Dr Caroline Lim
Chairperson

The year 2021 reaffirmed our resolve to focus on the people at the heart of HCA – our patients and families who put their trust in us, and our staff, volunteers and partners who make HCA’s mission possible.

Bringing end-of-life care back home to enable patients and their loved ones to spend quality time together is central to our mission. As Singapore’s largest home hospice provider, HCA is poised to be at the forefront of the transition from hospital to home. Our team of doctors, nurses, medical social workers, volunteers and administrators work hard to make a meaningful difference to our patients and their families.

Congratulations are also in order for Dr Chong Poh Heng, who won the prestigious President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award – Leaders of Good, as well as Nurse Geraldine Lee, who clinched the Nurses’ Merit Award.

At the start of 2022, we welcomed our new CEO, Ms Karen Lee, to the team. She succeeded Ms Angeline Wee who completed her term as CEO in 2021. We thank Angeline for her contributions in the past 6 years, and for laying strong operations for HCA.

The past two years were fraught with numerous changes. Besides the evolving pandemic, we mourned the passing of our founding President and palliative care titan Professor Cynthia Goh. Her passing strengthened our resolve to advance the good work that was started more than 30 years ago.

It is timely that MOH laid out plans to strengthen palliative care and better support for caregivers at the MOH Work Plan Seminar 2022. To successfully bridge the gaps in end-of-life care and improve caregiver preparedness, we will continue to deepen our capabilities, develop new ones, and forge alliances with like-minded partners.

At the core of HCA’s DNA is undeniably our people, and a common vision that home is where the care is.

On behalf of our Board of Directors at HCA Hospice, I thank you for an extraordinary 2021.

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Dr Chong Poh Heng
Medical Director

On the cusp of a ‘freer’ new year without Safe Management Measures or looming new variants that impact our support to patients and families, let us review what we have achieved in the last year, and anticipate with excitement where we are heading.

Having successfully piloted home physiotherapy through a grant, we hired our very own therapist and launched the ‘Get Active’ and ‘Breath of Life’ programmes. The former helps patients stay independent even as their illnesses progress, while the latter empowers those feeling breathless through customised measures.

The ‘Active Caregiver Empowerment’ (ACE) programme acknowledges the importance of caregivers within our family-focused service model. A caregiver welcome pack is gifted as we make our first home visit, followed by individually tailored lessons in caregiving through our in-home caregiver coach and ‘live stream buddies’ interventions.

In collaboration with in-house clinicians, pharmacists and a former caregiver, the research team also commenced our first-ever clinical trial comparing the efficacy and safety of two commonly used medications in the management of terminal delirium or agitation. Though challenging in study design and patient recruitment, this research piece adds to the growing corpus of research we produced that informs best practice.

The recently concluded three-stage strategic review involving the board and management affirmed that we are on the right track. We also received a strong mandate to drive service, operational and research excellence, with supporting advanced cancer patients at home as our major focus.

It gets even more exciting this year! The feted volunteer-led Vigil Angels programme that brings dignity to the imminently dying at home will soon become our signature offering. A clinical psychologist has also joined our clinical team and is expected to boost our capabilities in the domain of mental healthcare – both among beneficiaries and staff – and to expand our capacity in health service research.

Conceiving innovative models of care remains our strength, with the launch of several new initiatives, such as supporting young children losing parents from cancer, implementing a coherent grief support package from pre-death to bereavement, and virtual befriending using a specialised device.

Pledge your support or join our team!

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