In 2006, a small support group for caregivers of People With Dementia (PWD) was established by Prof. Dr. Esther Ebenezer and Mr. Oh Boon Lian a retired teacher as well as a caregiver to his wife. The aim of the support group is to provide emotional support for the caregivers of PWD. A need for a dementia day care centre was raised by the caregivers and a fund raising dinner was organized on 20 Dec 2008 which raised more than RM 90,000.00. That was when our journey started.
Initially, we were operating as Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation Malaysia (ADFM) Perak branch until July 2010, but later we decided to be more autonomous rather than being affiliated with ADFM as a branch as local needs were high and we had to move on fast forward.
Hence, The Dementia Society Perak was formed and officially launched by Dato Dr. Mah Hang Soon, Perak State EXCO for Health on 25 Sept 2010. On that day late Mrs. Bebe Lim Sooi Eu kindly donated RM 10,000.00 to start our work for dementia care in Ipoh.
The following year from 13 May 2011 the family of Mr. Tan Kean Beng generously offered their family bungalow house to run the dementia day centre at 15, Jalan Foo Choong Nyit, 30450, Ipoh until we move to our new building, the BebeLEC Day Centre. The committee handed over the keys back to Mr. & Mrs. Tan on 21 June 2020.
Understanding our needs, the family of late Dr. & Mrs. (Bebe) Lim Eng Cheang kindly purchased a piece of land and had constructed a purpose built building to offer quality care for PWD. The ground breaking ceremony of the building was held on 08 Aug 2017 and the building was completed and the keys were handed over to the committee on 09 Sept 2019. The new building is named as BebeLEC Day Centre to honour the name of the donor.
The building was then fully furnished with carefully selected equipments and fittings suitable for PWD. As we were delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak, we eventually started operating from 20 July 2020 when the Movement Control Order was lifted.
BebeLEC Day Centre is strategically located in the heart of the city at the foot of the mountain at 56, Jalan Lang, Padang Tembak, 30000, Ipoh, Perak. This building stands as a state of the art purpose built building to accommodate up to 40 PWD where they will be therapeutically engaged for the day whilst their love ones who look after them receive some respite or be able to go to work. This is first of its kind in Malaysia that is purpose built with a sensory therapeutic garden around.
