Pillar Of Care: Foreign Workers

St Joseph’s Home (SJH) & Lien Foundation are partnering to develop competencies of foreign healthcare staff, in order to improve the quality of care nursing home residents receive. 2 key components of the programme:

Leadership development for foreign worker nurses and staff: Although foreign professionals make up the bulk of frontline staff caring for the elderly, experienced senior foreign staff often lack the support available to locals, such as subsidies for further education. This limits their skill development, qualifications, and recognition, which are essential for retaining talent in Singapore. In this programme, every year, 8 SJH senior foreign staff will further their professional education. In the video, Dolores is a Senior Staff Nurse with 21 years of experience who completed her Specialist Diploma in Community Gerontology Nursing at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2023. Ilovea, Staff Nurse, is currently pursing a Specialist Diploma in Palliative Care Nursing.

Developing pipeline for pastoral talent to grow palliative care capabilities: Spiritual care is an important component of care. The number of religious sisters in SJH and Singapore’s overall community health sector is declining. They play a important role to provide much needed pastoral care to anyone who needs it in eldercare or palliative care. Sisters are often viewed as a source of comfort, with an ability to help others process complex and deeply personal issues such as fear of death or isolation. This programme recruits and train 10 Catholic religious sisters a year from neighbouring countries as full- time nursing aides to grow pastoral care capabilities.