District Highlights 2019-20

Enhancing Contact and Support for Singleton Elderly, Two-elder Families, and Their Carers through a Small-community Approach, Promoting Healthy and Active Ageing

The “Working Group on Enhancing Support to Singleton Elderly and Two-elder Families” (the Working Group), which was set up by the Eastern and Wan Chai District Social Welfare Office (District Social Welfare Office) in July 2017 with the collaboration of 6 District Elderly Community Centres (DECCs) and 7 Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) in the district, continued to step up efforts at district level to increase the elders’ and carers’ awareness of the available services, to enhance their motivation to receive services, and to strengthen the accessibility of the community support services.
The Eastern and Wan Chai districts were divided into 6 “small communities”. With the wisdom of the stakeholders, creative strategies and focused interventions, including the publications and distribution of promotional items with information on various service units in the district, were worked out by the Working Group to better address and support the needs of the singleton elderly and two-elder families in the small communities according to their uniqueness. As a further effort to strengthen the safety net for the needy elders at district level and to create a caring community for all, the District Social Welfare Office also worked jointly with different government departments and organisations, including the Home Affairs Department, the Housing Department and the Hong Kong Housing Society, and strengthened communication with other local organisations, owners’ corporations, and members of the District Councils.
The carers provide important support to the elderly so that they can receive continuous care in a familiar environment. To assist carers in taking care of their own needs, through our “2019 Caring Neighbourhood Sponsorship Scheme” (「友愛共融2019服務贊助計劃) (sponsorship scheme), welfare service units in the district were encouraged and subsidised to partner with another NGO, school, corporate, or local body in the district to organise programmes which included the soothing of care stress. With such valuable experiences and collaborative frameworks, the District Social Welfare Office collaborated with different welfare service units such as the DECCs, Neighborhood Elderly Centres, and IFSCs, to gradually set up different “Carer Hubs” in the district in 2019, providing space for carers to relax such that they could get acquainted with more fellow carers, support each other and build up a mutual support network while meeting their own needs.
The District Social Welfare Office continued its efforts to promote the Dementia Friendly Community Campaign and to enhance the public’s knowledge and awareness of dementia at district level by liaising with different stakeholders and organisations, and arranging “Dementia Friends” Information Sessions for them. Property management organisations were continuously invited to take part in the Support for Carers Project aiming at equipping their frontline property management personnel with the basic knowledge on how to identify and assist needy elderly persons with potential service needs, and connect them to the welfare service units for follow-up whenever necessary, hence building a caring neighbourhood.

Enhancing Family Relationship and Functioning, Supporting People with Disabilities and Their Carers, Building a Loving and Inclusive Community

To promote family harmony and enhance family functioning, the District Social Welfare Office launched “Love‧Family”, “Strengthen Families‧Build with Hearts” and “Love Kids” projects in 2019-20. A series of promotional events, training and workshops were organised to promote family services and resources in the districts as well as to encourage positive orientations, family harmony, and social inclusions. The activities also encouraged family members to have better communication with each other and enjoy the family time together, thereby fostering the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and elders and youths to strengthen family functioning. There were altogether 14 000 participants in various activities in 2019-20. In April 2019, the “Happy Family Month - Exploring the Nature” was organised by the District Social Welfare Office and IFSCs in the district, attracting a total of 65 families with over 190 participants. Apart from enjoying a meaningful and fruitful day in the nature, the participants also learned how they could communicate with and relate to their family members more positively.
The District Social Welfare Office is concerned about the needs of the persons with disabilities (PwDs) and their carers. Through professional exchanges, visits, and the sponsorship scheme, the District Social Welfare Office was committed to enhancing the frontline workers’ understanding of PwDs, and alleviating the stress of carers. With the concerted efforts and collaborations of different family and rehabilitation services units, welfare agencies serving ethnic minorities, non-Chinese speaking schools and other service units in the district, purposeful and diversified programmes such as the “MTR Art Gallery”, visits to ethnic minority groups, and volunteer training were tailor-made and organised to foster social integration and build a caring community.

Concern for the Physical and Mental Health and Development of Young People and Promotion of Cross-sectoral Collaboration and Volunteer Work

To foster positive values among young people and enhance their mental well-being, the Working Group on Promotion of Positive Psychology among Young People of the District Social Welfare Office mobilised 8 youth service units and 2 Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness (ICCMWs) in the districts to jointly organise a school promotion programme on positive psychology in 2019-20. Visits were paid to secondary and primary schools in the districts, interactive booths and magic shows on the themes of cultural, physical and mental health and sharing sessions by rehabilitated persons were organised to foster the positive attitude of cherishing life among young people and encourage them to stay away from drugs. The District Social Welfare Office also co-organised a sharing session with the Hong Kong East District School Development Section and the Wan Chai District School Development Section of the Education Bureau on 6 September 2019. A psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist gave talks on “identification of and assistance to students with emotional needs” and “dealing with the possible tense relationship among students”, while representatives of ICCMWs shared on community support services, such that secondary and primary schools could provide better support for students in the new academic year. 104 participants from 56 schools including principals, vice-principals, guidance teachers and teachers participated in the sharing session.
Concerned about the career development of young people, the District Social Welfare Office co-ordinated with and facilitated elderly and rehabilitation service units in the districts to launch a job shadowing programme to assist young people in life planning, raise their awareness in helping the elderly and the disadvantaged and foster their interests in joining the social welfare care sector. A total of 15 elderly/rehabilitation service units in the districts offered placement opportunities for the youngsters to attach to their units, and 65 students from 7 schools joined the programme. Besides, the District Social Welfare Office has been endeavoring to build up a caring and inclusive community through Volunteer Movement. The District Social Welfare Office, with assistance of 15 NGOs and a secondary school, organised the “Volunteers Luncheon Sharing” (《社區融和發放「義」能》— 義工分享午聚) on 23 February 2019 to give recognition to the outstanding volunteers, caring corporates and caring shops in the Eastern and Wan Chai districts. Three outstanding volunteer groups were invited to share their experience in volunteerism.

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