Jockey Club launches project to bring end-of-life care to disabled Hongkongers
Building on the success of a 10-year support project targeting the elderly, the new five-year initiative launched on Monday would be expected to serve more than 3,000 physically and intellectually disabled people, those in mental recovery and about 4,000 carers.
Under the project, frontline workers from 10 non-governmental organisations underwent training from mid-2024 to deliver support services, ranging from advance care planning to life and death education, primarily in care home settings.
During the process of advance care planning, patients would be guided to express their preferences in areas such as personal goals and treatment expectations, and in making advance directives for refusing life-sustaining procedures such as resuscitation and artificial feeding and hydration when they are dying.
Other services included honouring the final wishes of clients, facilitating communication with family members and providing bereavement support.
Professor Amy Chow Yin-man, project director and head of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said the end-of-life care model for disabled people was underdeveloped worldwide.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China vows stronger biotech support as deals with global pharmaceutical giants surge
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for stronger policy support for the biotech industry, as part of efforts to bolster innovation in a sector that has witnessed a boom in recent years. 'The biopharmaceutical industry is both a strategic emerging sector and vital to public health,' he said during an inspection in Beijing on Wednesday, as reported by the state-run Xinhua News Agency. 'Efforts should be made to strengthen original innovation, address core technological challenges and mobilise resources from the government and market to achieve breakthroughs quickly.' Li also urged research institutes to focus on global frontiers and critical areas, while training top talent to establish a solid foundation for the sector's development. His remarks came as Chinese biotech developers continue to sign increasing numbers of out-licensing agreements with multinational pharmaceutical companies. Out-licensing involves biotech firms selling drug candidates, which have often completed Phase I and II trials in China, to global partners. Chinese drug developers have widely adopted the model to ease financial pressures in an industry where embracing new therapeutic approaches has proven cash-intensive and carries a high risk of failure. With China's healthcare system largely government-funded, steep price cuts under its national insurance scheme also limit domestic profitability.
South China Morning Post
9 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Malaysian teen plays 30 instruments, Hong Kong mooncake deals: 7 Lifestyle highlights
We have selected seven Lifestyle and Culture stories from the past seven days that resonated with our readers. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing When you hear the word copper, you may think of the malleable reddish-orange metal used in electrical wiring, plumbing, construction and jewellery that tends to turn your skin green. But copper also helps support cognitive functions that can help prevent Alzheimer's, experts say. Tim Friede, a US truck mechanic turned self-taught snake expert, has what has been described as 'super immunity' to snake venom: he has been bitten more than 200 times over nearly two decades by some of the world's most poisonous snakes. A dish at Samsen in Wan Chai. Photo: Samsen Photographer and cinematographer Guy Bertrand reveals his favourite Hong Kong restaurants for noodles, dim sum, curries, Thai food and more.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong records first case of Japanese encephalitis in 6 years
Hong Kong has recorded its first case of Japanese encephalitis in six years after a 49-year-old woman was diagnosed with the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease upon returning from the Philippines. The Centre for Health Protection said on Wednesday that the imported case involved a foreign woman who was in a stable condition. She had travelled to the Philippines between July 21 and August 4, including visiting rural areas. 'Since the patient stayed in the Philippines during the incubation period, the centre considered that she was infected during travel, and the case was classified as an imported one,' it said. The centre said the woman suffered from a fever, headache and vomiting from August 10 and had sought medical help from the accident and emergency department of Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin two days later. The Japanese encephalitis virus is principally transmitted by the bites of infected mosquitoes. Photo: Shutterstock. She was hospitalised last Thursday when she visited the hospital for a second time due to persistent symptoms.
