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Caregiver how to define, I take care of physically challenged elderlies at home everyday ...consider caregiver ?

Too cheem for daft people like me to understand. Channel News Asia Budget 2011: MOH's top priority is to transform long-term care By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid | Posted: 04 March 2011 2349 hrs SINGAPORE : Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said transforming long-term care is his ministry's top priority in the next decade. Speaking in Parliament on Friday, he also unveiled more measures to keep health care affordable. A new national body - the Geriatric Education and Research Institute (GERI) - will be set up to sharpen the focus on geriatric care. One beneficiary from the measures announced will be 88-year-old Madam Solat Laksmi Kasi who suffered a hip fracture and is bed-ridden. She is also diabetic and needs long term care. Her god-daughter Nayamani, who lives with her, is her sole caregiver. Nayamani said: "I always bring her to the polyclinic, they only give the medicine and then bring her back. I don't know how to give and how to care for her and so many problems I'm facing." But things changed when they received help from Touch Home Care in 2005. She added: "Sometimes when my mother is suddenly sick, I would just phone the Touch Home Care (and) the nurse will come and...take care. Then they give the medicine so now I am very free from the hard times." Madam Solat is a potential beneficiary of the $10 million Senior's Mobility Fund which aims to provide low income elderly with basic mobility devices. Mr Khaw said there will be some means-testing, needs assessment and co-payment. Such is an example of long term care that the government seeks to encourage further. Mr Khaw said: "Not all admissions are necessary and timely advice from the hospital geriatrician is often what is needed. Patients, doctors, nursing homes and hospitals save time as a result. Everyone benefits. Done well, this will particularly benefit the elderly with chronic diseases. The objective is to help them manage their diseases well, so that they have a good quality of life. Transforming long term care is our top priority in the next decade." The home care programme by Home Nursing Foundation (HNF) will also be expanded to benefit more patients while the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) will scale up its operations. AIC's teams of Aged Care TransitION (ACTION) care coordinators in hospitals help patients with complex needs transit smoothly from the hospital back into their homes and communities and has already touched the lives of over 10,000 patients. In this regard, the Geriatric Education and Research Institute (GERI) will seek to add value to the lives of the elderly. It will coordinate and implement initiatives to strengthen geriatric education and research in Singapore. For a start, it will develop integrated care for five groups of patients - those with hip fractures, stroke, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes. The institute will also serve as a central entity to coordinate the training and education of all healthcare professionals - doctors, nurses, allied health professionals involved in geriatric care. It is likely to be situated at the upcoming Yishun Community Hospital, next to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. On financial support, some MPs had asked for caregivers to be given an allowance. But the minister disagreed. He said: "I believe paying caregivers to provide care giving is an insult, I think it cheapens the sacrifice that they are making." Mr Khaw said Singaporeans can help co-develop the long term care sector to become world class by contributing to the $1 billion Community Silver Trust - in which the government will match all donations dollar-for-dollar. Mr Khaw said "We need to inject more funds, skills and resources to help raise capabilities and make them world class. By matching donations, we preserve the legacy of the long term care sector being driven by large VWOs and the community." And to help Singaporeans finance healthcare costs, Medisave will be expanded to cover outpatient treatment for dementia and bipolar disorder. This will be in addition to 8 existing chronic diseases - diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders, stroke, asthma, COPD, schizophrenia and major depression under the Chronic Disease Management Programme. Also included will be screenings for breast and colorectal cancers for those aged fifty and above. The Medifund budget will go up to $85 million - from the current $80 million - to help more subsidised patients. The Medication Assistance Fund (MAF) will also go up to $20 million and cover more drugs to help needy patients pay for expensive drugs. The MAF will be extended to cover six more drugs including Candesartan and Valsartan to treat heart diseases, Trastuzumab to treat breast cancer and Rituximab to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The subsidy cap for surgical implants will also go to $1000 from $500. Mr Khaw said the move will cover up to 90 percent of implants used in public hospitals. The Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS) will be expanded to cover all the 10 major chronic diseases, making it more convenient for the elderly to receive subsidised care from participating GPs. The PCPS will also cover two specialist dental procedures: root canal treatment and crowning. Mr Khaw said "Healthcare is a complex, emotional issue and there is yet no perfect healthcare system. But in the past five years, we have made a lot of progress towards making it better. In independent surveys, our patients rated our public hospitals and polyclinics as either "good" or "very good". 73 percent rated them as "excellent value for money". Many foreign experts have studied and praised our healthcare system. But we must press on with reforms, underpinned by wisdom and realism, and a generous dose of humanity." - CNA/ch