Employers whose domestic workers care for the frail elderly or disabled no longer restricted to physical courses in order to apply for the Foreign Domestic Worker Grant of $120 a month.
24 October, 2012 – Employers who want to receive the Foreign Domestic Worker Grant (FDWG), which aims to support families that care for the frail elderly or the disabled, now have the option of putting their domestic helpers through a virtual course instead of physical ones.
Medically Informed Minders (MiM), a course which is offered on both mobile and online platforms by Singapore company BH Institute, has been given the stamp of approval by the Centre for Enabled Living, which administers both the Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Grant and the Caregiver Training Grant (CTG).
This means that as long as an employer meets all the eligibility criteria for both grants, he or she is able to tap on the CTG grant to first send the domestic worker for MiM. The employer would then meet the training requirements to apply for the $120 monthly FDW grant. (The full criteria for both grants can be found at www.BorderlessMinders.com or www.cel.com.sg).
To then qualify for the FDW Grant, after completing the MiM, the domestic helper only needs to go through a series of 13 Foreign Domestic Worker Webinars. The webinars cover topics such as medication management, fall prevention and wound care, are free and last less than one hour each.
MiM is a mobile/online interactive learning platform comprising 20 learning modules that helps the domestic worker develop a basic understanding of the common physical, mental and social changes, as well as the difficulties experienced by the elderly.
It uses animation and graphics, prompts observation and knowledge recall, and helps domestic helpers who have to care for the elderly develop “clinical common sense” and pick up basic medical knowledge. Topics covered include dealing with common chronic diseases, learning to identify, record and report warning signs of common health problems, and basic nutrition and skin care.
All the modules are offered in three different languages -‐ English, Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia, and simulate an open-‐book styled learning environment that is interoperable between online platform and mobile platforms, including Blackberry, iOs and Android operating systems.
Each module takes about 20 minutes and can be accessed any time of the day. Participants have up to 6-‐weeks to complete the entire course at a pace that suits them.
The MiM course also comes with real-‐time support -‐ trainees can take a photo of certain symptoms, for instance, and chat with an online nursing tutor live from 2pm to 4pm on weekdays.
MiM costs $200 but the amount is completely refunded through the CTG once the online test at the end of the training course has been passed.
“This kind of interactive learning over a period of a few weeks is far more convenient and effective compared to a few hours of classroom teaching,” says Ms Wee King Tan, a senior nursing educator and member of the BH Institute advisory board.
MiM and the webinars, which are in English, are being hosted on www.BorderlessMinders.com, a first of its kind online campus for caregivers. These will also soon be extended to more source countries of foreign domestic workers and nurses like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar as an effort to improve the knowledge development of caregivers.
Potential caregivers can apply to receive “digital scholarships”, which allows them to go through the courses at subsidized rates before leaving for countries like Singapore and Hong Kong to work. This is already being done in the Philippines.
As part of its aim to be the choice caregiver online campus, Borderless Minders will also be launching more online and mobile courses, including a “Smart Ageing” app by senior geriatrician Dr. Chan King Ming, a “Baby Smart” app by Australian OB-‐GYN Dr. Kenneth Leong, and “Oral Care for the Aged” by dentist Dr. Bernard Siew.
For more information about Borderless Minders and the new training courses, please contact:
Singapore
Rossana Wong at rosanna@borderlesshealthcare.com or +65-‐9425-‐5549
Philippines
Lani Santiago at lani@borderlesshealthcare.com or on +63-‐93-‐2855-‐4688
Indonesia
Alia Wahid at alia@borderlesshealthcare.com or on +62-‐812-‐108-‐0568
Or visit www.borderlessminders.com.
About BH Institute
BH Institute is a Singapore company and subsidiary of the Borderless Healthcare Group. It is a market leader in the medical call center industry and a pioneer of the medical butler system, which operates a medical concierge for home health, medical tourism, and caregiver training and support. BH Institute is the only approved digital course provider by the Caregivers Training Grant (CTG) and Foreign Domestic Worker Grant (FDWG), both under the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL).
