of the Agency for Integrated Care.

Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung was there to announce that an additional $140 million will be pumped into more than 100 active ageing centres (AACs) from 2025 to 2027, to expand or refurbish them as Singapore becomes a super-aged society.

The family was awarded the Silver Generation Ambassador Family Award at the event. Ms Lim, 21, a final-year nursing student at the Singapore Institute of Technology, said: "At work, I can see how much the elderly wish for someone to talk to them and how lonely it can be living at home for some.

"Knowing I'm making a difference in their lives, becoming a friend for them to talk to and to turn to for help, even in small ways, it keeps me going."