Adding life to years
Login
Join us
Text size:
-+=

Kwun Tong Age-friendly Bulletin 2021 (齡活觀塘 Bulletin 2021)

Kwun Tong Age-friendly Bulletin 2021 (齡活觀塘 Bulletin 2021)

Summary

To raise awareness of age-friendly initiatives in Kwun Tong District the Institute of Active Ageing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, through its role as the Professional Support Team of the Jockey Club Age-Friendly City (JCAFC) Project published three issues of the Kwun Tong Age-Friendly Bulletin between April and December 2021. Targeted towards older persons as well as age-friendly stakeholders, components of the Bulletin include:

  1. Thematic reports on age-friendly studies, policies, and initiatives in Hong Kong.
  2. Information on age-friendly resources such as Hong Kong’s Age-Friendly Port, and dementia intervention services such as Mind Delight Memory and the Cognitive Training Centre.
  3. Domain-specific recommendations to improve older persons’ quality of life.
  4. Notable contributions and practices from age-friendly stakeholders such as the District Council, local civil society organizations, and older persons in Kwun Tong District.
  5. Milestones of the World Health Organization’s Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.

Website: https://www.jcafc-port.hk/en/

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): The stakeholders who would contribute to the promotion of age-friendliness in the district: District Council, NGOs which provide services to older adults, related government departments e.g. Highways Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, etc. General public: residents of public housing estates, elderly service recipients

Sector(s): Health, Housing, Information and communication, Transportation, Urban development

Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Accessibility
  • Ageing in place
  • Dementia
  • Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
  • Intergenerational activities
  • Inclusion
  • Participation
  • Technologies

Contact details

Name: Owen Chow

Email address: ktdc_secretariat_gr@had.gov.hk

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Research institution

Others involved in the project:
  • Local authorities
  • Civil Society Organisation
  • Older People’s Association
  • Social or health care provider
  • Volunteers
  • Private sector

How collaboration worked: 1. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust funded the program 2. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University produced the Bulletin 3. The elderly service NGOs help to provide information 4. The District Councillors, district offices of related government departments, elderly service NGOs and housing estate management offices help to distribute the Bulletin to more stakeholders and the public.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: Older people are invited to share on the matters of their concerns, which are shown in the “elderly voice” section of every issue of the Bulletin. Older people are also consulted on the age-friendly domains and their needs are reflected in the Bulletin for follow-up and recommendations.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Please share with us what you found in detail:
Positive impact: 1. Increased knowledge of the age-friendliness 2. More attention is paid to fostering an age-friendly environment around their neighbourhood 3. Increased knowledge of age-friendliness resources in the district and attempts to utilize 4. Increased knowledge on the coping methods for daily lives and attempts to practice for themselves and other older people Suggestions for improvement: 1. The colour of the background of each issue should be different for easy identification 2. QR codes may not be user-friendly for the elderly and they may appear confusing to readers 3. More promotion on the bulletin should be carried out to reach more readers

Feedback:
Feedback have been collected from surveys and discussions held with older group members and NGO personnel.

Expansion plans:
Actions are being planned to expand the age-friendly practice in the following aspects: 1. To transfer knowledge among the stakeholders by publishing age-friendly information profile of Kwun Tong district. 2. To gather more user-centric views on improving age-friendliness by involving older people groups in suitable opinion platforms.

Looking back

Reflections:
The practice of producing both e-version and printed versions is suitable. Soft copies can be circulated widely and be accessible to more readers in general; printed copies would be more convenient for older people who are not familiar with the usage of computers. The suggestions collected from the feedback will be considered and observed wherever feasible.

Challenges:
Challenges: 1. The thematic report should be intensive and concise to be readable by targets with various background 2. An enormous amount of information is required to update district age-friendliness features 3. Distribution channels seems to be limited Resolutions: 1. Infographics, relevant photos and drawings have been employed to enhance reading interest. Hyper-links embedded in e-version and QR codes are shown on printed versions for acquiring in-depth information such as study reports and policy background. 2. Liaison with different stakeholders, onsite observation and telephone interviews with relevant persons helped collect relevant information. 3. Contacts recipient agencies should forward messages and distribute the bulletin to more prospective readers.