Where are the retired men and what are they doing?

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SINGAPORE – Mr Eddie Chew is often the only man taking part in activities organised at the centre for seniors in his neighbourhood. Not that he minds.

 

Four days a week, the 67-year-old bachelor enjoys playing games like Rummy-­O and sing­-along sessions at CareElderly@Circuit active ageing centre in MacPherson.

 

He signed up in November 2022 after recovering from mobility problems and bladder surgery. He had to stop work as a security guard, a job he took up after retiring from the aviation industry.

 

Mr Chew says these changes left him lonely and searching for a way to occupy his time. “I didn’t need this before. In the past, I could walk properly, I could work. Here, at least I don’t feel bored. I can make friends, and the staff also check on how I am doing,” he adds.

 

Ms Kirsten Ong, head of two CareElderly active ageing centres – the facility in Circuit Road and another in Serangoon North – at Care Community Services Society, says only about 10 per cent of participants at these centres are men.

 

“We find it more challenging to get senior men engaged in organised activities. Some say they don’t like structured programmes, but may be more inclined to attend ad-hoc events like our recent Chinese New Year celebration,” she adds.

 

While gender proportions cited by various eldercare charities differ, men are typically vastly outnumbered by women at active ageing centres across the island, which are expanding in numbers and reach.

 

Industry insiders say this disparity needs to be addressed to ensure more of Singapore’s elderly socialise and engage in physical activities that can help delay or even prevent frailty and deterioration, which is part of the Government’s strategy to help all Singaporeans age well.

 

Dr Kelvin Tan, a senior lecturer in gerontology at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, says: “The gender imbalance is a concern, especially for senior men, as our society ages and we strive for a longer span of physical and mental health for everyone.”

 

Wider issues such as how men deal with retirement should also be negotiated, he adds. “In the culture of masculinity, the transition from perhaps being used to leadership positions to suddenly losing power, position or social capital is not clearly discussed.”

 

Magic shows, bands for seniors

 

Some charities and non-profit organisations are taking concrete steps to address the shortage of male participants. They have recently launched active ageing activities to appeal to senior men, such as playing in a band or putting on a magic show, fitness programmes, calligraphy and leatherwork.

 

In January, two Lien Foundation initiatives targeted at seniors came to fruition after months of preparation.

 

On Jan 14, two men and six women took part in a magic show – titled That’s Unexpected and spearheaded by Meta Illusions, a magic entertainment company – which was performed to an audience of family and friends.

 

On Jan 6, Rubber Band, a band comprising seniors – five men and 10 women who learnt a musical instrument in five months – put on a private performance called A Different Concert, a collaboration with music production house Livehouse.

 

Lien Foundation chief executive Lee Poh Wah says these projects, with a male participation rate of about 30 per cent, drew more men than expected. So has the foundation’s Gym Tonic strength-training programme for seniors, which is available at 29 locations islandwide.

 

Gym Tonic has had more than 4,000 users since 2015, and about 35 per cent of current participants are men.

 

Mr Lee says his organisation is not just appealing to senior men per se. “We are experimenting with creative ageing,” he adds, citing the need to have a refreshed “buffet” of active ageing activities to meet the “evolving needs of the population”, as new seniors probably have different priorities and interests compared with those in their 80s.

 

In a greying society like Singapore, having new options that may appeal more to younger seniors in their 60s and 70s – Lien Foundation is planning a rock-climbing course for seniors, for instance – is like “targeting your future self”, he says.

 

“Would you sign up for such courses? Are they good enough for your parents and grandparents?” he asks.

 

Mr Sammy How, a senior manager at Fei Yue Community Services who heads its elder education department, agrees that eldercare organisations have to keep innovating. It has an arts academy for seniors in Tampines called The Arts Market (TAM), which offers courses “typically dominated by men, such as guitar, ukulele and erhu”, he says.

 

“TAM also sees a lot of success when it comes to encouraging men to try out courses that are usually attended by women in the centre. Till today, we see a steady increase in senior men signing up for leathercraft and music keyboard courses.”

 

But curating programmes specifically for men is not viable, says Mr How, citing his organisation’s introduction of a robotics course in 2017 aimed at getting male sign-ups. “The course managed to attract more senior men than women, but it took longer than expected to fill up the vacancies.”

 

In recent years, Fei Yue Community Services has rolled out courses that ap­peal to both genders, such as those relating to mental well­ness, barista craft, photography, technology, tea appreciation and classic novels of Chinese literature.

 

Growing problem

 

Boosting social connectedness for the elderly is not a concern limited to Singapore.

 

According to the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), loneliness and social isolation in older adults are major public health risks that put a significant number of Americans in danger of dementia and other serious medical conditions.

 

Studies have found that social isolation significantly raises a person’s risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival that of smoking, obesity and lack of physical activity.

 

Poor social relationships were associated with a 29 per cent increased risk of heart disease, and loneliness was associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide, according to data cited by the CDC.

