My mother, 79, has had three strokes by now, in quick succession since December 2023. This newbie caregiver suddenly needs to get up to speed with all the caregiving jargon.
I would not describe her as bedridden. She can still sit up but needs help with ‘activities of daily living’, also known in healthcare parlance as ADLs.
If there’s one thing you would be introduced to when caring for the old, it’s a whole set of initials and acronyms you would never have come across – because you didn’t have to know them for yourself.
For completeness, let me tell you that there are six ADLs: dressing, toileting, washing, feeding, mobility and transferring.
If the senior needs help to eat or to shower or to transfer from bed to chair or vice versa, the senior will be a candidate for some financial help:
Advertisement
- Home Caregiving Grant (HCG)
Having three of the ADLs would qualify you for some support from the State in the form of a Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) of either $250 or $400 a month.
But there are still some hoops to go through like an assessment to make sure you or your senior aren’t fibbing. This is a functional assessment report (FAR). There is also a means test on your household finances on whether you qualify for the grant.
This grant isn’t the same as the payouts under CareShield Life.
- CareShield Life
This national disability insurance scheme covers every citizen and permanent resident. In the case of this insurance, you pay premiums and you’ll get payouts if your claim can be borne out.
You’ll need to go through a medical assessment on the degree of severity of the disability. This is a severe disability assessment (SDA). Then you put up an application to the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).
- ElderShield
Maybe your senior is still holding on to the old version of CareShield Life, called ElderShield, which is what my mother holds. To my great regret, I did not get my mother to convert her ElderShield to CareShield Life. She claims $400 a month via ElderShield, instead of about $600 available under CareShield Life.
The payouts will last six years – not for life. (Here’s a tip for you: Convert your ElderShield to CareShield Life by the end of 2024 to get an extra $3,000 added to your policy.)
- PioneerDAS
Unless you have started taking over your senior’s health and financial issues, you would probably have no clue about the insurance policies in the senior’s name.
One thing to remember: A senior with a Pioneer Generation card is eligible for more subsidies, some of which automatically accrue to them.
If the PG holder is claiming from either ElderShield or CareShield Life, he or she is automatically entitled to the Pioneer Disability Assistance Scheme (PioneerDAS), which pays out $100 a month.
So if you do the maths, all in all, there could be close to an extra $1,000 a month to spend on the senior’s care. I only knew all this recently, through trial and error, while navigating the healthcare maze with my mother.
There is plenty of help out there – if you know about them in the first place.
Do you actively seek them out or are you hoping that someone will inform you of them? Would you simply be grateful to be led because your bandwidth has already been taken up by your worries about your senior’s condition?
In some areas of healthcare, a little knowledge is not a dangerous thing.
It came as a shock to me to know that my mother was missing out on the PioneerDAS and Home Caregiving grant. The PioneerDAS was somehow lost in the technology maze while Home Caregiving grant was not even something I had heard about, much less applied for.
My mother received them – thankfully backdated.
Where a newbie caregiver can look for help
How did I know? I asked the staff at the AIC Link at Changi General Hospital where my mother was warded. My question: What sort of help can my mother get?
Ask and you will be told, even if you are not given. One of the aims of my ebook, When Mama Fell, is to give everyone a glimpse of the answers, including answers to questions you would not even know to ask because you haven’t experienced the situation before.
Our healthcare system is a labyrinth because it is underpinned by many (maybe too many) principles. Everyone wants the best healthcare, but the truth is the State can only provide the basics or what is ‘good enough’. You have to pay more for higher quality.
But healthcare costs should not be rising to levels which stretch the State’s ability to fund at the expense of other necessary services like defence and education. Unless, of course, there is a consensus that health is the Number 1 priority and the responsibility of the State.
The result is the current patchwork of policies and help schemes calibrated to ensure that the deserving gets the most help and the system is not abused. Added to this mix is the role of private enterprises, including general practitioners, private hospitals and insurers.
As individuals, we are probably less concerned about big-picture issues. We just want to know if we can afford to pay for healthcare and whether we can get help.
It’s okay to ask for help with caregiving
One of the key lessons I learnt on my journey with my mother was not to try and be a hero, shouldering all the financial, physical and emotional responsibility of caring for a loved one. Caregivers who do so risk burnout. Never be too proud to ask for help, whether from relatives, professionals or social workers.
Help extends beyond finances. From professionals, social workers and the community. That infrastructure is being strengthened with billions poured into extending the network of help in the neighbourhood.
But we probably didn’t notice, walking blithely by Active Ageing Centres and ignoring announcements on health screenings, caregiver training and the like.
Getting prepared, especially if there is a senior in the household, should be our responsibility too.
That’s why I wrote When Mama Fell.
