TITLE:
Integrated and Seamless Services for Active Aging, a Model for Zhuhai
AUTHORS:
H. C. J. Wong, Y. F. Ng, X. L. Yuan
KEYWORDS:
Integrated Care, Active Aging, Seamless Care, Social Innovations
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.2 No.6,
October
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: The Aging Tsunami as it is often quoted to
describe the worrying situations of rapidly aging in China has not met with
detail planning in facilities upgrade and careful consideration in service
models. Broad brushed central policies categorizes services into home care,
community care and institutional care and set policy goals at 90-6-4,
representing the percentage of older people in receiving respective care. This
leaves local officials helpless on how these ideals can be actualized. Some
cities have inclined to build huge older people homes and pour resources into
institutional care, forgetting the need for older people to be connected with
the society. This paper reviews the historical developments of older people
services in Hong Kong and recommends an integrative model of social work
services connecting institutional, community and home care into a seamless
network. The city of Zhuhai will be presented as a perfect experimental city on
how its existing facilities can be converted and developed according to the
model. Survey on the situations of the 16 public older people homes will be
used to illustrate the potentials of an integrative model.