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The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited Wellness Support Centre and Child Enrichment Centre operated by the Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council (NAAC) in Wong Tai Sin today (January 17) to see for himself the services provided by the centres and wish the service users good health as the Year of Dragon approaches.
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) set up 16 district support centres for persons with disabilities through re-engineering of community support services in January 2009. Wellness Support Centre, which commenced operation at its existing premises in June last year, adopted a district-based and one-stop service mode to provide support services to persons with disabilities living in the community.
Mr Cheung first arrived at Wellness Support Centre. He was briefed by the staff on the services provided to persons with various disabilities with a view to enhancing their domestic and community living skills so as to assist them to integrate into the community. The centre also offers training and support to their families or carers to strengthen their caring capabilities and to relieve their stress.
In addition, the NAAC operates the Together Home Care Service for Persons with Severe Disabilities, a project under the SWD's Pilot Scheme on Home Care Service for Persons with Severe Disabilities.
During a briefing by the staff, Mr Cheung said, "The Government attaches great importance to the well-being of persons with disabilities. With a provision of $163 million from the Lotteries Fund, the SWD launched the three-year pilot scheme in Kwun Tong and Tuen Mun in March last year to provide home care service to persons with severe disabilities who are waiting for SWD-subvented residential care services."
The new service model enables operators to assess from a multi-disciplinary perspective the unique needs and progress of individual service users and to map out a tailor-made and personalised plan for its professional staff to work in partnership and deliver comprehensive home care service to the service users.
"Having regard to the service demand of the persons with severe disabilities, we have made use of existing resources to extend the service to Kwai Tsing and Wong Tai Sin. We will continue to monitor the operation of the scheme and conduct a mid-term review for further improvement and refinement of the implementation details as appropriate as well as to explore directions for further development," said Mr Cheung.
Accompanied by the Director of the NAAC, Mr Tung Chi-fat, Mr Cheung toured the facilities and observed the training, personal development, rehabilitation and nursing services at the centre. He chatted with the service users to find out their needs and views toward the services. He also learnt that the centre would organise community education and inclusion activities for the service users to enrich their experience and promote community harmony.
Mr Cheung brought cookies produced by a social enterprise to share and celebrated the approach of the joyful festival with the service users at the centre.
Afterwards, Mr Cheung visited Child Enrichment Centre, which offers early training and care services to children with special needs, where he observed the children taking part in classroom activities.
Ends/Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:07
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