"age at home" eNewsletter
2022 / Issue 2
The pandemic has been on a rampage for months, which inevitably affected our daily lives. The fifth wave has been severe, but we, Gerontech Education and Rental Service (Jockey Club “age at home”), have made our responsibility to support our seniors emotionally by providing ongoing services. We respond with agility, maintain regular services for the elders, and make sure their health is our priority.
Our Gerontech Education and Rental Service Centre suspended our services during the most severe months. Still, we had successfully organised our first public online tour, especially for the elders and their carers who stayed at home, and our peers in the sector. The event took place on 22 March with 100 participants who toured our service centres virtually. Our Care Equipment Counsellors introduced our demo home environment to help people better understand the needs of seniors and the importance of having the right gerontech equipment at home. Our participants also e-visited the largest gerontech cleaning and maintenance service centre in Hong Kong, equipped with 10 types of cleaning machines imported from Japan. They learnt about the cleaning, disinfection, quality check and maintenance process of our rental equipment.
One of the tour participants shared that “the online tour feels like a physical tour. The live video flows smoothly and we have all our questions answered during the Q&A session”. Some participants said that Jockey Club “age at home” was a vital service, especially as home care for the elderly is now the norm. We hope our services can reach more people and serve those in need.
Home assessment, equipment assembly and case-by-case follow-up are intrinsic parts of our service. This is why we have taken the extra steps to gear up and adopt new measures against the pandemic. Some of our actions include:
Virtual assessment — if our users or their family members prefer a contactless meet-up, our team will regularly offer virtual assessment and call our elderly to check in with them.
Rapid antigen test — all Jockey Club “age at home” staff will take a rapid antigen test before every home visit.
Disinfection — our staff will disinfect their hands and shoes before entering a household and wear a face mask and protective gown at all times.
During this challenging time, one of our rental service users, Ms Wong, had rented the shower commode chair and wheelchair with special functions (wheelchair and rollator in one). Her daughter shared that the Jockey Club “age at home” service team had responded and taken action promptly during the pandemic, which was very admirable indeed.
Seniors who live in elderly homes and care centres are among the most vulnerable during the pandemic. Jockey Club “age at home” took the initiative to lend out 30 free gerontech equipment to 10 service units, including nursing beds, automatic wrapping toilets, and portable hair wash devices etc, as to alleviate the burden of the carers and medical staff and cater to the needs of the elderly. Some organisations told us that the nursing beds came in handy as they did not have the resources to move beds around or purchase new beds for the quarantine patients, so our nursing beds came just when they needed them the most. The elders were pleased with the advanced bed models and the sanitised condition they came in.
As the pandemic recedes, we strive to provide more versatile services. Stay safe everyone and let’s hope for the best.
Hello, I’m a volunteer at Jockey Club “age at home”, and everyone calls me Candy. Though I’ve only joined “age at home” for a year and a bit, my journey has exceeded my expectations, and I’ve learned so much about gerontech.
I’m a homemaker but have had my share of experience in eldercare. But as more organisations closed their doors because of the pandemics, I came across Jockey Club “age at home” and after much encouragement from my daughter, I signed up to become a volunteer at the Jockey Club “age at home” Gerontech Education and Rental Service Centre. I’m mainly in charge of two things here: outdoor booth setup to promote our services at different housing estates where I may be required to organise different game sessions to mingle with the elders and other participants; another thing that I do at the service centre is introducing different types of equipment to our participants during the guided tours. I find this task extremely fulfilling. It’s my honour to show off our equipment to so many people, especially the non-official members of the Executive Council.
Volunteering at Jockey Club “age at home” has helped me identify different gerontech equipment for the elderly and appreciate the hard work of other carers, especially when it comes to making life easier for the older adults through gerontech. On a personal level, I hope to introduce gerontech into my household and improve the living quality of my 90-year-old mother. But you know, they don’t want us to spend money on them or clutter the house, so I brought her to the centre to try out different equipment and hear from the professionals. This is so much more effective than persuading her myself! I really enjoy my work here — the personal gratification of helping others and my mother motivates me to keep volunteering and spread the joy of using gerontech.
Ageing can lead to physical changes, often compromising the swallowing function in the elders and causing stress for their carers. With this in mind, Jockey Club “age at home” is organising an exhibition “Eating Made Easy with Gerontech” to help people understand more about dysphagia.
The exhibition explains dysphagia from a medical perspective and introduces soft diets. We also showcase gerontech equipment/ devices for dysphagia rehabilitation. Jockey Club “age at home” works with different organisations to curate workshops for the public to understand dysphagia through first-hand experience. Simple dysphagia tests will also be offered to those in need with follow-up support.
Our workshops, “Soft Diet” online workshop, co-organised with soft diet company My Care Healthcare and Hong Kong Care Food, and “How to Eat with Ease” online workshop co-organised with Haven of Hope Christian Service, had been a success. We demonstrated ways to cook scrumptious soft diet meals, introduced sitting poses, cognitive health and tips on feeding that might affect eating behaviour, followed by an online tour to the Jockey Club “age at home” Gerontech Education and Rental Service Centre.
Did you miss out? Don’t worry, we’ll be organising the final event with the Swallowing Research Laboratory of the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. The “Gerontech and Rehabilitation Exercises on Swallowing” Online Workshop will be held on 10 June and 24 June. In this event, speakers will introduce simple rehabilitation exercises to enhance swallowing and gerontech equipment related to speech therapy, oral care and feeding.
The workshop is completely free, please join us!
Find out more
“Eating Made Easy with Gerontech” Exhibition and Jockey Club “age at home” Gerontech Education and Rental Service Centre are now open to visits by appointment. All are welcome to contact with us for details by phone or email. (*Appointment on the current day is also open)
Tel:3153 5252
e-mail:ersc@ageathome.hk