Reading Newspapers with the Elderly 陪你看报纸 A community initiative by Lianhe Wanbao & Lianhe Zaobao Singapore Engage • Enrich • Empower Since August 2014, Singapore’s Chinese dailies Lianhe Wanbao and Lianhe Zaobao have been promoting engagement with its matured readers with the Reading Newspapers with the Elderly initiative. For three times a week, our newsroom volunteers visit elderly Singaporeans and discuss the week’s hottest news with them. Through this simple but unique initiative, we hope to enrich the seniors’ lives and empower them to stay active, mentally and physically, and enjoy a fulfilling retirement. Why did we launch this initiative? Singapore’s population is ageing at an unprecedented rate. As the post-war Baby Boomers retire from workforce and enter their silver years, elderly population will grow rapidly in the next few decades. Many of our senior citizens are neither literate nor familiar with the English language, and the language barrier has made it difficult for the Chinese- speaking elderly to keep up with the fast-evolving society. Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao value the spiritual needs of our senior citizens and would like to do our part to help them lead a fulfilling retirement. As editors and journalists, we report on news of public interests every day. News is what we do best, so we believe that reading newspapers with the elderly is one way we can contribute to this cause. Why is this important? Many seniors in Singapore face the “empty nest syndrome”. Their children are often away and they only have the television and other seniors as company. Every now and then, there are reports of crime syndicates that target unsuspecting seniors and cheat them of their life savings. Their illiteracy and lack awareness of such frauds have made them vulnerable prey for those with malicious intent. Furthermore, many seniors also find it hard to understand government policies that affect them as details are often complicated. By reading newspapers with the elderly, we highlight and explain issues that are of importance to the elderly, and help them keep up with the pace of the society. Through stories of other people that they can relate to, the elderly become aware of scams, crimes, developments and incidents that happen in Singapore and in their neighbourhood. This will broaden their horizons and empower them with the necessary information and knowledge to make better judgments in the future. Engage and enrich the elderly through news reading Around 100 journalists and editors from Wanbao and Zaobao, as well as several retired teachers and editors, have signed up as volunteers for the initiative. For three times a week, volunteers take turn to go to different locations to read newspapers with the elderly. Three locations within the elderly’s living environment are specially chosen to make travelling to and fro the newspaper reading session as convenient as possible. These three locations are: • NTUC Eldercare Silver Circle Senior Care Centre at Serangoon Central; • NTUC Eldercare SilverAce Senior Activities Centre at Lengkok Bahru; and • Void deck of apartment block 842, Tampines Street 82. Many seniors still enjoy traditional face-to-face communication. This is why we meet them in the neighbourhood they live in, and discuss news in an intimate and comfortable setting. Each session is about an hour long. “I often hear about the Response from Lease Buyback Scheme and selling existing our seniors apartment to move into a smaller one, but Dozens of elderly turn up for each session, and many feel stimulated I have no idea how after the discussions. Over time, we these schemes work. even attracted a loyal following! The explanations are very clear in this talk, Rain or shine, many seniors turn up punctually to hear about the and I find this very biggest news of the week. helpful.” – 51-year-old Mr Chen Li Ji, who attended the talk on monetizing flat for retirement. “The initiative uses a very lively way to tell the stories, so it is easier for us to absorb the news on gutter oil and a tour guide who misappropriated the assets of an elderly woman. “Prior to this, I thought a will and The details are insightful and useful to us.” Lasting Power of Attorney are identical, but now I know they have – 73-year-old retiree Mr Lin Fu Xing different functions. The topic is very relevant, and the talk clarified many of our questions.” “My husband attended the first session in Serangoon, and benefited much from it, so he brought me along today.” – said 74-year-old retiree Xiao Hua, who attended the initiative’s – 65-year-old Madam Lan Yu Fang, first large scale talk. who works in a laundry shop. Impact ● This novel initiative has attracted appreciation in the wider society, with more community partners expressing interest to come onboard. Teachers and students from a secondary school and Singapore’s self-help group for needy individuals in the Chinese community also joined us, bringing onboard more than 100 new volunteers. ● In 2015, we also organized eight special talks based on issues that are relevant to the elderly, such as how to enact a will and Lasting Power of Attorney, how to manage personal finances after retirement and how to monetize home assets etc. ● More than 4000 elderly benefitted from these talks by professionals, further enhancing our outreach in the community. ● There are plans to train community volunteers to expand the outreach of this meaningful programme..