Radios Provide a Lifeline to Seniors
Radios Provide a Lifeline to Seniors
The shops and senior activity centre in her Ghim Moh neighbourhood have fallen quiet, but from the two-room rental apartment of 67-year-old Ng Suan, the voice of veteran Taiwanese singer-songwriter Fei Yu-Ching breaks the silence with a song about enduring love. Now and then, the song turns into a duet.
“Yes, I sing along,” laughs the former office cleaner, who has lived alone since her husband passed away earlier this year. “It’s nice to hear the songs of my youth.”
She admits that she often carries the little red radio with her as she goes about her day. “Sometimes I listen to 97.2FM in the afternoon, and then 93.3FM in the evening, and fall asleep with the radio on.”
In the new COVID-19 world, where her age puts her among the vulnerable and keeps her close to home, the radio keeps Mdm Ng — and others like her — engaged, entertained and up-to-date.
67-year-old Ng Suan was among the first 100 seniors to receive the radio-cum-MP3 player from Lions Befrienders.
The idea to provide Singapore’s silver generation with radios-cum-MP3 players during the Circuit Breaker originated from psychologist Dr Skye Yeo, and was quickly embraced by social service agency Lions Befrienders (LB), says Molly Lek, Senior Centre Manager of LB’s senior activity centre in Ghim Moh.
It wasn’t so long ago that those in their 70s and 80s gathered around one for stories, songs, and the occasional wayang or Chinese opera. “For those who grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, the radio is an important connector,” she says.
To help take Project Audible Cheer off the ground, the agency applied to Temasek Trust’s oscar@sg fund, which received a S$10 million seed donation from Temasek. Set up in response to the pandemic, the fund goes beyond meeting the more immediate need for sanitisers, masks and protective gear, and rallies behind ground-led initiatives supporting vulnerable groups.
“Our hope is for the fund to be relevant to the beneficiaries,” says Temasek Trust’s Director of Social Impact, Yvonne Tay, who serves as the caseworker for this project. “These initiatives come from those closer to the ground, and they see what others might miss. This gives us the opportunity to put the fund where it can truly make a difference."
The radios also contain COVID-19 health messages.
LB’s proposal directly addressed a growing concern — depression and other mental health issues among seniors who were confined and isolated. Temasek Trust shared both Dr Yeo’s and the agency’s belief that radios would help relieve some of their loneliness.
Mdm Ng was among the first 100 seniors to receive one of the radio sets, which also contains pre-programmed content like songs, and COVID-19 health messages. Another 600 sets will be given to seniors in September. The plan is for the radio sets to receive regular content updates.
But the initiative does not stop there. Temasek Trust has connected the Project Audible Cheer team with Vintage Radio, a group of DJs — also oscar@sg fund applicants — who want to create content for a “silver” radio station. In time, it is hoped that the DJs’ content will become available on the radio sets.
It’s anyone’s guess how long the pandemic will last. But for as long as it does — and perhaps beyond it — seniors like Mdm Ng will stay connected by happily tuning into the airwaves.
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Temasek Trust is an independent steward of philanthropic endowments and gifts to ensure sustainable funding for the long term well-being and security of communities. It provides governance and financial oversight of endowments for Temasek Foundation and Stewardship Asia Centre.