Senior Connect Program - December 2009

22 Nov '09 - Talks on Managing Knee Osteoarthritis and Shoulder Pain

The talk was presented by Dr Tho Kam San, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Island Orthopaedic Consultants, Gleneagles Medical Centre, Singapore.

We had a very good turn out during this talk with seniors, who have benefitted from previous talks, bringing new friends.

Osteoarthritis, affects mainly the elderly but it is now appearing more commonly in patients under sixty. The main problem is the loss of joint cartilage through overuse, wear and tear as well as injuries.

In the early stages, patients can be managed with physiotherapy (to strengthen the weakened leg muscles), weight loss and activity medication (do activities that don’t involve deep knee bends and high impact, e.g. jumping) like walking, elliptical trainer, cycling and swimming. Medication like panadol, anti-inflammatories and glucosamine often help, along with injections of hyaluronic acid and very occasionally, steroids.

Newer types of therapy include plasma rich-in-platelets (PRP) and stem cell therapy. PRP has been used in several applications in medicine and surgery. These include accelerating tendon and muscle tear healing, plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery, head and neck surgery and orthopaedic surgery. Essentially, about 50-100 mls of a patient’s blood is centrifuged with reagent or passed through filters to extract a plasma component rich in platelets. It is then injected into the site of interest. PRP has been shown to possess more than 5 types of growth factors and is rich in leukocytes. Stem cell therapy is still under investigation. Stage III clinical trials have just reached their 2nd year in the US. These have the potential to reverse or at least markedly slow down early arthritis. This should be available commercially in the next few years. Patients with limited loss of joint cartilage can have it resurfaced with artificial cartilage grafts, cultured cartilage cells or even cartilage resurfacing implants. Patients younger than sixty should try to avoid a TOTAL knee replacement as further surgeries in their lifetime will be needed to replace the worn components; the results decline with increasing number of surgeries. However, in severe cases, this will be unavoidable.

In the final stages, when pain is severe and function is markedly diminished, some form of knee replacement will be necessary to restore function. There are several types and brands of implants available, from 1/3 knee replacement to 2/3 to a full replacement. Some can be inserted through a minimally invasive approach. Most implants can also be inserted with the aids of computers to ensure a more consistent placement of components. The surgery takes about 1 to 2 hours and is done under a general or spinal anaesthesia. With current pain control techniques, most patients experience soreness rather than severe pain. Most patients can begin walking the next day and can usually go home from the 3rd day onwards. Partial knee replacement patients can begin walking on the same day and can be discharged on the same day. Most implants will last 10-20 years, depending on the amount if use and the weight of the patient. With the newer implants, it is hoped that not only will they last longer or even a lifetime, but allow patients to engage in moderately intense sports.

A well deserved talk won't be completed without a well deserved meal.

After the break, Dr Tho gave a talk on shoulder pain.

Dr Tho taking one of the many questions from the floor.

Senior Connect Program on the 25 Oct 09 - Exercise & Sudden Death

This week's program was on Exercise & Sudden Death and Understanding Dementia. It had certainly drawn a big interest among the seniors for we saw the attendance was one of the best paticipation of over 70 people.

Our chairman and host, William, surveying new participants.

On whether the Senior Connect Program be held at some other place, there were a resounding "no" from the attendees.

Dr Bernard Kwok presenting Exercise and Sudden Death

Dr Kwok was very clear and precise on his talk with seniors enjoying the talk throughout the 1.5 hour session. He began on why normal healthy people, young or old, died suddenly during excercising or taking part in sports. Examples given were: a 31 year old police officer with a black belt in taekwondo, teenager Thaddeus Cheong, who died at a triathlon selection race and Ali Bakar, footballer from Penang, died while playing the game in Singapore and the latest, our former national footballer, Dollah Kassim, had a heart seizure during a football game too.

He cited that most of the cause of death from these cases were heart failure due to over exertion or viral or bacteria attacks.

So is it dangerous to exercise? Yes, but it is more dangerous not to excercise.

He went on to advice about the care for the heart, what is the optimum blood pressure. How the heart is affected during various type of excercises and physical activites. Differences between good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL) and improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity through excercise and an optimum BMI.

He also advises ways of staying healthy by not smoking, have a healthy food choice, 30 minutes of exercise a day. For seniors, it is a must to do a sports pre-participation screening before taking part in any these activites.

He touched on medical treatment, CT Scan, drugs etc.

He finished his talk with an overwhelmed answers and questions session.

The great turnout that almost filled up the auditorium.

Ms Joyce Fernandez on Understanding Dementia

After the break, the program was taken over by Ms Joyce Fernandez of the Alzhemer's Disease Association. Seniors were shown a short film, a very pitiful one about an elderly lady who went out to buy food for her grand daughter and was unable to find her way back home due to her lost of memory through dementia. There were many teary eyes after the show.

