A Singaporean mental-health doyen Kua Ee Heok, 68, included the story of Doctor Jennifer Bute, 70, in his new inspiring book – Colours of Ageing: 30 Years of Research on the Mental Health of the Singapore Elderly. Dr Bute was a British general practitioner who found out, after years of diagnosing dementia, that she herself was suffering from the ailment beginning in 2006.
Dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s, which Dr Bute has, happens when the brain is injured or changed in some way, such as when its cells die from a lack of oxygen.
Dr Bute retired from her practice in 2009, aged 63, and is now dedicated to helping fellow dementia patients by speaking at conferences and making the 2015 radio documentary Remember Me. Kua Ee Heok also notes in his book the innovative ways in which Dr Bute and her family copes with dementia. Read more about the story of Dr Bute.
Professor Kua is now the Tan Geok Yin Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at NUS’ Department of Psychological Medicine and Senior Consultant Psychiatrist in the National University Health System. He is also a member of the World Health Organisation’s Global study of Dementia team.
The “colours” of ageing in his book’s title are hope, will and the imagination of an “undefeated mind”, which is crucial to living with one’s faculties intact.
The five questions that this book answers are:
- Why is moral fibre so crucial to self- preservation?
- How does the state of mental health in Singapore compare with that in the West?
- Why and how do meditation, playing mahjong and eating curry boost the quality of life?
- Who has improved the lot of the elderly in Singapore?
- What still needs to be done to help the elderly in Singapore continue to thrive?
Professor Kua reported that the life expectancy of Singaporean dementia patients jumped to 83 from 74 when he began his studies in 1980s.
30 years ago, Prof Kua expressed an urgency to the medical community about detecting dementia early, however nobody was interested. Hence as Singaporeans actively chased the 5Cs – cash, credit cards, cars, condominiums, and country-club memberships, Prof Kua and his team studied the 5Ds among the Singaporean elderly – decrepitude, dementia, depression, delusion and delirium.
Three decades and five major studies of elderly mental health later, they and their partners, such as the People’s Association and the National Parks Board, have shaped the ground-breaking Dementia Prevention Programme, which has led more elderly Singaporeans to boost their mental well-being with exercise, gardening, choral singing and visits to sanctuaries such as the Therapeutic Garden at Hort Park.
Better yet, he notes, from next month, a cross-disciplinary group of experts will embark on an experiment in Toh Yi Drive for the elderly to “age in place” by mingling with everyone else in their estate, to stave off the quicker deaths that come from being isolated against their will from meaningful contact.
On a whole, Prof Kua’s book is a fluid blend of scientific findings, memoir and anecdotes and full of insights into ageing in Singapore. He has charted the evolution of research and treatment of mental health among the elderly in a heartfelt, assured and deceptive simple way. He weaves important characteristics and findings about their resilience and well-being with nods to community heroes of yore.
However, he has shorn much detail from his many studies till the big picture of dementia here is unclear. The book is also in sore need of a glossary as Prof Kua does not break down the medical jargon involved, all of which are crucial for the understanding of the average reader.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 20 June 2017