SINGAPORE: From an old skate park to a multipurpose building with a range of facilities bringing different services together under one roof, Heartbeat@Bedok aims to serve as a lifestyle hub for residents of all ages.
The seven storey building, with a land area that makes up the size of about three football fields, was officially open on Sunday (Feb 4) by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Heartbeat@Bedok houses multiple agencies managing different facilities, such as the sports centre, the Bedok public library, Kampong Chai Chee Community Club, Bedok Polyclinic and a Senior Care Centre that has yet to open.
There are also more than 30 retailers including F&B outlets, sports specialty shops and childcare and education centres. The amenities have been opening in phases from July 2017.
Rain or shine, sport enthusiasts will not have to worry about working out, with four swimming pools featuring aqua related programmes, as well as eight indoor badminton courts and six sheltered tennis courts on the rooftop.
Heartbeat@Bedok was officially open on Sunday (Feb 4) by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: Rachelle Lee)
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The concept of Heartbeat@Bedok is almost similar to Our Tampines Hub, and Grassroots advisor Lee Yi Shyan said: “When we started to brainstorm on this idea, we never knew the Our Tampines Hub was in parallel, being developed. It was a pure coincidence. It was only much later that we realised”.
Mr Lee added that it’s a more efficient use of land now that all the public facilities are congregated together in one place.
“In the past, we had all the amenities in a distributed fashion. The community centre was at one place, the library and polyclinic at another place.
"When we had a chance to rebuild, we thought it might be a good idea to bring everyone under one roof so that residents can access all these service within short distances. In terms of the freed up land, it’s important to provide new housing options for young families to inject a younger population into this otherwise rather matured and also older demographics”.
With the amenities brought together, Mr Lee also said that this allows the agencies to do more than just providing services for the residents, but also come together to organise integrated programmes. He said it is a requirement that all the agencies have a minimum of 40 per cent of their services to be co-delivered at Heartbeat.
The polyclinic, for example, has been working with People’s Association to refer its patients for healthy cooking classes, and it also collaborated with ActiveSG to send some patients for a gym orientation.
“We want to create a healthy ecosystem for our patients beyond the borders of our clinic. These referrals are mainly aimed at patients with chronic and lifestyle diseases so they can learn to pick up healthier habits and be less sedentary. We look forward to scaling up such tie-ups with the other agencies here so that patients that come to us are also healthier and it becomes a win win situation,” said Dr Juliana Bahadin, Clinic Director, Bedok Polyclinic.
To ensure the Heartbeat meets the needs of residents, a series of consultation were launched with some 11,000 people to get ideas and feedback on the type of programmes they would like.
According to Mr Lee, about 14 to 18 per cent of residents in Bedok are aged 65 and above. Hence, many of the activities at Heartbeat are related to social and physical wellness.
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04 Feb 2018 11:15PM (Updated: 04 Feb 2018 11:20PM )
From an old skate park to a multipurpose building with a range of facilities bringing different services together under one roof, Heartbeat@Bedok aims to serve as a lifestyle hub for residents of all ages.
SINGAPORE - Singapore's second integrated community hub opened in Bedok on Sunday (Feb 4), bringing its sports centre, public library, community club, polyclinic and senior care centre under one roof.
Heartbeat@Bedok, which spans an area of about three football fields, also has more than 30 retailers, including eateries.
Noting that residents' lifestyles and needs have changed since Bedok Town was built over 40 years ago, East Coast GRC MP Lee Yi Shyan said on Sunday that the new building allows for more efficient use of land, and for joint-agency programmes to be provided to residents.
"The land freed up by relocating amenities would make room for new housing and new parks," he said, before the building was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. "In a mature town like Bedok, we are hard-pressed to find any open space to build new flats for young families."
About a third of the gross floor area of Our Tampines Hub, which opened last August, Heartbeat@Bedok houses the ActiveSG East Bedok Sports Centre, Bedok Public Library, Kampong Chai Chee Community Club, Bedok Polyclinic and a senior care centre.
This, the building also brings convenience to residents, said Mr Lee, who added that he hoped the hub would be a "national innovation laboratory" to pilot new services.
These could include telemedicine and the pairing of workout data with health statistics to track individuals' rehabilitation progress.
Various agencies there have rolled out an initiative called Heartbeat Cares, to reach out to seniors and their families through a series of health and wellness programmes.
Residents may be referred to the Active Health Lab – an initiative by Sport Singapore and its healthcare partners – to develop a personalised fitness regime. There are also weekly morning exercise sessions, health screenings and talks, as well as cooking demonstrations.
About 14 per cent of Bedok Town's 290,000 residents are over 65.
The aim is for the five agencies in the new building to partner one another for at least 40 per cent of their programmes and initiatives, to better meet the diverse and changing needs of residents, he said.
Although the coordination between agencies is done manually now, "we are looking into developing an app to automate these processes", he said.
Heartbeat@Bedok houses the ActiveSG East Bedok Sports Centre, Bedok Public Library, Kampong Chai Chee Community Club, Bedok Polyclinic and a senior care centre. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Also present at Sunday's event were the other East Coast GRC MPs, People's Association deputy chairman Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim and Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor.
Bedok residents at Heartbeat on Sunday said they have already started using its facilities.
Housewife Lily Saeimaim, 47, who has been living in Bedok for eight years, said: "There were exercise facilities in the neighbourhood last time, but everything was farther away from each other and we had to take a bus to move around. It's more convenient now."
"The facilities here also have indoor areas, so we can use them even when it is raining," she told The Straits Times. "I now come here to play badminton thrice a week, and my husband uses the gym weekly as well. My 10-year-old son uses the swimming pool."
Engineer Johnson Lim, who is also 47, finds the reopened library more conducive for the young.
The father of two said: "There are more spaces for the children to sit and relax, and the colours are much brighter."
Residents taking part in aqua spinning at Heartbeat@Bedok
Features of Heartbeat@Bedok
1. ActiveSG East Bedok Sports Centre
A swimming pool at Heartbeat@Bedok. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
- Four swimming pools with activities such as aqua spinning, which brings cycling into a swimming pool, as well as aqua zumba.
ActiveSG Gym (Level 6) at Heartbeat@Bedok. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The sheltered tennis court at Heartbeat@Bedok. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
- A gym, six sheltered tennis court and eight badminton courts.
2. Second and largest Active Health Lab
- Residents can take part in a free hour-long programme to learn how to manage their health and fitness levels. They can take a fitness assessment and receive a personalised reading of their health parameters such as body fat percentage.
3. Reopened Bedok Polyclinic
Heartbeat@Bedok houses the ActiveSG East Bedok Sports Centre, Bedok Public Library, Kampong Chai Chee Community Club, Bedok Polyclinic and a senior care centre. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
- Team-based care allows patients to go back to see the same group of doctors and health professionals each time, to foster a stronger and trusting relationship.
- Self-service kiosks allow patients to cut waiting time, and a self-collection box is available for patients and caregivers to collect repeat medication.
4. Bedok Public Library
- The library, which has two floors, has an area catering to young readers as well as a teens' study area.
- Strong collection of Malay language reading materials.
