A Heart for the Elderly - Meet TriGen!

Did you enjoy the first part of our multidisciplinary project feature series? Wish to know more of what pharmacists are involved in and how are we working with other healthcare professionals? Fret not as Pharmacy Week 2022 is here to bring you part 2 of the series!

For this week's post, we are honored to have TriGen with us to share what some pharmacists and other healthcare professionals like to do in their free time!

What exactly is TriGen?

Trigeneration Homecare (TriGen) is a non-profit organization set up in 2019, which envisioned Singapore to be a healthy and inclusive society where every generation can experience the protection, care and love of a family. The team consists of volunteers from various healthcare disciplines (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work, Physiotherapy) who share a common passion to serve the elderly.

TriGen team: Wee Boon, Nigel, Johnston, Gene, Jade, Joanne, Kiat Rui, Kennedy, Feng Yong (Top row) | Ka Shing, Aaron, Celine, Poh Kah, Jia Zhen, Jia Qi, Brenda, Juliana, Rachel (Middle row) | Claira, Angeline, Wei Xuan, Lynn, Harshitha, Zhichen, Nerice, Jin Ye (Bottom row)

TriGen focuses on intergenerational programmes which aim to improve the health of elderly and mentor the younger generation to do the same. Currently, there are 2 programmes under TriGen@SGH which is a joint initiative with SGH Population Health and Integrated Care Office (PHICO).

Who are some of our pharmacist volunteers in Trigen?

TriGen Pharmacist volunteers Yeo Jia Qi (left), Juliana Shariq, Chium Feng Yong (right)

In the Youth and Mentoring committee, I design the training curriculum to equip youth volunteers from polytechnics and junior colleagues with basic caregiver and communication skills in preparation for home visits. I also help to improve their health literacy, thus empowering them to become health advocates for elderly in their family and community. - Chium Feng Yong (Pharmacist)

In the Operations Committee, I help with creating protocols, troubleshooting, planning and executing TriGen’s programmes. Our programmes aim to empower elderly to improve their self care and health literacy. I also engage and liaise with external partners to extend our outreach to more seniors. - Juliana Shariq (Pharmacist)

As the Publicity Lead, I oversee TriGen’s branding and marketing like designing collaterals and outreach material and producing corporate videos. To engage our partners and volunteers, I create social media content and update our website with the latest project happenings. I also engage the external media for media features and interviews. - Yeo Jia Qi (Pharmacist)

Are there other initiatives in TriGen?

Volunteer teams and their elderly from TriGen Homecare programme (Disclaimer: All photos were taken prior to COVID-19)

In the Homecare programme, healthcare professionals and youth volunteers from various backgrounds are grouped together to form several multidisciplinary teams, which provide medical and social support for seniors.

Volunteers training their elderly on how to use their mobile devices from Project Wire Up

During the early stages of COVID-19, TriGen also launched a new initiative named Project Wire Up, which serves to increase social connectivity, IT savviness and promote health screening among seniors, especially when circuit breaker was implemented.

How does the daily work of Pharmacists contribute to seniors in TriGen?

Medication reconciliation, which can be said to be the bread and butter for pharmacists, is a very useful skill when facilitating home visits. By gathering information on the medicines that they are on, Trigen volunteers can help seniors to better understand their medications, which is essential to achieve adherence, treatment efficacy and cost effectiveness.

For volunteer training, their experience in patient interaction allows them to facilitate effective roleplay, while good drug and clinical knowledge helps them to design a better training curriculum.

In addition, they get to practice teamwork, open communication and interdisciplinary collaboration. Having the expertise of different healthcare professionals, combined with their own professional and operational knowledge, helps them to develop a more comprehensive and holistic operational protocols and volunteer training curriculum.

What are TriGen programme outcomes?

Homecare programme:

• 73 Adult Volunteers (Team Leaders)

• 54 Polytechnic/Junior College Volunteers

• 28 patients from Community Nursing and H2H programme

Project Wire Up:

• 155 seniors trained

• 129 volunteers trained

• 395 home visits or calls made

• Learnt 3 new phone functions on average

• Developed a volunteer training manual with focusing on helping volunteers teach seniors (e.g. seniors with visual impairment)

If you are interested to find out more about TriGen, do visit their website and social media!

---

Do you like this article and wish to find out what more can be done to empower a healthier you?

Our Pharmacy Week 2022 health carnival will be happening live on 24 September 2022 (Saturday). There will be an exciting lineup of health talks, fitness and cooking activities, and interactive booths! This event is FREE and suitable for all ages. Register with us to reserve a slot today!