Jalan Kayu Community Health Club (JK CHC)
Launched by the Jalan Kayu Citizen’s Consultative Committee under the People’s Association, the Jalan Kayu Community Health Club (JK CHC) was opened with the hopes of encouraging members above the age of 40 to take charge of their own health.
The opening ceremony of the Jalan Kayu Community Health Club.
TTSH supporting Jalan Kayu at the opening ceremony.
With the day-to-day operations of the club run mostly by volunteers, the ground-up initiative brings preventive health and chronic disease management to the level of the neighbourhood by pulling together a network of partners including the Health Promotion Board (HPB), ActiveSG, the Jalan Kayu Community Sports Network (CSN), Tan Tock Seng Hospital and a panel of General Practitioners.
Activities that have been provided include subsidised screenings for metabolic diseases like hypertension and diabetes. Post-screening, the TTSH Community Health Team (CHT) helps to provide simple advice on the results and depending on the resident’s risk and care needs, nurses may also sign-post residents to TTSH CHT’s group coaching programme or nurse post for continued monitoring. In addition, residents are recommended to follow-up with a nearby General Practitioner (GP) for vaccinations and management of any identified clinical risks and needs.
A Community Health Screenings held at JK CHC Club on 4 March 2023.
TTSH CHT Health Coaches leading seniors in a series of fit exercises.
A TTSH CHT group coaching session in-progress.
TTSH Health Coaches and participants of a group coaching programme in JK CHC.
Apart from health screenings, the club will also conduct recreational programmes such as aerobic exercise classes and talks by healthcare professionals. These will be run by community partners such as TTSH, HPB, ActiveSG and the Jalan Kayu CSN.
As articulated by Dr Mok Boon Rui, a GP at Pinnacle Family Clinic, the new Community Health Club can be seen as a “head start” for Healthier SG, the nation’s plan for community-based models of health that begins at the end of the year. Under Healthier SG, General Practitioners (GPs) will have to come up with health plans for patients and are expected to keep up with the monitoring of their health. Such monitoring will be in tangent with the larger support ecosystem, by which community health centres such the JK CHC with ally GPs can help their residents access a network of health, social and community support, facilitated by grassroots leaders, volunteers and partners in the community.