On September 1, the Hong Kong Government announced the regularization of the Community Care Services Voucher Scheme for the Elderly (the Scheme), with an increase in the number of beneficiaries and the scope of the vouchers. Eligible elders who pay a minimum of $215 can purchase $4,290 worth of community vouchers. The vouchers can be used to purchase a wide range of elderly services, including rehabilitation and exercise services, home services, escort services, meal services, and so on.
Fong Wah's mother is now 85 years old. She is suffering from a chronic illness and was diagnosed with bone marrow two years ago. Since then, she has to use a wheelchair to get around, and she also suffers from hypertension and diabetes, so she has to go in and out of the hospital frequently. Fong Wah lives in a public housing unit with her mother and father, who is retired and unemployed. Her father and Fong Wah take turns to take care of her mother, but they are struggling to do so, and Fong Wah is the only breadwinner in the family.
"My mom is 85 years old, she has many chronic illnesses, she was diagnosed with wither two years ago and has to be wheelchair bound since then, she also has high blood pressure and diabetes and has to go to and from the hospital all the time. I live with my mom and dad, my dad has retired and is not doing anything, my dad and I take turns to take care of my mom, it is very hard for us, we have been trying to find some community care services to help us, but we don't know how to apply for them, we don't know if there are any services that suit us, and we don't have money to pay for a worker.
Because of my busy schedule, I can only take care of my mom in the morning and at night, while my dad has to take care of her during the day. However, my dad is very old and sometimes he doesn't remember to give my mom her medication or measure her blood pressure, and sometimes he is too tired and overwhelmed to take care of her. I feel so sad to see them working so hard, but there is nothing I can do to ease the burden on my family.
Until I met the staff of Sunyu. She told me that I know about the Community Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly. He told me about the information and benefits of the program. He said that the Hong Kong government announced on September 1 that the scheme would be made permanent to allow eligible elderly to use the vouchers to choose their own community care services according to their needs. The vouchers can be used to purchase a wide range of elderly services, including rehabilitation exercises, care services, escort services and household cleaning services.
I was very interested in the program and thought it could help me and my family. The staff at Sunyu suggested that I should first help my mom to apply for the Standardized Care Need Assessment for the Elderly from the elderly service units in the district. He said that after my mom had undergone the assessment, the SWD would send letters to eligible elders newly registered on the Central Waiting List, inviting them to apply for community vouchers.
I am grateful to the staff of Sunyu for introducing the program and giving us a ray of hope. I hope this program can help my mom to get better care and relieve the burden of my dad and me. I also hope that this story will make more needy elderly and homeowners know about the benefits of this program and apply for it as soon as possible."
"The Community Care Services Voucher Scheme for the Elderly adopts a "money-follows-the-user" approach to enable eligible elders to use the vouchers to choose suitable community care services according to their individual needs, with a view to supporting them to age in place. The Scheme covers all 18 districts in Hong Kong and will be implemented from September 1, 2023 onwards with the following new measures:
The scope of the community vouchers was extended to cover rental services of assistive technology products to enhance the quality of life of the elderly and reduce the pressure on carers;
community voucher holders may purchase services from two recognized service units at the same time, so as to increase the flexibility of using community vouchers; and
Launched the Elderly Service Voucher Information System, which allows community voucher holders to check the status of their vouchers and search for recognized service units in real time through the system, and to download the monthly service schedule so that they can receive services on time. If you or your elderly friends have any problems in their daily lives, please feel free to contact us at Sunyu and we will be happy to serve as a support for the elderly. For details of the Elderly Community Care Service Voucher Program, please click the link below:
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