FAQs
CARA is a lifestyle and community digital platform that provides easy access for persons living with dementia and caregivers to connect to an ecosystem of solutions via a mobile application.
Reflecting the vision of Dementia Singapore to be a dementia inclusive society, CARA is a pioneering model of care that aims to create meaningful connections among persons living with dementia, their caregivers and society. It is a movement to educate and inspire society to regard and respect persons living with dementia as valued individuals who can continue to thrive in the community.
CARA also serves as a key touchpoint for members, providing personalised support across the journey of living with and caring for dementia, empowering them to lead meaningful and purposeful lives.
Dementia Singapore, formerly known as the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA), was given the privilege by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to take over the Safe Return Card (SRC) Programme. Dementia Singapore is proud to continue the legacy of the programme started by NCSS more than 10 years ago.
We will build upon the foundations and legacy of the Safe Return Card (SRC) Programme to ensure greater access and support for persons living with dementia and their caregivers.
No, Dementia Singapore was formerly known as the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA). The organisation has been around since 1990, and has been Singapore’s leading establishment in dementia care.
To serve the larger dementia community in Singapore, ADA was rebranded to become Dementia Singapore. With our new branding, we hope to continue and improve on the current work we do and expand on existing services to further benefit the wider society.
Yes, please register for your CARA membership through the CARA mobile application or the webpage at cara.sg. This is so that we can capture information updates and keep the most current version of your details, to facilitate a good user experience for you.
The NCSS Safe Return Card (SRC) can still be used as an identifier. However, all SRC benefits will be ceased and NCSS will no longer provide any support to SRC members. Hence, it is encouraged that existing members sign up for CARA which is replacing the SRC initiative.
Yes, you can download and sign-up for CARA as a Member of Public – refer to Member of Public section.
We are always on the lookout for partners who share the same mission of supporting our members – persons living with dementia and caregivers.
You get to be part of the community that is driving the change towards a dementia inclusive society! Your brand will also be featured to a wide audience of both Caregivers and Persons Living with Dementia.
Let’s get connected! Reach us at [email protected] and we will get back to you.
Please encourage the family members of the person living with dementia to sign up direct on CARA as the caregiver. If the person living with dementia does not have family members who can be caregivers, please email [email protected] to notify us so that we can reply with a solution.
Can’t find an answer to your question? Our team is here to support you. Please reach out to us at [email protected] with your question and we will get back to you within 1-3 business days.
Yes, you may! This is dependent on the account approval of the person living with dementia, and his/her approval of the caregiver tag. All subsequent caregivers will be approved once the tagging is accepted by the person living with dementia.
We encourage caregivers to be family members of person living with dementia as they will be the long-term contact should the need arises.
Yes, it is! Memberships are free.
No. CARA does not collect medical documents. However, there is a section where you need to provide information (relevant to the persons living with dementia) on medical appointments and hospital visits for membership registration purposes.
The function “Add new Caregiver/Persons I am caring for” is a function that we included for more Family Caregivers to tag existing approved members with Dementia or create additional Persons with Dementia accounts.
An example would be, if any other of your family members would like to be tagged to your loved one as an additional caregiver, they can use the “Add new Persons I am Caring for” and choose “Person has CARA account” to tag the person living with dementia to their account. Hence, once you and your loved one’s account has been approved, do encourage your family members to sign up as caregivers and tag the member living with dementia as their loved one.
Please do note that in order for the tagging to work, you would have to enter the Person Living with Dementia account to approve the tag request.
We aim to approve your membership within 7 working days. However, we seek your patience that in the event of an influx of applications, it may take our team more time to approve your application.
Please note that for a complete registration, both caregiver and person living with dementia account will have to be created in the same registration process (meaning, once the caregiver account/person living with dementia account has been created, the system will prompt you to create the account of a person living with dementia/caregiver). This will ensure a complete registration.
Please do give our team some time to consolidate all the details to be sent for printing. As the cards are printed in batches, do expect around 2 weeks waiting time from the time your account has been approved.
We thank you for your patience as the team works hard to bring the cards to you as soon as they can. Please do note that by default we will be sending the card to the address of the Person Living with Dementia.
Please download the instructions guide to assist you in your registration here.
Alternatively, you may view a video guide here.
If you require further assistance, please reach us at [email protected]
If your loved one is a client of a social agency, do reach out to us at [email protected] to see if we can work an arrangement with the organisation to best support you.
There may be a few reasons such as technical issues or incomplete applicant information. There may be a need for our team to contact you to follow up on the details that you have submitted. Please do give us some time.
Please contact the CARA team at [email protected] to report the loss.
You may change some details in the “My Profile” section of the CARA app. If there are information that cannot be changed (e.g. NRIC), please contact the CARA team at [email protected] for assistance.
The Member of Public Tier serves to provide the community, who are not Caregivers or Persons Living with Dementia, a platform to find out and learn about the condition. Given the increase in number of Persons Living with Dementia, we hope this will help Singapore to move towards a more dementia-inclusive society.
Members of Public who sign up on CARA can get access to educational resources on all topics related to Dementia.
You can view open reports of missing persons with dementia which have been submitted by caregivers, and play a valuable role in helping to look out for the missing persons. You will also receive push notifications through the CARA app whenever a new missing report is submitted.
CARA members will also be able to enjoy certain programmes and events hosted by Dementia Singapore in the future.
No you don’t! The Safe return feature on the CARA membership card for Persons Living with Dementia just needs a QR code scanner on any smartphone and you need not sign up for an account. However, you may wish to sign up as member of public to enhance your dementia-related knowledge and understand how to effectively assist a person with dementia, if the need arises.
As a CARA member, you will also receive notifications of Missing Persons and can play a valuable role in helping to look out for missing persons with dementia.
Yes, you can! To convert to a Caregiver account, all you need to do is go to “My Profile” > “Persons I am Caring for” and create a new Person Living with Dementia or Tag an Existing CARA member who is living with Dementia.
The CARA team is always looking to improve the app, and will be adding more features in the future. Please reach out to us if you have comments or suggestions!