Ms Fernandez shared with her own experience as a care giver to her own mother. How she handled her mother's disease on a daily basis. It was both hilarous and sad at times.

She then went on to talk about what is dementia, who are affected, causes of dementia and symthoms of dementia. Where to get help and how to prevent dementia through heathy living, eating well and exercises.

The talk ends at 5.30 pm with a questions and answer.

Senior Connect Program on the 27 Sep 09

Senior Connect Program - 23rd August 2009

Senior Connect Program - 23rd August 2009

"click to enlarge image"

Senior Connect Program @ The Serangoon on 28th June, 2009

Welcome back to the 5th Senior Connect Program Workshop!

Just as before, we had 2 very exciting talks today. We were very privileged to have Ms. Linda Foong to kick off the first talk for the day. The topic she shared with us was on Changes in Ageing. Ms. Linda Foong’s experience is very impressive! She is a Consultant Health Trainer with TSAO Foundation and has been an Occupational Therapist for 11 years - working at different acute hospitals such as Changi General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and other Nursing Homes.

We were not disappointed. Her sharing was like a wake-up call to many of us. I learned not to raise my voice at the elders if they cannot hear. On the contrary, you should lower your voice and pitch. Did you also know that the elderly have the same capacity to learn, just like any teenager? I also learned about the different physical changes to ageing. The degeneration of muscles and loosening of skin will be strong motivations to never stop exercising. Making the trip down to the Senior Connect Programme can also be considered a mild form of exercising! Ms. Linda Foong was not spared during the tea-session break. A handful of the audience engaged her with many good questions during the break. Her talk has definitely drawn much interest and a better perception towards healthy ageing!


After the tea-break, Mr. William Teo, Chairman of SCP @ The Serangoon, gave us a talk on Techniques in Photography. Mr. Teo is the current Chairman of Passion Photographers. He started the Passion Photographers Interest Group in The Serangoon in January 2007. He is also a part-time instructor at the Photographic Society of Singapore and served as the organizing chairman of the 54th Singapore International Photography Award 2007. We were very honoured to have him share with us some tricks of the trade.


Two weeks ago, Mr. Teo gave us a Talk on the Basic Fundamentals in Photography (refer to previous blog post). Today he would excite us the finer points of photography. We were in for a treat! If a picture could tell a thousand words, Mr. Teo’s pictures told not just simple words, but stories.

At the end of the session, attendees were asked to give their feedback. We have been getting very positive and encouraging feedback for the past 5 sessions and will be incorporating some of the feedback for future sessions. Thank you for all your feedback and we hope to serve your needs better!

Everyone takes home some good reflections at the end of each session of the Senior Connect Programme workshop. However, during the next session on July 12 (the second Sunday in July), we will also be taking home portrait photographs! Passion Photographers will be here to take portraits of those who attend and you will get a 4R size photo free of charge! Please come early to register and please do not wear blue as the backdrop for the portrait shots is blue.

We have another piece of good news! Our well-loved Dr James Tan, Consultant Urologist, will be coming back to give us a Talk on October 25. Please do keep the date free and make it a point to invite your friends to come as well. Just as Mr. William Teo, Chairman of Senior Connect Programme, always say, people with friends live longer!

Senior Connect Program @ The Serangoon on 14th June, 2009

Welcome to the 4th session of the Senior Connect Program! I'm Amanda Tay, your host for the afternoon. Today, we will have 2 interesting Talks on estate planning and basic fundamentals in photography.

We are happy to welcome back LIROS Capital to share with us on estate planning. Mr. Kelvin Teo specializes in helping families plan for inter-generational wealth transfer. His talk highlighted the importance of doing estate and wealth planning. He posed an interesting question: What would you do if you knew you had only 1 month to live? Would you be taking time, busy trying to determine who should get what of your assets, or would you be spending every precious moment with your loved one? In addition, Mr. Kelvin Teo broke down the seemingly complicated steps in estate planning to 6 simple and manageable steps.

Mr. Kelvin Teo's talk drew a lot of questions from the audience.

After the thought-provoking talk by Mr. Kelvin Teo, the rest of LIROS Capital team took up the questions by the audience. The audience was forthcoming with questions and asked simple but relevant questions.

We have been privileged to have LIROS Capital with us since the start of SCP on 26th April, 2009. They were well received. Mr. Quek Siew Teck, Vice Chairman of SCP, presented a token of appreciation to Mr. Paul Liu, Managing Partner from LIROS Capital

We had a meaningful break after the talk by LIROS Capital. Everyone was hungry for knowledge and hungry for food as well. Residents took the opportunity to mingle and to get to know a friend of two.......people with friends live longer !

