Assisi Hospice is a
hospice in Singapore which provides
palliative care
Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
to
terminally ill
Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced h ...
patients.
History
Founded in 1969 by the
Catholic order Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood
The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, founded in 1947, is an international congregation of religious sisters that serves in 11 countries, both in the developed and developing world. It serves in various schools, prisons, and hospit ...
as Assisi Home for the poor and sick, and was reconstituted as Assisi Hospice in 2007.
It is owned and run by the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.
The
Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM) Sisters have a long tradition of providing healthcare. In 1949, the local government invited a small group of FMDM Sisters for a nursing post in the Tuberculosis Section of Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. The Sisters were also nursing leprosy patients at the Trafalgar Home and staffing the School of Nursing there.
Anticipating their services would no longer be needed after Singapore's recovery from the
Japanese Occupation, the Sisters saved their hard earned salaries to build up a fund for the eventual building of a private Catholic hospital. These 10 years savings were augmented by generous donations from both companies and individuals.
On 4 March 1961, Mount Alvernia Hospital was officially opened. In 1969, donations from the late
Mr Khoo Teck Puat saw the building of an extension of
Mount Alvernia Hospital
Mount Alvernia Hospital is a 319-bed general acute care hospital with tertiary medical capabilities and two multi-disciplinary medical specialist centres in Thomson Road, Singapore.
It is the only not-for-profit, private Catholic missionary ho ...
. The beds in this block are for chronically ill patients.
In 1986, the Khoo block started accepting respite patients. The building eventually became known as Assisi Home. Assisi Home derived its name from the birthplace of
Saint Francis, the Founder of the
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
Movement.
In March 1988, the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood expanded into the area of Hospice Care. Hence Assisi began to admit only cancer patients requiring respite and hospice care. In 1992, the Sisters vacated their convent and refurbished it into a new hospice.
Assisi Home & Hospice was officially opened in April 1993 by the then President of Singapore, the late
Mr Wee Kim Wee.
In 1993, Assisi discontinued the admission of patients for long-term care and focused on hospice care for the terminally ill cancer patients. Assisi Home & Hospice was changed to Assisi Hospice as a statement of our steadfast commitment to this mission.
A centre for compassionate and personalised palliative care, Assisi Hospice has also admitted patients with non-cancer diagnoses as it recognise the significant suffering even among those with other life limiting illnesses. This is consistent with its core values to serve all adults and children who need of palliative and hospice care.
Facilities and services
Assisi Hospice provides
in-patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...
hospice care,
day-care facilities, and
home care support.
In 2011, it cared for 444 in-patients, 101-day-care patients, and 675 home-care patients, the vast majority of whom were from
public hospital
A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is fully funded by the government and operates solely off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In some countries, this typ ...
s.
As of 2012, Assisi Hospice had a capacity of 37 beds and 90 staff, of which five were full-time doctors trained in palliative care.
It also had 570
volunteer
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
s in its
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...
.
New building
The current building occupied by Assisi hospice used to be a
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...
belonging to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood nuns.
in 2012, after an open tender and design competition held to appoint a team of Multi-Disciplinary Team of Consultants. The final team, led by architect and lead consultant New Space Architects Private Limited, was appointed after a rigorous selection process.
Assisi Hospice moved to its new premises in January 2017. Sited next to its current building
and costing SGD 70 million, the new six-storey building will be able to serve more than 2,000 patients a year, double the 1,000 patients it has been serving. There are now 85 beds, up from 37. Its
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...
ceremony was held on 29 July 2013.
On 30 November 2013, philanthropist Khoo Bee See, daughter of the late banker-philanthropist
Khoo Teck Puat
Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat (; 13 January 1917 – 21 February 2004) was a banker and hotel owner, who, with an estimated fortune of S$4.3 billion (US$3,195,953,500), was the wealthiest man in Singapore at one point. He owned the Goodwood Gr ...
, pledged SGD 1 million to Assisi Hospice, one of the largest by an individual to the hospice.
*Beds
:The six-storey building
spread over 5,515 sq m of land will have 48 single rooms, with the rest being two- or four-bed rooms.
*Dementia & Paediatric Wards
:The new hospice will also have a specialised 16-bed ward for
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
patients and a dedicated
paediatric
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...
palliative care ward, both of which will be the first of their kind in Singapore.
:The dementia-friendly palliative care ward will have a 'closed loop' leading to and from the ward through a bridge and
sensory garden
A sensory garden is a self-contained garden area that allows visitors to enjoy a wide variety of sensory experiences. Sensory gardens are designed to provide opportunities to stimulate the senses, both individually and in combination, in ways that ...
to prevent patients from wandering out of the ward.
:The paediatric ward will have child-friendly features, as well as a playground and garden. The hospice will offer play therapy and art therapy.
*Daycare Centre
:The new hospice will also have a larger daycare centre, which will be able to serve 50 patients, 20 more than it currently does.
*Ambulatory Treatment Unit
:The new hospice will also offer an ambulatory (or walking) treatment unit which will render urgent medical help for patients who do not need to be admitted as an in-patient.
*Family-Friendly Features
:The new hospice will have a chapel, a
labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...
for
meditative
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
walks, a "
kopitiam
A ''kopitiam'' or ''kopi tiam'' () is a type of coffee shop mostly found in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Southern Thailand patronised for meals and beverages, and traditionally operated by the Chinese community of t ...
"-type dining area for patients and their families, and two family rooms where families of patients can stay the night.
*Training & Education
:A Centre for Palliative Care Education and Therapy will be established in the new building to train health-care professionals and volunteers in palliative care. This will include a centre for
grief and bereavement education, which will carry out training as well as public awareness programmes.
*Staffing
:The hospice will increase its number of home palliative care teams from three to five to help 500 more patients.
It will also increase its number of staff to 250, including 12 full-time doctors.
References
External links
Assisi HospiceSingapore Hospice Council
{{authority control
Hospices
Medical and health organisations based in Singapore
1969 establishments in Singapore