As you see lots of persons with dementia, I think a thought that keeps coming back is,
“What if one day, you do have dementia as well, and how would I be?”
My name is Boon Yeow and I'm a family physician by training
and additional training in geriatric medicine.
I've been in St Luke’s for the last 21 years.
And since 2016, I've taken over the position of being the chief executive officer as well.
I was exposed to St. Luke's when they were actually fundraising to build this hospital.
I was a medical student and they were looking out for volunteers.
So that's when I started to volunteer my time.
I was sent by St. Luke's Hospital to Melbourne, Australia
to do further training in what we call community geriatrics then.
Australia was really advanced at the time
more than 20 over years ago, in focusing care in the community.
They will send teams to a patient's home,
they work together in a multidisciplinary fashion
with not only just the doctors, but the nurses, the therapists, the social workers
and trying to look at care from the perspective of a patient.
So I think that that's really great, not just looking at caring for the disease,
but really the person behind the disease.
I felt that we could do it in Singapore as well.
So we started the first ward, caring for persons with dementia.
In the beginning, patients may be sitting outside the wards
and those who had challenging behaviours,
they were screaming and they were making lots of noises.
If we can really reach out, change their behaviours by understanding them
by prescribing certain medications that will help calm them down,
it can make a difference.
So I think it was convincing the various stakeholders of the need for this care,
to be trained in it, and then better offer that care to the patients that we look after.
And we want to create environment that the patient can be comfortable with.
This is a garden as you can see, behind me,
we have what we call horticulture therapy.
We have a space as well where we set up for art and music therapy.
So beyond that medical care that we offer,
we really wanted to ensure that the patient is engaged,
with music, with art, with plants,
it kind of brings them up alive again.
My own mother in law was diagnosed with dementia itself.
It was interesting because she started presenting with a lot of rashes
around her eyes.
We actually found out that she was using those Dettol
that we used to clean cabinets and floor to actually wash her face.
And as we start unpacking her other, you know, kind of daily routines,
we realise that actually, she is losing her memory, and not able to make good judgment,
and hence, she uses wrong solutions for the care of her face.
Initially, obviously, it was very difficult for the family
as they get frustrated, they will say, “Why is Mum like this?”
But as we begin to understand her as a person and the challenges that she faced,
I think the family actually rallied together.
The personhood of the person with dementia doesn't change.
I'm trained to be a doctor but not a CEO.
So it then started a journey of learning, talking to people that have been through this experience,
various mentors that I knew, reading up as well,
looking after the health of an organisation, rather than just the health of a patient.
I felt that actually being a doctor helped in that in all problem solving,
it's about finding the diagnosis, right?
What is the root cause of the problem?
we apply the treatment, and if it works, it works.
If it doesn't, there we go back again to say, hey, what's the underlying cause
have we missed something,
to collectively think and be able to learn to fish,
rather than be providing that fish all the time.
Dementia is a disease that multiplies.
The older you get, so I think after 65, the prevalence will double up.
We actually recorded a film called Always Mother,
with a view to educate the public as well.
What is it like, the plight of dementia patients,
what care options they have,
once a person has got dementia.
One of my wishes, really, it's really looking at prevention.
because the causes of dementia is related to diseases that can cause stroke,
that can cause brain damage.
So if we can do that prevention through good diet, through exercise,
I think we can kind of shift the curve and perhaps
have a lower incidence of dementia
compared to the world in Singapore.