All Categories Staff Volunteer Activities About the Trust

Under the pandemic, singleton elderly or senior couples living on their own may feel left out and disconnected from the society due to the suspension of social services. To maintain the social bond in the community, it is essential to continue showing our care for others during the challenging period.

CARE@hkjc Volunteer Team worked with Caritas Cheng Shing Fung District Elderly Centre on “CALL 2 CARE” to deliver love and care to the elderly by phone calls. From January to March 2021, CARE volunteers made phone calls twice a month to singleton elderly or senior couples living on their own in Sham Shui Po. The phone calls helped the volunteers understand the elderly’s health condition and identify their needs, as well as refer any special cases to social workers if necessary. A total of 40 CARE volunteers and 80 elderly joined this programme.

To ensure the delivery of quality services, all volunteers participating in the program attended an online briefing session before the first phone call service. The online briefing equipped the volunteers with better understanding of the difficulties encountered by the elderly in everyday life, in terms of economic, social, and health aspects. This guided the volunteers to develop suitable conversation. In addition, the volunteers also learned some basic skills and tips for conducting phone call services, including how to deal with the elderly who showed strong emotional responses.

Since “CALL 2 CARE” had received positive responses and support from the Centre, elderly and volunteers, the programme would be extended to June to continue spreading care to the elderly.