Observation 4

Today, I observed my elderly neighbors. Through out the entire observation, I realized that majority of the time, my elderly neighbors are always sitting down, reading newspapers, watching t.v or even sitting next to the window and observing the environment.
That reminds me, they are not the only people that do that. Most elderly do that. I wonder why. Is it because that they got nothing to do? Do they like doing nothing? Or is there some other reasons?
I asked my neighbors and there are various reasons.
1) It is not convenient for them to be standing too long. They would get body aches, especially at the knees.
2) They do not have much to do.
3) They like the quiet environment.
4) They think that it is very relaxing to just sit down and entertain themselves with the t.v., newspapers or the view outside their window.

Some elderly, like my neighbors, prefer quiet, slow lives. But there are also elderly that prefer to be active.

SST_ADMT_ElderlyChallenge_s103_01_Casandra Ong.skp

This is an overview of the entire house. There are 5 rooms altogether, living room, bedroom, kitchen, laundry room and the washroom. The space is maximized so that wheelchair bound can move around easily without facing any obstacles.
There are phones placed in every room. In case of emergency, the elderly would not have to struggle a lot to get to the house's only phone, which might be quite a distance away.




This is the living room of the house.
The television is hung on the wall to maximize the space. This also allow the wheelchair bound elderly to move around in the living room conveniently as there would not be a table blocking the way. At the window, there is a space specially reserved for the wheelchair. The elderly can "park" his wheelchair there and get onto the sofa. The sofa is also designed to fit this as it does not have an armrest on the right. Therefore, the elderly can get onto the sofa more conveniently.


This is the washroom in the house.
In the washroom, the shower area is divided from the rest of the room. This is to prevent the rest of the room from getting wet, to prevent slips.
A metal bar is also installed on the right of the toliet seat. This is also to support the elderly when he is getting off the seat.
There is another metal bar installed for the elderly to hang his bathing towel and others.






This is the bedroom in the house.
There is a metal bar installed near the bed. Its function is to help support the elderly when he is getting off or getting onto the bed to prevent any falls.
There is a table located near the bed. This is convenient for the elderly as he can place his necessities for the night there. Some examples are water and medicines.
There are two switch boxes, one at the door and one beside the bed. This is convenient for the elderly as he does not need to grope in the dark to switch on the lights. This also prevents any accidents.

This is the kitchen where all the cooking happens! In every kitchen, the stove, sink, cardboard, tables and refrigerator is needed.
The stove is an electrical one. It is safer to use an electrical stove rather than a gas one as it is less risky to get the house on fire as there is no fire burning when in use.
In case that the elderly is a wheelchair bound, everything in the kitchen will still be accessible to him.
There are no cardboards on the ceiling, all cardboard will be accessible to him.
The sink, stove, table, phone and refrigerator are all at a height that he can reach when in the wheelchair.

This is the Laundry room in the house. The Laundry room is connected to the kitchen. As it is dangerous for elderly to hang their laundry out the window to dry, there are build-in poles in the laundry room. With them, the elderly can dry their clothes in a safer method.

Obeservation 3

I noticed a Elderly was trying to cross the road with her domestic helper without using the proper traffic light, over bridge or zebra crossing. I felt that that was very dangerous as there might bee speeding cars near by and they might cause an fatal accident. There is a higher chance the an accident might happen to them as the elderly cannot move fast enough to escape with her young domestic helper. Unfortunately, I could not get a photo of them because they were crossing over to my side of the road.

Observation 2

For today, I would be observing my neighbors. Unfortunately, they do not allow me to take photos of them carrying out their daily routine.

My neighbor likes gardening. She has potted plants both inside and along the corridor outside her flat. Like most elderly, she has difficulties squatting. Hence, she has to place her potted plants on a higher land so that it would be easy for her to do her gardening. She puts her potted plants on stools and shelves.

Observation 1

My Grandmother lives with me and my family. She helps my mother to cook for the family and do house chores.

My Grandmother has difficulties sweeping or mopping the floor as it requires her to bend for quite a long time; she would have back aches if she does so. Therefore, my mother would be doing the cleaning of the floor.

Today, my grandmother accidentally broke a cup when she was washing it at the sink. She has difficulty holding things as her grip is weakening.
Therefore, we would try to make time to help her is washing dishes, serve dishes and to clear the dishes from the table.

Holiday Homework Part1

Recommendation 1: Housing for Seniors
Houses would be modified and improved to meet the needs of Seniors. There would be more support care services so that Seniors have people to care for them. Having people to care for them, they would feel warmth and they would be happy to be living in this friendly environment.

Recommendation 2: Accessibility for Seniors
More organizations for the Seniors would be built. In these organizations, Seniors are responsible for the organizations and only several middle-aged people to help them in their work. They would plan and participate in the functions. By doing so, Seniors would be engaged and known in the community and they would lead active lives.
Public transport would be modified and improved to enable traveling less troublesome, comfortable for them and to meet their needs.

Recommendation 3: Caring for Seniors
Seniors could get a discount in buying vitamins and medicines and seeing the doctor. By doing so, it is cost-efficient.

Recommendation 4: Opportunities for Seniors
Encourage families to meet up with their parents and spend quality time. Encourage families to organize more family outings. They spend quality time with their parents and at the same time, enable the Seniors to be more active.

In the Seniors' housing estate, the lifts, corridors and pickup points would be modified and improved to become accessible to the Seniors.

1)Seniors can use a portion of their CPF money to pay for it.

2) The government could help by helping them to pay a small portion of the fund.

As a student, we could help by starting a student-initiated group and organize outdoor activities for the elderly.
We can carry out projects that would need us to innovate and create gadgets that can help elderly in their daily activities.
We can also have them to attend free ICT lessons organized by us so that they would also know how to use modern technology.