Document sans titre
According to the report
in the Central Information System on Elder Abuse Cases by Social Welfare Department,
there were 528 newly reported elder abuse cases in 2005, increasing by 60% from
the 329 cases reported in 2004. Among those cases, physical abuse tops the list.
As Hong Kong’s ageing population is on the rise, elder abuse has become
an increasingly important public concern.
With an aim to strive for
better living quality of the elderly, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies
(APIAS) of Lingnan University (“Lingnan” or “the University”)
and Lingnan students participate actively in the Prevent Elder Abuse Ambassadors
Training Programme ("the Programme"). A graduation ceremony of the
Programme was held today (11 November 2006) at the University to appoint 60
elderly people and 37 students, including 20 from the University, as Prevent
Elder Abuse Ambassadors Training Programme.
The Programme was organised
by Social Welfare Department’s Tuen Mun District Coordinating Committee
on Elderly Services with the support of a group of elderly centres in Tuen Mun,
with an aim to train the elderly as Prevent Elder Abuse Ambassadors to help
propagate the message to the public. The Programme has two integral parts, training
and promotion. Started in October, the training part ended with a great success
in November. During the period, Lingnan students and other Prevent Elder Abuse
Ambassadors received a series of training to understand more about elder abuse,
community support services, sense and methods of self-protection of the elderly,
family relationship, communication skills, as well as skills to identify abused
elderly and of organising promotion activities.
The second phase of the
Programme, the promotion part, will be kicked off in January 2007. The 20 Lingnan
student ambassadors, together with other Prevent Elder Abuse Ambassadors, will
organize a series of functions in Tuen Mun district, including sharing sessions,
visits, public seminars and exhibitions, to help spread the message of caring
for the elderly and preventing elder abuses.
Professor Alfred CHAN Cheung-ming,
Director of APIAS said, "The Programme provides a good opportunity for
the elderly and youngsters to co-operate and learn from each other, which facilitates
inter-generational communication. This also is a good start for improving community
relationship."
APIAS of Lingnan is a research
centre which works actively on ageing population and promoting community services
for the elderly. In line with Lingnan’s whole-person education approach,
APIAS encourages Lingnan students to participate actively in the Prevent Elder
Abuse Ambassadors Training Programme to reach out to the community and care
for the elderly. During the training, the participating students coming from
Associate Degree in Social Sciences - Applied Gerontology and Associate Degree
in Social Sciences – Social Work have been actively involved in the design
of programme rundown, through to facilitating group discussions, illustrating
their sense of undertaking towards the community. Moreover, to share their experience
during the training, they have also prepared a video clip for display at the
graduation ceremony.
The Central Information
System on Elder Abuse Cases, maintained by Social Welfare Department, was launched
in March 2004 to collect information of elder abuse cases to assist the Government
in formulating development strategies in this respect.
Home
