PLEASE SPARE A FEW MINS TO READ THIS POST.
While most of us are happily enjoying the New Year celebrations, there are those around us who cannot even afford a proper meal. And one of them is my Father's best friend: Uncle Lim. Uncle Lim was a taxi driver until he was diagnosed with nose cancer about 12 years ago. He had to quit his job due to the illness and could no longer support his family. To make things worse, his wife also has medical condition and is also certified unfit for work. Having no children, Uncle Lim and his wife has nobody to turn to for support.
Over the past few years, his living condition had worsened due to his medications. The medications made his neck muscles so weak that he is now unable to swallow properly. He has tubes inserted in his belly in order to be fed a form of nutritious liquid every 3 hours. Sadly, this is how he will be eating for the rest of his life. On top of this, his condition has made worse when one of his ears went deaf, and when his legs got old and weak; rendering him almost immobile.
Luckily, the Community Development Council (CDC) has been subsidizing from 2013 to 2015. CDC gave him $300 cash per month and a medical card that enables him to spend $600-$800 on healthcare per month. He had also applied for a monthly CPF payout of an additional $250. Though things were tight, Uncle Lim and his wife were still able to scrape through each month with $550.
Then came the New Year...
The Chinese New Year brought about the spirit of giving amongst Uncle Lim’s friends. His friends had taken it upon themselves to send some extra “pocket money” to Uncle Lim to spend. All they wanted was for Uncle Lim to get by CNY and at least enable him to AFFORD to celebrate it. To their horror, their good deeds backfired when Uncle Lim received a letter from CDC on 9 Feb 2015, stating that CDC will no longer subsidize him (see letter attached). The reason being, upon seeing that there were incoming deposits into Uncle Lim’s Bank Account, the CDC decided to TERMINATE their subsidy and more importantly, the medical card that has helped to pay off the bulk of his monthly expenses.
It was only after this event that we got to know that his wife has to declare Uncle Lim’s Bank and CPF account transactions to CDC every month to be eligible for the subsidy. Now, this leaves Uncle Lim with only the monthly CPF payout of $250. A measly $250 is not even close to being enough for him to afford basic necessities such as Food/Drinks, Rental, Household bills and especially his medical expenses.
The reason I am writing this is to ask for everyone’s help to make Uncle Lim’s life more livable. Please help us by giving advice of what we can do, and what are Uncle Lim’s options.
When the government and welfare organizations turn their backs on the Forgotten Elders, where else can they go for help? I believe that Uncle Lim’s plight is not an isolated case. I am sure there are many of our senior citizens who have no tech knowledge to let their stories be known to us; leaving them feeling hopeless and neglected.
If you wish to help, please PM me and I will help you get in touch with Uncle Lim.
Also, please help to share this post to give us a higher chance of connecting with the right organizations that can help these Forgotten Elders. Let’s work together to find a solution for our senior citizens and ignite a sense of hope within them.
Angel Lye
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/angel.lye.779/posts/10153602550319942