| THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016 | THE STRAITS TIMES | B1

DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY TOWN continued on B2

Janice Tai

Madam Chan Poh Keng, 86, was once almost caught forshoplifting because she took and ate a banana from aprovision shop but forgot to pay for it.

Several times, she had been lost for hours becauseshe could not remember the way home.

Her daughter, Ms Mok Leng Chan, 65, who has beencaring for her for the past 16 years, said: “It is so frustrat-ing for her that she hits her head with her hands to tryto recall. Caring for her became so tiring that I onceeven thought of killing myself with her.”

To support people with dementia and caregivers likeMs Mok, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) and LienFoundation are spearheading efforts to foster Singa-pore’s first dementia-friendly community, in Yishun.

So far, about 2,000 people in the town – from schoolstudents to frontline staff in hospitals and businessesto mosque and church members – have been trainedon how to spot those with dementia and how to inter-act with and help or refer them to aid agencies. Demen-

In recent years, large-scale projects to help dementiapatients have taken off in Britain, Japan and the US.Last year, a Dementia Friendly America Initiative – an-nounced at the White House Conference on Ageing –drew participation from more than 50 groups seekingto create such communities across the United States.

Six pilot programmes are up and running in Colorado,California, Arizona, West Virginia, Maryland and Tennes-see. Nine more are planned for this year.

Volunteers in all sectors are trained to help. Waitersat restaurants, for instance, learn to recognise commonsigns of dementia in customers such as using incorrectwords or becoming agitated easily. They are thentrained to respond in a calm and friendly way.

Bank tellers, meanwhile, learn to politely ask elderlypatrons for an emergency contact, so that if they try towithdraw a large sum of money or become disorientedover the cheque book, the teller has someone to notify.

Britain has about one million people trained in basicdementia recognition and care since its DementiaFriends campaign started in 2013. The target is to havefour million Dementia Friends by 2020.

Japan’s Dementia Friends network comprises six mil-lion people, with a target of eight million by 2025.

Another significant project is the SOS Wanderers Net-work which links Japanese cities and towns, making iteasier to search for persons who are lost because of de-mentia. The network, which covers more than half of Ja-pan, involves people in the neighbourhood keeping aneye on those who wander.

In 2014, 10,322 people with dementia were deemedmissing in Japan, with 388 eventually found dead.

Some of these networks take reference from the Bel-gian city of Bruges, a global pioneer in dementia-friend-ly communities. About 90 dementia-friendly shops inthe city display a logo of a knotted red handkerchiefthat signifies to people with dementia, especially thosein the early stages, that staff can offer help.

More than 7,000 dementia guides, or small bookletswith communication tips, are distributed and basictwo-hour training sessions provided to frontline staff.

The Bruges’ police force has a database of residentsprone to wandering, so it can help redirect them.

Janice Tai

To makeYishun adementia-friendly town,about 2,000people – fromstudents tofrontline staffin hospitalsandbusinesses tomosque andchurchmembers –have beentrained tospot peoplewithdementia andto interactwith and helpor refer themto aidagencies.ST PHOTO:ALPHONSUSCHERN

“Thereremainconcernsas towhetherthecourthasbeenapprisedofall thefacts... andwhetherthetowncouncilhasinplaceasystemtoensureduediligence inselectingcandidatestodothiswork.

CHIEF JUSTICESUNDARESH MENON, on the dispute overthe selection of an accountant for the Aljunied-HougangTownCouncil B6

2,000 people trained so farin community support project

CELESTIAL BEAUTY PLANET ALIGNMENT VISIBLE HERE B4AHTC ACCOUNTANT COURT SETS DEADLINE FOR TOMORROW B6

Help fordementiapatientsin Yishun

Global movementto help sufferers

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

Selina Lum

Ill health is relevant to sentencingas grounds for the courts to exer-cise judicial mercy in exceptionalcases and as a mitigating factor inordinary cases to mete out a propor-tionate sentence.

But it is not enough for an offend-er to merely show that he is ill, if hewants the courts to impose a lowersentence on the basis of ill health,the High Court said yesterday.

If the medical condition can betreated or if being in prison makesno difference to the individual’sstate of health, then there would be

no proper basis for the courts to ad-just the sentence downwards.

The approach to adjusting a sen-tence based on an offender’s illhealth was laid out in the case ofChew Soo Chun, the ailing formerchief executive of a ship equipmentsupplier who had doctored thecompany’s books to keep its financ-es looking healthy.

Chew, 45, was sentenced to 32months’ jail last year for falsifica-tion of accounts and cheating, afterhis plea for a nominal two-day jailterm on grounds of judicial mercywas rejected. He suffers from a hostof mental and physical ailments, in-cluding claustrophobia, frequent

headaches and dizziness, a bloodclot that poses a stroke risk, ear-ly-stage salivary gland cancer, andshoulder tendonitis.

