Senior Citizen Home Safety Association - lifeline to lonely elders
Another week, another outreach visit to a Charitable Choice beneficiary. This time I would like to thank the team at award-winning Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, Kiwi Yim, Jannie Wong and Kammy Ko, for talking me through the history, service offering and current organisational needs of this innovative charity.
What I learned
- Senior Citizen Home Safety Association was established in 1996 in response to the death of many elderly people who lived alone during a period of extreme cold weather in HK
- The charity operates partly as a social enterprise with some services provided on a self-financed basis
- SCHSA supports 1500 calls each day - mostly from elderly who do not have next of kin
- SCHSA was awarded Operator of the Year at the 2023 Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards - Congratulations!
What they do
- Their primary service is a Personal Emergency Link bell device for elderly that connects to a 24/7 call centre in Hong Kong (each call is picked up within 10 seconds!)
- Their Care to Call service makes proactive calls to members on a regular basis (monthy check-ins, birthday phone calls)
- The Senior Citizen Home Safety Association integrated Easy Home Service assists elderly with medical appointments, rehabilitation, counselling, home care etc.
What they need
- The PEL emergency button running cost is approx. $100 per month per elderly person. There's a waiting list for free PELs for elderly living in poverty. Can you support this lifeline for one or more recipients?
- An Easy Home Service visit by an aged care worker lasts for 3 hours and costs $450. Can you support these visits to elderlies who live alone?
Please support Senior Citizen Home Safety Association and support the elderly in Hong Kong. Donate Now!
