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Abstract

Hong Kong has limited formal social protection programmes, as is common in other East Asian cities and countries where the elderly have been traditionally cared for by family members. However, families are increasingly financially strained, as the population is experiencing rapidly declining birth rates and an ageing population. This has led to a generation of adults - who are often the only child - charged with the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents as well as their own children without having the additional support of siblings. The unfortunate consequence of this is a lack of provision of quality elderly care. Moreover, a policy solution based on public welfare support is becoming more and more unattainable as the workforce-dependency ratio in the Hong Kong society is deteriorating. This case study, therefore, provides an illustrative example of how one organisation, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA), is working to relieve the pressures of a rapidly ageing population by enabling active, ageing-in-place principles. SCHSA is a self-financing social enterprise and charitable organisation in Hong Kong that provides quality self-funding services at a low cost to empower the elderly to live independent, healthier and rewarding lives and with dignity, in their communities. It accomplishes this through the smart use of partnerships and information technology. But is this a tenable model to meet Hong Kong’s ageing needs, and if so, could it be replicated elsewhere?
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2014

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Abstract

Hong Kong has limited formal social protection programmes, as is common in other East Asian cities and countries where the elderly have been traditionally cared for by family members. However, families are increasingly financially strained, as the population is experiencing rapidly declining birth rates and an ageing population. This has led to a generation of adults - who are often the only child - charged with the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents as well as their own children without having the additional support of siblings. The unfortunate consequence of this is a lack of provision of quality elderly care. Moreover, a policy solution based on public welfare support is becoming more and more unattainable as the workforce-dependency ratio in the Hong Kong society is deteriorating. This case study, therefore, provides an illustrative example of how one organisation, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA), is working to relieve the pressures of a rapidly ageing population by enabling active, ageing-in-place principles. SCHSA is a self-financing social enterprise and charitable organisation in Hong Kong that provides quality self-funding services at a low cost to empower the elderly to live independent, healthier and rewarding lives and with dignity, in their communities. It accomplishes this through the smart use of partnerships and information technology. But is this a tenable model to meet Hong Kong’s ageing needs, and if so, could it be replicated elsewhere?

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Location:
Industry:
Other setting(s):
2014

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