I visited this dementia daycare centre at Tampines yesterday.

And i want to say how much i feel for the place.

I got that on the stroke of 830am and there wasn't any lot to park so i just park in the staff's lot. Rushed up to the 3rd floor where the New Horizon Centre was at. This centre is part of the Alzheimer's Disease Association and what they do is accept stroke and dementia patients and help them with rehab. So i got there and there was this lady by the name of Ivy who showed us around the place.

There were several patients around already and some of them were staring at us, probably wondering what we were doing there. Surprisingly, there were other young adults there too, like nursing students from ITE and Poly, as well as some volunteers. Many of these patients were wheelchair-bound, but throughout the whole visit, i experienced a sort of contentment from them. It's almost like they have resigned to their lives.

After awhile, the occupational therapist Steven came to talk to us. We were given the opportunities to interact with the patients, with many of them really willing to talk to us. There were the older ones, as well as the 40smth 50smth patients. This brought out a stark realisation that anyone can be struck down by stroke, by dementia.

Many of them were going through their morning "exercise" via the various equipments so as to keep themselves active. A singing group was there performing for them and we were given the opportunity to sing for them as well.

It was more or less quite a solemn visit, and it just reinforced my desire to be a therapist. Oh well ... i just hope i don't get dementia too early in life.