Cover Kenny Tan, CEO of St Luke’s ElderCare
Kenny Tan, CEO of St Luke’s ElderCare
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The greatest barrier to ageing well is not biology alone, but also the framework built around it. From high‑tech tools to intergenerational programmes, St Luke’s ElderCare CEO Kenny Tan is reshaping how community eldercare—and later life itself—is understood
Singapore has officially entered the ranks of a super‑aged society, with more than 21 per cent of the population now aged 65 and above. By 2030, that number will rise, with one in four citizens reaching senior age. The reality on the ground suggests a necessary evolution in how society views dependency and care. At St Luke’s ElderCare (SLEC), a leading community care organisation, the mission is to ensure that ageing is a continuation of a purposeful life.
Its chief executive officer Kenny Tan notes, though, that the prevailing discourse surrounding ageing needs to be reframed: “The language we use around terms such as ‘ageing’ and ‘super‑ageing’ connotes that we’ll enter a phase where we’ll no longer be productive,” he says. “It’s as if ageing is a liability and something that needs to be feared.”
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He proposes that we instead view life as a continuum that does not terminate at the onset of physical limitation. Tan argues that while mobility may decrease, a lifetime of experience remains a valuable resource to be mined. The challenge lies in the current structural approach: ageing is often treated as a specialised healthcare concern, addressed only when it becomes a medical crisis. He suggests that a whole‑of‑society approach is required—one that integrates the conversation of ageing into housing, education and social development. That reframing must begin early. “It has to start from very young, from preschool and the education system,” says Tan.
This philosophy has manifested in intergenerational design, whereby several SLEC and childcare centres are located near each other. At the SLEC Senior Care Centre at One Punggol, a shared curriculum with the co‑located Skool4Kidz Campus even pairs a senior with a preschooler for activities over the course of 30 weeks. This exposure, he believes, must extend to professional aspiration. By partnering with schools for internships, SLEC positions community care as a viable first career rather than a mid‑career switch. To sustain the sector, he advocates that the workforce must be properly valued. “How,” Tan asks, “do we shift the conversation so that this becomes a profession that is well recognised and meaningfully remunerated?”
Above St Luke’s ElderCare seniors hit the waters on kayaks
Above Some of the seniors at St Luke’s ElderCare are passionate gamers
St Luke’s ElderCare seniors hit the waters on kayaks
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This vision is already taking shape in concrete initiatives such as the upcoming senior care centre on the Temasek Polytechnic campus. This partnership complements academic pathways in gerontology, providing students with direct clinical exposure. However, Tan cautions that training is only half the equation: “You can train all these students, but the system must be able to absorb them.” At SLEC, this shift is underway: over the years, the median age of its workforce has dropped from 53 to 46, with over 30 per cent of its staff now under 35.
This younger workforce has revitalised what active ageing looks like in practice. SLEC’s seniors participate in physical feats often associated with younger generations, such as kayaking, wall climbing and even simulated skydiving. The atmosphere at SLEC’s Active Ageing Centre (Care), or AAC for short, at Northshore, meanwhile, resembles a lively clubhouse, with seniors crafting lattes and playing snooker while rehabilitation—using medical‑grade equipment such as robotic walking aids and gamified treadmills—takes place nearby.
Above St Luke’s ElderCare seniors with their books published through the Golden Memories programme
St Luke’s ElderCare seniors with their books published through the Golden Memories programme
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This energy extends to dementia care—which now accounts for 53 per cent of SLEC’s elders in day care centres. “A lot of seniors with dementia used to be kept at home, unseen,” Tan says. “Now, they’re able to come out into the community and be part of our services.” Innovation facilitates this inclusion: the SLEC Virtual World programme and cycling simulators use immersive sights and sounds to trigger reminiscence and mobility, while the Golden Memories programme similarly leverages generative artificial intelligence to help elders document their life stories, promoting cognitive and emotional engagement.
Above The medical-grade equipment at St Luke’s ElderCare includes the use of robotic walking aids
Above Gamified treadmills are also another tool of rehabilitation
The medical-grade equipment at St Luke’s ElderCare includes the use of robotic walking aids
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The scale of the demographic challenge means that no single organisation can operate in isolation. “We looked at partnerships as one of our key strategic thrusts because we realised we can’t do this alone. It takes a whole kampung, or village,” explains Tan. In 2024, SLEC collaborated with Reach Community Services to open a centre at Teck Whye Vista that offers day care, rehabilitation and active ageing services under one roof. Similarly, over at Bukit Panjang – Jelapang, a partnership with New Life Community Services integrates an AAC (Care) with a nursing home, ensuring a seamless transition of care as a senior’s needs evolve.
While Tan originally underwent training in obstetrics and gynaecology, he transitioned into community care over 15 years ago—a move that at the time was widely regarded as career suicide. He often describes it as going “from womb to tomb”—shorthand for moving from the beginning of the life cycle to its end. Since then, though, perceptions of community care have shifted. What was once viewed largely as charitable work has matured into a critical and professional pillar of Singapore’s social infrastructure, providing, as Tan puts it, “care that can’t be replicated elsewhere”.
Above Adrenaline-loving seniors at St Luke’s ElderCare have also attempted indoor skydiving
Adrenaline-loving seniors at St Luke’s ElderCare have also attempted indoor skydiving
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Today, SLEC supports more than 22,000 elders across Singapore, a figure projected to reach 45,000 by 2030. For his leadership, Tan has received multiple honours, including the Platinum Leadership Award at the Agency for Integrated Care’s Community Care Manpower Development and Excellence Awards last September, and the Public Service Medal (Covid‑19) in 2022. Despite these milestones, Tan remains candid about the limits of scale, noting that manpower alone cannot meet the growing demand for community eldercare services. So SLEC focuses, too, on engagement, activating seniors as purposeful contributors—a model where the community itself sustains the care.
Asked where the sector should stand in a decade, Tan is unequivocal: “On a par with the rest of healthcare [services], not an afterthought.” He sees community eldercare as a healthcare essential, grounded in the belief that a society’s maturity is measured by the dignity it affords its oldest members.
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Nafeesa Saini is the Features Editor at Tatler Singapore, where she shapes long-form stories on culture, business, philanthropy, wellness, and the people driving change in Asia. With a deep interest in storytelling that intersects meaningfully with identity and impact, she has profiled a diverse range of visionaries, from scientific pioneers in AI and health to creative trailblazers and literary minds.
Nafeesa’s writing includes cover stories and profiles that spotlight influential voices, alongside commentary on the trends reshaping our world.
Off the clock, Nafeesa unwinds with fiction, a good thrift hunt, and ‘brainrot’ TikTok scroll—while always keeping one eye on her next cultural getaway, usually to Indonesia.