 

An estimated 21 per cent of Singapore’s population will be over the age of 65 by 2030.

 

In 2021, the Health Ministry announced that it would dedicate about $180 million to enhance senior activity centres here, introducing 220 active ageing centres and active ageing care hubs within the next few years.

 

Such active ageing centres will serve older adults from a wider range of housing types and income levels than senior activity centres, which focused more on seniors living in rental flats.

 

This transformation of senior activity centres to active ageing centres, which offer an enhanced suite of services, will increase the number of seniors who can access active ageing activities and health and informational resources.

 

But even if you build it, will they come? 

 

Ms Wong Chew Wee, assistant director of the Council for Third Age (C3A), an agency that promotes active ageing in Singapore, says the comparatively lower participation rate of men is a “perennial issue”.

 

C3A is also the administrator of the National Silver Academy (NSA). Ms Wong notes that attendance for the more than 1,000 NSA courses available to adults aged above 50 is about 70 per cent dominated by women, with men preferring more “hands-­on, task-­oriented courses like home repair and electrical programmes”.

 

However, she cautions that mere participation in national active ageing activities or learning programmes is not conclusive, on its own, on how social­ised and engaged senior males are in Singapore. “As long as the men are meaningfully engaged in their own activities, that should be encouraged too,” she says.

 

Mr Simon-Peter Lum, head of Comnet Senior Service, AMKFSC Community Services, goes even further. He feels senior men not participating in active ageing activities is of no great concern. “What is important is that all seniors know where to go and who to look for when they need help,” he says.

 

Indeed, some elderly men prefer to stick to the essentials.

 

Mr Robert Patrick Larence, 74, a retiree who used to work in the construction supplies industry, heads to Muhammadiyah active ageing centre in Yishun for regular checks on his blood pressure and sugar levels, and to clock some weekly exercise.

 

“If I were younger, I would join other activities. It’s hard to sit for too long. Now, I have health problems and am focused on my health. My friends also face similar issues,” he says.

 

But Mr Lee of the Lien Foundation has found that recreational activities that involve a certain amount of struggle or challenge seem to appeal to some.

 

One such senior is retired architect Julian Smalley, 74. Despite having Parkinson’s disease, he jumped at the chance to learn to do magic and be part of the magic show sponsored by the Lien Foundation in January.

 

He suffers from tremors – it takes him five minutes to retrieve and answer his mobile phone, which is kept in his pocket. Although he had to learn basic sleight of hand, it was a challenge he wanted to take on. He ended up doing a magic trick which involved mentalist mind-reading on stage.

 

“The stage fright is real, but once you get on stage, it falls away. Afterwards, elation. I’d love to do it again,” says the British permanent resident, who has lived in Singapore for years with his Singaporean wife. The couple have two adult daughters.

 

Retired golf instructor Bill Fua, 71, was quick to seize the opportunity to play in senior band Rubber Band, even though relearning the guitar, which he had played in his childhood, was difficult.

 

“It enlarged my knowledge, and mixing around with the other seniors made me feel young. Life became more exciting,” he says. However, he adds that he prefers to join activities where there are other men involved as he feels out of place when he is the lone male.

 

How to attract men

 

Ms Chai Chee Mei, senior manager at NTUC Health, says her organisation, which has several services targeted at seniors, employs strategies like “encouraging the wives to bring their husbands”.

 

At Kampung Admiralty, Singapore’s first retirement kampung, this strategy, along with empowering seniors to start their own ground-up programmes, has resulted in the proportion of senior male participants increasing from 10 per cent to 30 per cent since 2018, says Ms Chai.

 

Retired bus captain Alan Cheng, 68, says he was influenced by his wife Janet Wai, who took up Cantonese opera at Kampung Admiralty. Besides learning opera, he has also taken up calligraphy and basic English conversation classes.

 

He says: “You have to be thick-skinned and never give up. I like to learn new things and didn’t have the chance to before I retired.”

 

Perhaps another way is to go to where the men congregate.

 

Ms Chai Hui Min, manager at Touchpoint@AMK 433, an active ageing centre under Touch Community Services, says: “We observe that men like to hang out in spaces like void decks and coffee shops. It would be better to leverage or create such spaces in the community to engage with them.”

 

Retired painter Pan Ah Hock, 63, used to chit-chat with his friends at a void deck, which has since been replaced by an open space with tables and chairs installed by Touchpoint@AMK 433. After a bout of illness, he resumed hanging out there daily and was recently motivated by his friends to take up a fitness class at Touchpoint@AMK 433. “If there’s anything we don’t know, we can ask Touch staff about it,” he says.

 

Ms Chai says perhaps it is time to dismantle the layabout stereotype of post-retirement “uncles” relaxing in coffee shops.

 

These men, who sit around void decks quaffing drinks often bought from the coffee shop across the street, can serve as “eyes and ears on the ground”. She says they recently notified Touch staff when an elderly woman was lost in the area; it turned out she had dementia.

 

 

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.

 

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