MEDIA RELEASE: GREATER FORAY INTO SENIOR SERVICES
SINGAPORE 28 October 2016 – Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS) and St. Andrew’s Mission Hospital (SAMH) are pleased to announce that SACS has been appointed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to operate a Sheltered Home for Persons in Mental Health Recovery while SAMH will be operating three new nursing homes.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister for Social and Family Development, was the guest-of-honour at this evening’s annual SACS-SAMH Charity Dinner, which was jointly organised by SACS and SAMH.
As SACS Psychiatric Services turns 30 years old, it will embark on a new service milestone. It has recently been appointed by MOH to operate a Sheltered Home for Persons in Mental Health Recovery. SAMH has also been appointed by MOH to be the operator of two Build-Own-Lease nursing homes at Henderson and Queenstown. Both homes are targeted to be operational by 2017. The third Home at Dover Avenue, an initiative of St. John’s – St. Margaret’s Church, in collaboration with SAMH, is expected to be operational in 2020. All three nursing homes will provide integrated residential, centre-based and home care services, together with a colocated senior care centre.
Dr Arthur Chern, Group Chief Executive Officer, SACS and SAMH said, “Each year, SACS and SAMH serve over 20,000 people through its 20 centres and institutions providing integrated social and health services. Over the years, our services have evolved from caring for women and children, to orthopaedic care, elderly care, families in crisis and autism services, counselling and long-term psychiatric care. This is made possible with the support from private donors and partner organisations. This year, we have managed to raise $607,000 from the SACS-SAMH Charity Dinner and the money raised will be used to fund the growing community outreach programmes and a range of community services under SACS and SAMH, spanning autism care, healthcare, psychiatric care and senior care.”
Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS)
The origins of Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS) date back to the 1950s with the setting up of a clinic by Mrs. Catherine Thomas, a nurse and the wife of the Principal of St. Andrew’s School. The clinic was to serve villagers living in the Potong Pasir area. In the 1960s, student counselling services were introduced, with the first office located at St. Margaret’s Primary School. 1967 saw the launch of Singapore Anglican Welfare Council (SAWC) to meet the needs of the elderly, the lonely, the sick and the poor. Services under SAWC included the Wilkie Road Children’s Home, drug rehabilitation centres and the Christian Outreach to the Handicapped. The 80s saw the development of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, which became SAWC’s anchor service. In 2006, SAWC was restructured and renamed SACS.
Today, SACS serves three areas of service which are provided through:
Psychiatric Services
- Hougang Care Centre
- Simei Care Centre
- Community Rehabilitation and Support Service (at Bukit Batok, Pasir Ris and Yishun)
- Integrated Employment Services (located in SACS Centre @ HillV2) Senior Services
Senior Services
- SACS Cluster Support and Senior Group Home@Jurong East
- SACS Centre@ Floral Spring
- SACS Centre@ Golden Orchid
- PEACE-Connect Cluster Operator
Special Group Services
- SACS Family Care Centre
- CITY Community Services
- Mission to Seafarers
St. Andrew’s Mission Hospital (SAMH)
Out of passion to care for the physical, emotional and social well-being of the community, the St. Andrew’s Medical Mission was founded in 1913 by Dr. Charlotte Ferguson-Davie, the wife of the first Anglican Bishop of Singapore who was also a medical doctor herself. Seeing the plight of the local women and children of that time and the lack of medical services for them, Dr. Ferguson-Davie set up a dispensary along Bencoolen Street for the destitute women and children. The Medical Mission continued to meet the locals’ needs and thus led to the opening of more dispensaries and eventually, St. Andrew’s Mission Hospital in 1923 and St. Andrew’s Orthopaedic Hospital in 1939. Working closely with the Government, SAMH constantly developed its services to meet the relevant needs of our local community at all times. Today, SAMH has under its operation:
- St. Andrew’s Autism Centre – providing special needs services to children and adults with autism,
- St. Andrew’s Community Hospital – providing intermediate rehabilitative and medical care for the community,
- St. Andrew’s Lifestreams – providing care and counselling services, and
- St. Andrew’s Nursing Home – a psychiatric nursing home facility.
- St. Andrew’s Senior Care – JOY Connect – provides daycare, community rehabilitation, dementia daycare, centre-based nursing, integrated homecare services (medical, nursing, therapy) and community case management services.
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Media Contact:
Peh Lay Koon (Ms)
Manager, Corporate Communications
