************************************************************
The Director of Social Welfare, Mr Patrick Nip, tonight (December 17) joined elderly volunteers to visit and bring warmth to the elderly who are frail or living alone in Kwun Tong.
The urban area saw the mercury dropping to 12 degree celsius at night, while the temperature was expected to fall further to 11 degree celsius over the weekend. In the cold weather, Mr Nip and elderly volunteers prepared some warm items as gift packs for the home visits.
Living alone at Tak Tin Estate in Lam Tin, 95-year-old Mr Tsang is currently a service user of the local District Elderly Community Centre (DECC), including regular home visits. Subsidies were also granted to him for fitting his home with an emergency alarm system for the elderly as a safety precaution.
Even though it was the first time Mr Nip and the elderly volunteers met Mr Tsang, they chatted about their daily lives and health tips as if they were old friends. Mr Nip talked and listened attentively to the elderly and presented a gift pack to Mr Tsang, hoping that he would take extra care in the cold weather.
Going along with Mr Nip's visit were veteran volunteers, including 64-year-old Madam Ng. Having participated in volunteer service for four years, not only was she enthusiastic in paying home visits to the elderly, but also a volunteer dancing instructor at the local DECC.
Mr Nip extended his heartfelt thanks to Madam Ng, who always remembered the needs of other elders by heart and dedicated her time, love and care to the "old friends". She also served as a role model for young people to follow her footsteps in volunteer service.
The home visits tonight were co-organised by the Kwun Tong District Social Welfare Office of the Social Welfare Department and the elderly and rehabilitation services units in the district. Elderly and disabled volunteers are recruited and trained to pay home visits to the elderly in need, during which the latter are be given warm items as well as information on health and elderly services. Caring activities of this sort were also held in other districts across the territory.
There are 41 DECCs in Hong Kong. Each has a designated elderly support team which makes every effort to locate the elderly in need of welfare services and maintains regular contacts with them through visits or phone calls to provide direct support or make the necessary referrals. Currently, the teams have 33,000 volunteers, including 8,300 aged 60 or above. The department's Central Office for Volunteer Service also has 110,000 volunteers aged 60 or above in its registry. All these have demonstrated the worthiness of the elderly.
Ends/Thursday, December 17, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:15
NNNN
