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With the advent of the winter solstice and the recent cold weather, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited some elderly residents in Lok Man Sun Chuen in Kowloon City today (December 17) to express his care and warm wishes for the festive season.
Together with social workers of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Lok Man Alice Kwok Integrated Service Centre, Mr Cheung presented the elderly residents with gift packs of items for keeping them warm and reminded them to take extra care in the cold weather and seek assistance from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) whenever necessary.
"The SWD and welfare NGOs are standing ready to render assistance to persons in need now that winter has arrived. Earlier this week, the SWD requested all district service units to proactively get in touch with and provide appropriate support to people in special circumstances, including single elders and persons with chronic diseases," Mr Cheung said.
"When the Cold Weather Warning is in force, the SWD will request Support Teams for the Elderly (STEs) attached to the 41 District Elderly Community Centres in the territory and district elderly service units to remind elderly persons through phone calls about weather changes and relevant winter precautionary measures. They will also proactively approach and follow up with single elderly persons and provide them with essential warm items according to individual needs," he added.
Mr Cheung pointed out that the STEs and 168 Neighbourhood Elderly Centres have been making use of various outreach services and district social networks to locate potential elderly service users to show concern and render assistance to them, thus helping them to continue living in the community. It is anticipated that from October this year till March next year, over 2 500 winter care programmes will be operated in various districts, benefiting some 90 000 elderly people.
He said the SWD will closely monitor the relevant service needs and take appropriate measures to strengthen support for those in need. He encouraged members of the public to show concern and care for relatives and neighbouring elderly people, especially those who are living alone, so as to cultivate a culture of care and mutual help in the community. Anyone in need can call the SWD Hotline at 2343 2255 for assistance.
Ends/Thursday, December 17, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:07
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