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The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
In order to benefit more eligible persons, the Community Care Fund (CCF) today (May 7) decided to extend the application period of the assistance programme on "Subsidy for Elders who are on the Waiting List of Integrated Home Care Services (Ordinary Cases) for Household Cleaning and Escorting Services for Medical Consultations" to July 31, 2012.
Beneficiaries must be those aged 65 or above, on the waiting list for "Integrated Home Care Services (Ordinary Cases)" (IHCS) on or before March 31, 2012, currently living at home without receiving any community care services for the elderly subvented by the Social Welfare Department (SWD), and whose monthly household income does not exceed 75 per cent of the Median Monthly Domestic Household Income applicable to their household size.
This assistance programme aims to provide elderly people from low-income families who are living at home and on the waiting list of IHCS with a subsidy for household cleaning and escorting services for medical consultations.
Since the introduction of the programme in October 2011, arrangements have been made for nearly 700 eligible elderly people to benefit from services according to their needs. Eligible elderly people can receive household cleaning and escorting services for medical consultations provided by service providers for a maximum period of 12 months at a monthly service subsidy of $480.
To further promote the programme, the SWD has distributed the programme brief through service units in various districts, and also enlisted the assistance of 60 IHCS teams to introduce the programme to elderly people who are on the waiting list for IHCS and refer eligible elderly people to the SWD. Furthermore, the SWD is issuing letters to invite eligible elderly people to submit applications to its CCF Team.
For details of the assistance programme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call the SWD hotline (Tel: 2343 2255) or the CCF Team of the SWD (Tel: 3422 3090).
Ends/Monday, May 7, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:01
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