But the district judge said 38months’ jail was warranted for hisoffences though he gave him a dis-count of six months to take into ac-count the greater hardship hewould suffer in prison compared toa healthy person.

Chew appealed to the High Court,arguing for a greater reduction. The

prosecution also appealed, seekinga higher jail term. Both appealswere heard last July before a rarethree-judge panel comprising ChiefJustice Sundaresh Menon, Judge ofAppeal Chao Hick Tin and JudicialCommissioner See Kee Oon.

Yesterday, the court dismissedboth appeals, saying the circum-stances of Chew’s case were not ex-ceptional enough to warrant invok-ing judicial mercy. However, it alsosaid the discount was justified.

In a 39-page written judgment,Justice Chao drew a distinction be-tween judicial mercy and the con-sideration of ill health as a mitigat-ing factor.

Judicial mercy, which is borne outof humanitarian concern, is exer-cised in cases when the offenderhas a terminal illness or is so ill thata prison term would put his life indanger. The result is a substantial re-duction in the sentence, far beyondwhat a mitigating factor can do.

Judicial mercy falls outside theframework of proportionality asthe court is not concerned so muchabout correlating the length of aprison term with the seriousness ofthe crime, but alleviating the ef-fects of jail on the ill offender.

In contrast, ill health may beraised as a mitigating factor so thatthe sentence falls within the ambitof proportionality, as it takes into ac-count the additional hardship suf-fered by the ill offender.

selinal@sph.com.sg

tia guides – which provide informa-tion about the condition – will bedistributed to 58,000 householdsand businesses.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yongsaid last year that tackling demen-tia needs to go beyond having the“hardware” – such as infrastruc-ture – to fostering stronger com-munity support and creating de-mentia-friendly communities.

Those who have been trained inYishun include staff from business-es such as McDonald’s and retail-ers at Northpoint shopping centreas well as students and volunteerswho patrol the town regularly.

Organisations such as ShengSiong supermarket chain and Na-tional Library Board are expectedto be involved soon.

Yishun was chosen to test outthe concept of a dementia-friend-ly community because it has a sig-nificant number of elderly resi-dents. It also has the communityresources – such as a geriatric cen-tre at KTPH – to support them.

About 10 per cent or 20,000 resi-dents in Yishun are aged 65 andabove. One in 10 people aged 60and above in Singapore has demen-tia and the condition strikes half ofthose aged 85 and beyond, accord-ing to findings from a large-scalestudy released by the Institute ofMental Health last year.

With more training and aware-ness of dementia, it is hoped thatYishun and, later, other communi-ties will be able to understand, em-brace and support sufferers andcaregivers in their midst.

Mr Lee Poh Wah, chief execu-tive of Lien Foundation, said: “Of-ten, persons with dementia arestigmatised. The shame associat-ed with dementia is exacerbatedwhen people do not understandits symptoms and react poorly to-wards dementia sufferers.”

With the training, it is hopedthat if a person with dementia getslost, a policeman or student canshow him the way home. Or, if theperson takes items from a super-market without paying, its staffwill not assume he is shoplifting.

Dr Philip Yap, director ofKTPH’s geriatric centre, said: “InYishun, they can get around safelyand continue to participate mean-ingfully in their usual routines be-cause members of their communi-ty, be it a favourite neighbour,shopkeeper or local policeman,can understand and assist them.”

One person for whom traininghas been helpful is Nanyang Poly-technic student L. Sakthisvaran,22, who often sees an old womanshouting at the top of her voice inhis neighbourhood. After learningto spot signs of dementia, he nowknows what to do. He took downher children’s contact numbersand lets them know where she iswhenever he sees her.

Such dementia-friendly commu-nities will help the elderly avoidhaving to stay in institutions suchas hospitals or nursing homes andlive at home instead. Research hasshown that having them at homewould be less costly to society.

Said Mr Lee: “Because of its prev-alence and high cost to society, weneed to make dementia-friendlycommunities the ‘new normal’ inSingapore, starting with Yishun.”

Organisations or individualswho wish to find out more aboutdementia or be trained in respond-ing to those who have it can signup at www.forgetusnot.sg

jantai@sph.com.sg

With training and awareness of dementia, people like McDonald’s restaurantgeneral managers Jim Neo, 43, and Lee Ai Tze, 34, will be able to understandand support sufferers and caregivers. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

Judicial mercy meted out only in exceptionalcases, for example, if offender is terminally ill

FROM B1

Dementia-friendlytown: 10% of Yishunresidents are elderly

Chew, whosuffers frommental andphysicalailments, wasgiven 32 months’jail for falsifyingaccounts andcheating.

Court rejects appealto cut jail termdue to poor health

B2 HOME | THE STRAITS TIMES | THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016 |

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.