This time round for creative activity, the overall
in-charge, Shipei and Jingwen from ERMS Team 3, came up with an interesting
idea which no one has done before. It was a visit to the Caregiving Welfare
Association which is an elderly center. The event was held on 20th
June 2013, 2pm – 5pm.
Any idea what this association about? Well, here is a
brief background of the association. Established since 2004, Caregiving Welfare Association
(CWA) is a leading agency in caregiving for the elderly through services that
enables them to maintain their independence, at the same time improving the
quality of life of the elderly through dependable direct care services, and to
create a generation of responsible and knowledgeable caregivers.
The objectives of this visit is to let all the EMRS
students play a part in contributing back to the society, bring happiness to
the elderly and at the same time, to give everyone a chance to learn possible
life skills from the elderly.
The Caregiving Welfare Association!
During the Planning Stage
We were given an approximate of 2 weeks to plan and
organize the event, which included brainstorming on what activities to have
with the elderly, planning the program flow, checking out the items needed for
the activities, planning the manpower as well as recce the venue.Despite being
rejected by a number of associations, Jingwen and I did not give up looking for
associations that are willing to work with us. Emailing and calling up
associations were our daily agenda, however, after a few try, we were able to
get Caregiving Welfare Association to work with us! To my surprise, the two
person in-charge, Ms. Adeline and Ms. Gladys of the association were also
thrilled to be working with us. We were very thankful that they were really
flexible with the plans we proposed.
On the Actual Day
On the day itself, everybody
met at Bouna Vista MRT Station at 11am. After everybody arrived, we took a bus
from the station together and reached the center at around 11.30am.
As the actual
activities will only start at 2pm, after everybody settled down, we went over
to Ghim Moh Market to have our lunch first.
Due to the haze, we
could not conduct our activities at the void deck anymore. Therefore, the only
place we could use is the center.
The space that we have for us to conduct our activities.
After our lunch, we went back to the center to get the
logistics and items ready for the activities to start.
As the elderly were informed to report by 1.45pm, most of them were here
on time. While some were busy setting up, some were already entertaining the
elderly by having small conversations or playing the memory cards with
them.
At around 2pm sharp, everything was in place and
all the elderly were present. The overall in-charge, Shipei, started off with a
short introduction.
Please listen to me now!!
After that, time for Bingo! One of the popular games among the elderly!
Bingooooo!
Paying attention to the numbers being called!
I’m
a Bingo Winner! Yeah!!
Next up was the…… Memory Game! We were quite pessimistic about this game
at first, but it turned out that they enjoyed it! As the elderly were separated
into groups of 6, there was a mini competition for the memory game! Fastest
group that completed the game win some small prizes prepared by us.
Hmm,
where is the other card??
To be fair, we had 3 rounds of the game to determine the winner. And so
here are the winners, Elderly team 2!
The winners and their prizes! The priceless smile on their face!
After this 2 activities, it was time for a break. And look what we got
for the elderly, BREAD!
After a 20 minutes break, we went on to the last activity. ‘Design Your
Own Mask’. All the elderly was given a piece of ‘Cat Mask’ to design on. After
which, the supervisors identified the winning mask base on the elderly’s’
creativity.
Elderly on the move!
Cheers
to one of the winner! Congrats!
As we completed all our activities ahead of time, we decided to have a
few more rounds of bingo with the elderly since they enjoyed it.
At around 4pm, we packed and cleaned up the place. All the elderly left
the center with a huge smile on their faces.
Although it was a long and tiring day and despite being squeezed in the
humid room I am sure everybody enjoyed themselves and felt the joy of spreading
happiness to the elderly. To conclude, the overall in-charge, Shipei and
Jingwen, would like to thanks the association for giving us a chance to make
this event a successful one and also to the whole EMRS team who helped out in
the event in one way or another. You all did a Great Job! J
Shipei
and Jingwen :)