After the break, Mr. William Teo, Chairman of SCP @ The Serangoon, gave us a talk on basic fundamentals of photography. He is also the Chairman of Passion Photographers, an Interest Group in The Serangoon since 2007. Many in the audience were stunned and in awe of the different effects from different settings of the aperture and shutter speed. For amateur photographers, this was surely an eye-opener!

Dear Residents of Serangoon Constituency:

We had yet another exciting and enlightening SCP session on 24 May09.
(Pls visit the Passion Photographers' website at http://www.passionphotographers.com for photographs taken at the sessionand our Blog at http://www.seniorconnectprogram-serangoon.blogspot.com/This Blog is the One-Safe-Source for information/updates on Senior Connect Program)-

Dr James Tan, a Consultant Urologist, captivated the participants'attention on....including simple human functional issues such as thefrequency of urination, increased urination at night, blood in urine,etc.....the simplicity, sophistication and the intricacies of modern-daysurgeries and surgical processes. Dr Tan's talk was so interesting andinsightful that the participants have requested that we invite Dr Tan tocome back to talk to us again. [The SCP Committee is in the process ofmaking this arrangement with Dr Tan.]

During the teabreak, there were much networking and interactions...and many new friends were made amongst the participants themselves.

After the break, the participants were treated to yet anotherinvaluable and informative session by LIROS on "Affordable HealthcareDuring Golden Years"..... including the differences in terms of the usage,coverage, etc of the many different "Shields" - MediShield, ElderShield,etc.

For those of you who had joined us for the past sessions, we wouldlike to thank you for your participation, and we look forward to seeing allof you again for all the subsequent sessions. For those of you, who werenot able to join us previously, we would again like to extend an invitationto you to come and join us for the next session at 3.00 pm on 14 June 09 at The Serangoon. The programme for the session is as follows:
• Talk on Legacy Planning and You: How to Distribute Your Wealth - Wills & estate planning demystified
- Ensuring equitable distribution of wealth to your beneficiaries
- Leaving an enduring legacy worth remembering
• Break (networking)
• Talk on Basic Fundamentals in Photography

Note: We had earlier indicated in the Flyer that a small fee ($2) would be charged for the session! We have since managed to seek concurrence to waive the fee for the time being. In view of this, the attendance at thenext session and subsequent sessions would be free-of-charge.

We should all : Live to Learn; Learn to Live.
Looking forward to seeing all of you at the next session on 14 June 2009!!!

For inquiries, pls call The Serangoon at 6284-4137 or email us at theserangoonscp@gmail.com

Senior Connect Program Session #3 May 24, 2009

Dr. James Tan, Consultant Urologist, gave a Talk on Urological Problems in the Elderly. The complex subject was so well presented and made so interesting through slides show. The audience gave Dr. Tan "two thumbs up" and requested that he be invited back. This time, the ladies want Dr. Tan to talk more on urological probelm in females. Based on feedback, this Talk was the best since we started SCP on 26th April, 2009.

Dr. Tan explained how robotic surgery is administered. The surgeon would be at the workstation and not by the patient !!

LIROS Capital continued with the series on Financial Education. This time it was on "Affordable Health Care" The chart below shows what is claimable through Medishield for a hospital bill and what is out-of-pocket expenses. Can we afford it ? Are we prepared ?

For your viewing pleasure, click on the link below to view other photos taken by Passion Photographers at the Event: http://theserangoon.multiply.com/photos/album/34/Senior_Connect_Program_Meet_on_th_24_May_2009

Senior Connect Program Official Launch Program

The Senior Connect Program was officially launched on May 10, 2009, by Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua, Minister (PMO) & Second Minister for Finance & Transport. Above is the group photo taken with the GOH at the launch. Attendees will be given a souvenir copy when he/she attends the next meeting on May 24, 2009.

Our Emcee, Ms. Sashikala Indhiran (one of Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua's Mentees) hosted the Official Launch. Congratulations Sashi, for doing another fine job !

William Teo, Chairman of SCP, presenting to all mothers present, a "bouquet of roses" for Mothers' Day before his Presentation on "Senior Connect Program & The Road Ahead".

A section of the audience at the launch.

William Teo highlighted a key point in a recent STimes report as follows:

"There are more people in Singapore over the age of 60 than children below the age of 5, since 1986"

Our jubilant Minister (PMO) sharing a joke when she addressed the audience

Richard Koh gave a demo on digital photography editing.

Another view of the audience

Chua, author of http://www.myonlinetour.com/ brought the audience on a virtual tour of Singapore.

A close-up view of the audience.

LIROS Capital, IPPFA continues with the series of Financial Talks. The topics presented at this meeting was "Road map on wealth management" and "Retirement -- Money no Enough"