Great Eastern, Lions Befrienders to engage 2,000 seniors in active ageing, health education

[SINGAPORE] Two thousand seniors are set to benefit from a tie-up between insurer Great Eastern and charity Lions Befrienders.

The partnership, formalised through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on Oct 8, is focused on three areas: tele-befriending, the adoption of three active ageing centres (AACs) and health education.

The initiatives aim to tackle social isolation and encouraging active ageing. Singapore became a super-aged society this year, with more than 20 per cent of the population aged 65 and above.

Great Eastern and Lions Befrienders first connected in 2024 through Project V, a corporate volunteering initiative that matched companies with charities to encourage regular volunteering. The latest partnership will involve more regular interactions between the two organisations.

“Singapore’s efforts to help people age well require sustained human effort on the ground,” said Kwek-Perroy Li Choo, the insurer’s managing director and chair of its community and culture task force.

“Keeping seniors socially engaged and healthy takes people who show up, listen and build relationships over time.”

Great Eastern is looking to rally more than 1,000 volunteers for the initiatives. They will reach out to vulnerable seniors, offering a listening ear, emotional support and companionship.

In an interview with The Business Times after the MOU signing, Karen Wee, executive director of Lions Befrienders, noted that most of Great Eastern’s staff are already trained to interact with seniors, because of their work as insurance agents.

Kwek-Perroy added that the insurer’s “sales representatives are very good at listening, approaching strangers and are very persistent… These are attributes that will make them very good for tele-befriending”.

After the seniors become more comfortable opening up to volunteers, Great Eastern and Lions Befrienders will seek to encourage them to leave their homes and visit AACs or other community spaces.

Wee said that the goal is to help these seniors go “from a state of social isolation and loneliness to now moving out into the community”.

Great Eastern will also adopt three AACs – two in the Queenstown and one in Tampines – and work with community partners to reconnect socially isolated seniors with activities, other seniors and neighbourhood support networks.

Kwek-Perroy said: “We will be fully committed to whatever activities are needed at those centres. This will give time to our employees and representatives to volunteer.”

These activities include large-scale community events celebrating festive occasions. 

Great Eastern will also roll out health education initiatives to teach seniors about active ageing. It aims to train the current senior volunteers at Lions Befrienders to become ambassadors, enabling them to share their knowledge with friends and other seniors.

“A lot of content out there is written by psychologists and clinical experts,” said Wee, adding that the goal is for such content to be “palatable and easily absorbed by the receiver”.

The senior ambassadors will attend workshops and curate content on topics including chronic conditions, physical health and mental health.