In December, ADI’s Head of Accreditation, Amalia Fonk-Utomo, visited Singapore to explore exciting opportunities to improve dementia care across the region. She also raised awareness about ADI’s Accreditation program, which is dedicated to promoting excellence in dementia care by accrediting educational training programmes. Below are the key highlights of her trip, along with an overview of the importance of becoming accredited with ADI.
What is ADI Accreditation? Why is it Needed?
ADI Accreditation marks standards of excellence in educational and training programmes with a focus on care for people living with dementia. It signifies that the training and educational activities of a certain organisation have met rigorous standards.
Ensuring that people living with dementia receive high-quality care from appropriately-trained professionals and carers, is an essential step in addressing the local, national, and global challenges of dementia. Poor-quality care can have a profoundly negative impact on people living with dementia, their families, and their carers. Accreditation helps to mitigate this risk by fostering high standards that prioritize integrity, quality, and effective outcomes in dementia care.
Highlights from Singapore
During her trip, Amalia visited ADI member, Dementia Singapore. Together with ADI board member Emily Ong, Amalia partook in a comprehensive brainstorming session with the Dementia Singapore team – including CEO Jason Foo, Director of Fundraising and Volunteer Management Sherwan Sharip, and Director of Community Enablement Chan Wing. Discussions centered on a number of important and timely topics, including identifying future opportunities for training, mentorship, and accreditation both within Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region, mapping potential collaborations within this region as well, defining strategic approaches, fundraising strategies, and exploring innovative initiatives for dementia care education and practice.
The visit concluded with a tour of the Dementia Singapore offices and care service facilities, offering ADI valuable insights into their operational practices and services offered.
As well as meeting with Dementia Singapore, Amalia also held important meetings with academic centres in the region, including Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). During this visit, Amalia observed the regional World Health Organization’s (WHO) Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) training programme, which was also attended by participants from countries in the Asia-Pacific region, providing a valuable look into the ongoing efforts to improve care for elder populations in the region.
At SUSS, Amalia also had the opportunity to meet with Associate Professor Carol Ma, the Head of the Gerontology Programme and Senior Fellow in Experiential Learning, in order to discuss opportunities available for regional and global accreditation. This discussion also focused on identifying areas for improvement and expanding the current efforts in the Asia-Pacific region as well as internationally.
Amalia met with Tong Ka Pin, Chief Corporate Officer of Perennial Holdings, a company whichowns and operates healthcare-related services in the region. The discussion introduced Perennial to the ADI Accreditation programme and explored potential initiatives to elevate the quality of care within private healthcare systems in Singapore, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Finally, Amalia met with fellow civil society colleagues from Ageing Asia. Ageing Asia is an independent social enterprise and network that seeks to improve cooperation and coordination between business, community leaders, government and the media to improve provisions for older persons across the Asia Pacific.
During her meeting with the General Manager of Ageing Asia, Sylwin Angdrew, Amalia highlighted the importance of providing dementia training which actively involves those living with dementia as well as civil society. The meeting concluded with an agreement to explore future collaboration between Ageing Asia and ADI, which would no doubt pave the way for impactful initiatives in dementia care and education.
Amalia’s visit to Singapore marked a significant step forward in ADI’s mission to improve the standard and quality of dementia care offered in Singapore, but also in the wider Asia-Pacific region. It is an exciting time as we continue to forge new partnerships and build connections in the region with the goal of improving dementia education and training through the ADI Accreditation programme.
Amalia shared her thoughts on this recent visit:
The trip to Singapore was an invaluable opportunity to strengthen existing partnerships and explore new collaborations in the Asia Pacific region, an emerging market for dementia care innovation and education, all with the aim of advancing the quality of care through collaboration and shared knowledge and commitment.
