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Singapore, 16 October, 2008 - The National Neuroscience Institute – Community Care Partners Programme for the Parkinson’s disease (NNI-CCPP) 1st Annual Course will be held on 18 October 2008. The NNI-CCPP was officially launched in Oct 2007. The Community Care Partners Programme for Parkinson’s disease (CCPP) is Singapore’s first-ever organised outreach programme for the Parkinson community with the primary aim of enhancing the delivery of community care and support to the Parkinson community by tapping on the well-integrated network of community healthcare facilities in Singapore. An initiative by the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Centre at National Neuroscience Institute (PDMDC NNI), the CCPP is a partnership programme with community care facilities that have a core team of healthcare professionals who have completed our training workshops.
About 0.3% of Singapore’s population aged 50 and above suffers from Parkinson's disease (PD). The prevalence rates increase significantly with age. With 8.3% of the 4.3 million people being above 65 years old, there are more than 3,000 elderly persons in Singapore estimated to be living with PD. This number is expected to increase more than 2.5 times by 2030 as Singapore is one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Asia. There is, therefore an urgent need to train and prepare our healthcare professionals, particularly our community care providers and partners for the rapid rise in PD patients in the years to come.
One of the CCPP objectives is to build partnerships with community healthcare facilities and voluntary welfare organizations by providing enhanced and coordinated multidisciplinary care and support to the Parkinson community. The community care partners provide the crucial link between NNI and the dependent PD patients in the community. The NNI-CCPP will ensure the Parkinson’s disease community receives the best possible coordinated Parkinson’s disease care. In efforts to update partners of the latest development in management of Parkinson’s disease, various training courses and educational resources had been conducted since the inauguration of the programme last year.
Following the launch of the Community Care Partners Programme last year, there are currently 7 Community Care Partners on board, namely:
1. Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital
2. B.Well Ltd (formerly known as Geylang Senior Citizens’ Health Care Centre Ltd)
3. Henderson Senior Citizens’ Home
4. Moral Therapy Hub
5. Society For The Physically Disabled
6. St Luke’s Hospital
7. Tsao Foundation
There will be another 5 community care organizations joining as new partners this year. They are AWWA Elderly Services, Ren Ci Hospital & Medicare Centre, St. Andrew’s Community Hospital, Sunshine Welfare Action Mission and TOUCH Home Care.
According to Dr Kan See Mun, Director of Elderly Services Department, AWWA Elderly Services, "AWWA Community Home has about 133 residents and 60% of them are in the age range of 70 – 100 years old. We may not have any resident suffering from Parkinson's disease at the moment but I think it is important to prepare my staffs to better understand this disease through CCPP training, so as to encourage early detection of the disease in our elderly residents. With early detection, it allows effective management of the condition."
"We are glad that more community care providers are recognizing the importance of coordinated multidisciplinary care and support to the Parkinson community. It is our aim to establish a well-integrated network between the core team of healthcare professionals and the partners so as to ensure that the Parkinson’s disease community is taken care of," commented Dr Au Wing Lok, NNI consultant neurologist and coordinator for the community care programme.
In line with the theme of this year’s annual course -- Holistic Approach to the Management of Parkinson’s: Providing Care to the End, the organizers are pleased to have Ms Lisette Bunting-Perry, assistant clinical director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research Education and Clinical Centre at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to speak on holistic approach in managing the Parkinson’s disease patient. Ms Perry is a nurse expert in Parkinson’s disease with a strong focus on palliative care.
Ms Perry will speak on the various topics: Different stages of Parkinson’s disease, Concept of palliation across the trajectory of disease and also End-of-life considerations. |