"age at home" eNewsletter
2021 / Issue 2
Ever since its launch, Jockey Club’s “age at home” initiative has become the talk of the town. As an integral part of “Service Close-Up”, we will cover the story of “age at home” rental user, Mrs Lai, to help you better understand the ‘five essential steps’ of our rental service.
Mrs Lai is now 93 years old. Unfortunately, her mobility has been adversely affected by pneumonia and now requires a wheelchair in and out of her house. Our Education and Rental Service Centre had referred Mrs Lai's case to our rental service team, who went out of their way to ensure she would receive timely assistance.
Our rental service team that comprised of occupational therapists and social workers visited Mrs Lai at home. Our occupational therapist examined Mrs Lai’s cognitive capacity, self-care ability and living environment. On the other hand, our social worker assessed her physical and social needs to provide the best support and care. We also worked with other social organizations to ensure Mrs Lai has access to various social service centres and resources. As she suffers from reduced mobility, our social worker has recommended Mrs Lai and her family to sign up for mobility rehabilitation programmes hosted by NGOs that might slow down her decline.
Since our home visit, we now understand that Mrs Lai not only requires the wheelchair but is increasingly reliant on her carer. This is why we recommended her to rent a hospital bed with extra low position and a mobile shower chair. The profiling hospital bed can be repositioned to level with Mrs Lai’s wheelchair for easier transfers, while knee brake adjustability provides a comfortable sitting position that can prevent her from sliding forward. The highly adjustable hospital bed also opens up Mrs Lai’s visual field, making communication and daily activities easier. The mobile shower chair can go anywhere and minimises bathroom accidents. It also offers a cutout seat that greatly simplifies the cleaning and washing process.
After Mrs Lai and her family made up their minds, our team consolidated a rental agreement and service terms before delivering the equipment.
Once the equipment had arrived, our team member provided on-site assembly assistance and equipment customisation service. Our occupational therapist taught Mrs Lai and her carer to fully utilise and maximise the equipment functions. Our staff also provided an easy-to-read operation guide and demonstration video for their future reference.
Our Care Equipment Counsellors will check in regularly (the third day, the first month, the third month, the sixth month and the first year) with the elderly and their carer on their progress, changes in the elder's physical health and living environment. If necessary, we will further adjust the equipment to meet different needs, and our social workers will give suggestions accordingly.
We chatted with Mrs Lai and her carer, and they both agreed that the equipment had made their lives so much easier. Mrs Lai said she could enjoy a good night's sleep without waking up in the middle of the night.
We hope you are well informed of the 'five essential steps' of our rental service. Our mission is to better understand and serve the needs of the elderly through our gerontech equipment education and rental service, so to pave the way for a truly convenient living environment for the elderly.
Before joining Jockey Club’s “age at home” initiative, I had spent more than 20 years in private sector doing maintenance work. You might ask why I would join an NGO. Well, I used to be an avid volunteer and had a wealth of experience with the elderly. I noticed a surge in their demand for assistive equipment at a certain point — sometimes it was a wheelchair or a walking aid, but the equipment often outlasted their owners and had to be discarded though it was good as new, creating a huge waste. I wanted to change this, so as soon as I heard about Gerontech Education and Rental Service, I knew I had to join them.
As the Maintenance Manager, I am primarily in charge of quality checking, maintenance and repair of all gernotech equipment at the centre, but I also visit different homes to provide on-site assembly assistance for the hospital bed. Before I started my job, I thought the hospital bed only benefited the user, but I realised the carers were equally invested during my home visits. They had the elderly’s best interest in mind and asked many questions to provide the best care for them. Only after talking to them do I understand the actual benefits of a hospital bed — it enables the elderly to sleep better, reduces the occurrence of bedsores and takes a lot of weight off the carer. This is particularly important for older carers, often the elderly’s spouse, who is relatively frail, and the bed reduces the risk of injury. With these user insights, we become more considerate of the carers’ needs when we fine-tune the equipment. We can easily adjust the looseness of the equipment parts or on-off button for the carer as long as it is safe.
Apart from my day-to-day tasks, going to the Gerotech and Innovation Expo cum Summit with my team is also a meaningful part of my work. I often meet curious elderly and their families that inquire about different gernotech equipment, meaning there is a growing demand in society. I hope that more elderly and their carers in the community will know about us and benefit from our services. I am now in my mid-forties, so one day, I might benefit from our services too!
This October, Jockey Club “age at home” will host a launch ceremony for our Gerontech Education and Rental Service. To commemorate this milestone, we have prepared a host of exciting programmes that will be streamed on Facebook. Our programme is open to everyone, and you can have a sneak peek first!
Please join the celebration with our funder The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, organizer The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, and core partners Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service — Hong Kong, Hong Kong Red Cross and St. James Settlement. Representatives from each organization will share their thoughts on “Smart Ageing in Place” and co-creating an age-friendly environment. We will also invite elders from different centres to witness this crucial moment with us. On the day, a demonstration video introducing our core services will make its appearance, alongside service users who will share their stories with all of us.
For more exciting programmes, stay tuned for our Facebook updates and live streams!
From now until August, “age at home” is offering free occupational therapy assessment and consultation session for the elderly and their carers to find out more about gerontech equipment, our services and their benefits.
Occupational assessment includes:
Cognitive ability
Assess the elderly’s long-term and short-term memory, as well as memory association with people, time, and orientation. The elderly’s attention span, logic and reasoning ability will also be considered.
Self-care ability
Assess the elderly’s personal hygiene, eating habits and daily routine, which include eating, grooming, dressing, toileting and bathing.
Living environment
Assess the elderly’s ability to cook meals, shop, use their money sensibly and keep the house clean. We will also take into account their risk of falling at home.
Social ability
Assess the elderly’s ability to use public transports or go to the bank, among other social facilities. The elderly’s safety awareness will also be evaluated.
Upon completing the assessment, our centre will provide personal training for the elderly and their carer. For instance, we will design a rehabilitation programme for the elderly and provide training that utilizes gerontech equipment. We encourage the elderly to embrace technology for their safety at home and purposes of rehabilitation. As for the carer, we will try to understand their hurdles before providing proper training to alleviate their stress.
After the assessment, we might suggest a home visit depending on the elderly’s condition. We will assess the elderly's living environment and make suggestions based on home safety, assistive equipment required for their daily needs and operations, and accessible community resources.
The offer is available now until August. For further inquiries, please call 3153 5353 or email ersc@ageathome.hk.