User:Sengkang/Sketchpad/Sengkang Community Hub

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Pub Date: 05/10/2004 Pub: ST Page: H4 Headline: New police centre in Sengkang By: Ben Nadarajan Page Heading: Home Picture Caption: The new centre will serve 150,000 residents in the north-east. Subject: Singapore Police

RESIDENTS of two of the newer residential estates in the north-east of Singapore - Sengkang and Punggol - will finally have a police station in their midst. Located beside Compass Point, the main shopping mall in the area, the Sengkang Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) will serve the 150,000 residents of Sengkang, Punggol and parts of Seletar, where more and more flats have sprung up in recent years. Previously, those living in these areas had to turn to NPCs which were located as far away as Hougang and Serangoon. The new NPC will place a troop of 80 officers and five patrol cars much closer to the area's residents, providing quicker and better assistance to those in need. The Sengkang NPC is the only one among the 32 NPCs islandwide to be housed under the same roof as a host of other facilities. Among some of the other tenants which will share the Sengkang Community Hub with the men in blue are a polyclinic, a Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association office and a community club. Having such 'neighbours' will help the policemen blend in with the community and appear 'more accessible', said the new NPC's commander, Assistant Superintendent Marc E. He has also met representatives from the town council, schools and store owners to share their security concerns and discuss possible community-policing projects. Potentially problematic areas have also been identified. For example, some private houses in the Punggol area are sitting right beside a thick forested area which could be used as a hiding place by illegal immigrants who swim across the Johor Strait. The Punggol shoreline is a well-known landing site for such illegals.

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Pub Date: 30/01/2005 Pub: ST Page: 13 Day: Sunday

Headline: New home for anti-drug association Page Heading: news

FOR the third time in its 33-year history, the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (Sana) has found a new home - this time at the Sengkang Community Hub. Located at Sengkang Square, Sana is sharing its premises with a neighbourhood police centre, a polyclinic and the People's Association. But unlike its previous rented premises in the Orchard area, the office is purpose-built for its work. Speaking at its opening yesterday, Sana president Loo Choon Yong thanked Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng and his ministry for making the move possible and furnishing the offices. This saved the association $150,000. He also thanked the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score) for footing Sana's rental bills throughout the years. Dr Loo, who is also a Nominated MP and executive chairman of Raffles Medical Group, said: 'Drug addicts are not the most loveable people and hence, it is not easy for Sana to raise funds.' Mr Wong described Sana as 'a pioneer in Singapore' for its anti-drug efforts. 'The drug problem touches everybody's heart because none of us wants any of our loved ones to become a drug addict or get involved in illicit drug activities,' he said. While the drug situation here is under control, the minister said there is no room for complacency, especially with the looming threat of synthetic drugs like Ecstasy and ketamine. These dangerous substances have taken a 'more hip or cool image' among the young. The challenge to Sana, he said, would be sustaining the relevance of the anti-drug message to youths, teachers, parents and the community at large. In response, Dr Loo said steps had been taken to engage even more youngsters who are at risk from drugs. Already, Sana is working with the Ministry of Education to target out-of-school youth who are at a higher risk of getting involved with drugs. There are plans, Dr Loo said, to extend the programme to troubled school children before they drop out of school. He added that Sana is also working with the National University of Singapore's sociology department on a study to see whether there is a trend of young people turning to drugs when their family unit breaks down. 'We hope that with the new knowledge, we will be able to devise even more appropriate and effective strategies to prevent or contain the drug problem,' he said.

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Pub Date: 23/03/2005 Pub: ST Page: H6 Headline: Clinic for pregnant women set up in Sengkang Page Heading: Home

Corporation: KK Women's and Children's Hospital

EXPECTANT mothers living in Sengkang will soon be able to have their first trimester screenings in their neighbourhood. KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) has set up its second satellite women's clinic in Sengkang. One of its aims is to cater to the large number of young families setting up home there. From next month, it will offer screenings for women in their 11th to 14th week of pregnancy which will include screening for risk of Down's Syndrome and ultrasound scans. The new clinic, which is located on the third storey of the Sengkang Community Hub in Sengkang Square, will also provide gynaecological services to women living in the north-eastern part of Singapore. A spokesman for KKH said that since it opened in the middle of last month, the clinic has seen a steady build-up of patients. Managed by a team of doctors and nurses from KKH, the clinic is especially convenient for women who want to schedule appointments during after-work hours, as it operates in the evening on weekdays, and on the weekend. Operating hours are from 5.30pm to 9pm on Monday to Wednesday and Friday; 3pm to 9pm on Thursday; 9am to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 12.30pm on Sunday. The first KKH satellite clinic was opened in Ang Mo Kio Central in 1995. The KKH spokesman said its Ang Mo Kio clinic, which is also open in the evening and during the weekend, sees an average of 1,000 patients a month, most of them during the weekend.

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Pub Date: 09/04/2005 Pub: ST Page: H16 Headline: It's quick isolation at new polyclinic By: Natalie Soh Page Heading: Home Subject: Singapore Health

$5.5m Sengkang Polyclinic has special features to control infection in case of an outbreak

SHOULD a new outbreak of Sars or any other infectious disease hit the community, consultation rooms at the new Sengkang Polyclinic can be partitioned quickly to help control infection. The brand new $5.5 million facility located at the Sengkang Community Hub - a five-minute walk from Sengkang MRT station - is the ninth polyclinic under the SingHealth umbrella. Clever design incorporating purpose-built ducts means that four of the clinic's 30 consultation rooms can be isolated quickly to form a bridgehead against the spreading disease. Negative pressurisation in the room means that the room's air - and infective particles - will not be able to escape to adjoining areas. Sengkang Polyclinic's director, Dr Ruth Lim, said at the facility's opening ceremony yesterday: 'We are within the community and will be the first line of help and defence. 'The rooms and clinics can be divided easily into red, green and orange areas. Red is where we have to be extra careful, green is for patients who are well, and orange represents a moderate level of risk.' The polyclinic already sees about 400 to 500 patients a day since it opened its doors in January this year. It caters to about 150,000 young nuclear families living in the rapidly-expanding Punggol and Sengkang new towns in the north-east of the island, said Dr Lim. Patients with appointments - about 20 per cent of the clinic's visitors - can shave off 15 minutes of waiting time by using self-service touch-screen registration kiosks at the polyclinic. The patient simply touches the service needed - whether an immunisation or perhaps a wound dressing - and the kiosk produces a waiting number which will channel the patient to an appropriate health-care professional. Plus, doctors can call up old hospital medical records of patients through an integrated computer system devised by SingHealth, Hewlett Packard and ProCare, a local IT firm. The system tracks and analyses data, and also monitors patients' investigations. If the results are abnormal, or if appropriate screening tests are not ordered, it red-flags the data and alerts the doctor. Madam Jennifer Wee, 45, is pleased with the opening of the clinic. The private secretary, who lives in a block about 10 minutes away, said: 'It makes sense to have a polyclinic because the area is really growing. It is better to walk here than to travel 40 minutes by train to town for my next appointment.'