A CB-led community care project
has attracted funding of over HK$
23 million from the Bank of China.
"HomAge: Home-based Aging for
Transformative Community Care," a
strategic collaboration with the Jockey
Club School of Public Health and
Primary Care, the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, is one of the selected
projects for the Bank of China’s
Centenary Charity Programme.
Project leader, Dean Frank Chen
said, "HomAge has the potential to
transform Hong Kong’s community care
by providing home nursing through
small, self-managed neighbourhood
teams supported by an array of
innovative technologies."
The HomAge pilot project intends
to implement a home-based care
programme, based on the Buurtzorg
nurse-led model of holistic care that
has revolutionised community care
around the world. This localisation
of the Buurtzorg model will explore
a prototype of a sustainable Public-private
partnership homecare
scheme, and deliver an innovative
home-based care workforce. The
project will introduce the role of care
coordinators and equip them with a
case management approach and health
coaching qualification.
Further partners include social service
organisations, Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council, Hong Kong Christian
Service, and Tung Wah Group of
Hospitals; medical service provider
Queen Elizabeth Hospital; pioneering
healthcare organisation Buurtzorg
Asia Pacific; and academic partner
The Institute of Vocational Education
(Shatin). The project aims to transform
the ecology of institutional elderly care
and centre-based health management
by facilitating "aging-in-place" with
sufficient quality homecare support,
and is set to benefit some 5000 people
over a three-year period.
HomAge will feature a range of
innovative technologies – an IT platform
for service planning and coordination,
and a series of portable person-centred
devices to support home-based care.
The IT solution is based on a framework
which allows real-time collaboration
between project teams.
The data management team will
link the community health profile
of project participants with medical
service utilisation. The linked dataset
aims to develop an evidence-based
screening programme to optimise
service utilisation across the elderly
care continuum, support medical-social
service integration, and tackle the
institutional challenges of a fast-aging
population.
HomAge will feature telemedicine,
person-centred technological devices
to facilitate home-based care, including
real-time video conferencing, and text
recognition for vital sign monitoring
that match with each individual’s home
devices.
The project will also feature a
portable fall prevention device
developed by CityU’s Department of
System Engineering and Engineering
Management (SEEM) Department,
portable ECG and stroke prevention
education, and electronic pillboxes
with professional staff supervision
and education, aiming to improve
medication adherence and facilitate
family members monitoring progress.
HomAge will contribute towards
community manpower rejuvenation and
training, creating new job opportunities
for students in the discipline of public
health and elderly care. The assessment,
which is integral to the project, will
provide empirical data for formulating
future policy for the implementation
of aging-in-place, pointing towards
a comprehensive solution for Hong
Kong’s aging population.
