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Strong Physique -- A Priceless Gift
2018-07-30

Thanks to our donors and the time pitched in by volunteers, we conducted five Elderly Fall Prevention Roadshows in June this year.  Donors and 90 volunteers gave the precious gift of healthy ageing to nearly 500 elderly people.  These elderly people were assessed for their risk for falls and were taught how to prevent them.

Of all the elderly people screened, 164 were identified as high risk cases.   Support from our donors will enable us to send occupational therapists to most of these elderly people’s homes.  The therapists will assess whether home modifications are needed as well as teach the elderly strengthening exercises so falls will not happen.

Take, for example, Grandma Chow, whom our fall prevention roadshow volunteers met several years ago.  Grandma Chow was assessed as a high-risk case for falls.  We sent an occupational therapist to her home.  The therapist helped her get a hand rail installed in her bathroom, gave her a proper walking aid, and taught her exercises to strengthen her muscles.  One year later when we tested Grandma Chow again, she had become a low-risk case for falls.  Later that year, accompanied by volunteers, she went on an outing where she climbed nearly 300 steps to the Big Buddha statute on Lantau Island.  She was a happy lady that day!  

Donations that support the Elderly Fall Prevention Programme not only keeps the elderly healthy, but also saves a lot of society’s resources.  A paper published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal said an effective falls prevention programme can save the public HK$160 million every year in health care costs* (since the paper was published in 2007, the amount would be much higher now).  Now that’s an excellent trade-off!

We will be carrying out more fall prevention roadshows in October.  In the meantime, donation dollars will be working hard to make sure the elderly people who are followed up with have ZERO falls.

We invite you to make an online donation# TODAY!  You can give the priceless gift of a strong physique to Hong Kong’s elderly people and save precious resources for you and me!


#Please make a note: “Elderly Fall Prevention”. 

*Falls and fall-related injuries in community-dwelling elderly persons in Hong Kong: a study on risk factors, functional decline, and health services utilisation after falls by Drs. LW Chu, I Chi, AYY Chiu.  Hong Kong Medical Journal Vol 13 No 1 Supplement 1 February 2007

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