Charity: Rajah & Tann’s Focus on the Elderly

This February marks the premiere of Singapore Tatler’s new monthly ‘Giving’ column, one dedicated to profiling community service and charity initiatives by individuals and companies. We inaugurate this new column with the big-hearted initiatives going on over at Southeast Asia’s largest law firm, Rajah & Tann.

Chandra Mohan Rethnam
 

The firm is renowned for its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) – it received the inaugural Volunteer Of The Year Award for large-sized law practices in 2009. Besides donating money to charities, the firm’s lawyers also form one of the largest number of volunteers for pro bono legal services, providing legal advice to people without sufficient means to hire lawyers, via free legal clinics at community development councils. In 2010, it became the first law firm in Singapore to launch a charity foundation, funded by a percentage of the firm’s profits.

Grant applications and programme proposals are assessed by the Rajah & Tann Foundation’s Grant Advisory Committee, led by chairman and Rajah & Tann partner, Chandra Mohan Rethnam. The rest of the committee comprises partners, lawyers and staff members.

The service helps about 200 senior citizens who suffer from multiple chronic diseases and face problems with taking their medication correctly

Rethnam, who specialises in commercial litigation, says that establishing the foundation is Rajah & Tann’s way of committing to charitable endeavours in a more organised and hands-on way. “In the past, we gave money to charities as and when we were asked. It was quite ad hoc,” he says. “Now we focus on programmes we can be directly involved in and monitor closely. With this approach, we participate in a more meaningful way.”

One key project funded by the foundation is the Blister Medication Packaging service, organised by the Society of Moral Charities and administered at the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. The service helps about 200 senior citizens who suffer from multiple chronic diseases and face problems with taking their medication correctly.

“Many of these beneficiaries live alone and don’t really read or speak English,” he notes. “If they take their medication wrongly, or forget to take any medication, their health deteriorates.”

The hospital checks all the medication to ensure there is no duplication, and that the elderly are not taking medication with effects that counteract one another. The medication is then consolidated and packaged for the beneficiaries according to the time of day each pill is meant to be consumed.

Rajah & Tann has contributed about $100,000 to the project to date and has been monitoring the results for the past six months. “The practical and easily evaluated nature of the project proved a good fit for the foundation,” says Rethnam. “At the launch of this project, we heard from the senior citizens present that they found this service very useful. Going forward, we can check with the hospital on whether they complied with the schedule for their medication, and with doctors on how their patients are benefitting from the project.”

In the near future, Rethnam hopes to introduce this service in more hospitals, and perhaps even propose for it to be a nationwide project taken up by the Ministry of Health. “Singapore has an ageing population, so it would be good to have a structure like this in place.”

The firm has received positive feedback from some judges, who commented that they were glad to see a local law firm focusing on charitable initiatives for the elderly – these are relatively scarce in Singapore compared to the number of charities for children and the disabled.

In 2012, Rajah & Tann plans to continue this focus on the elderly by taking over the operating costs of an eldercare centre, and encouraging the firm’s staff to partake in activities such as serving lunch and spending time with the residents.

The child of Tamil school teachers, this graduate of the National University of Singapore and the University of Cambridge professes to come from a humble background. “I have been fortunate in life – I received a good education and now earn a decent living. I am glad that I can make a difference by giving back to society.”
 

Photography: Raymond Lee, Capsule Productions

This story is adapted from “Leading the Way”, published in Singapore Tatler’s February 2012 issue