Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing celebrates 10th Anniversary

29/10/2010

A decade ago, in response to concern about dementia care in the community, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust donated some HK$81 million to establish the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing (JCCPA) – the first integrative dementia care centre in the city. 

Today (29 October), The Hong Kong Jockey Club Chairman T Brian Stevenson joined Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Health) Sandra Lee, Chairman of the Elderly Commission Dr the Hon Leong Che-hung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Jack Cheng, father of fibre optic and Nobel Laureate in Physics Professor Charles Kao and his wife Gwen Kao to celebrate the 10th anniversary of JCCPA. 

Addressing the gathering, Mr Stevenson said he was heartened by the Chief Executive’s assurance in his recent policy address that the Government is planning to deploy more resources to assist elderly suffering from dementia. But he said the city should not be complacent. 

“The JCCPA is the first of its kind in Hong Kong, and even in Southeast Asia, to combine day care, respite, outreach, training and research on dementia in one single centre.  Currently, there are only a handful of centres dedicated to dementia care, which simply cannot cope with the huge service demands. That is why the JCCPA plays an essential role in meeting the needs of these patients and their families, the increasing demand for dementia care, as well as professional training. It also plays a pivotal role in raising public awareness of the disease.” 

Ms Lee said she was impressed enormously by The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s mission and vision to see the needs of the growing ageing population ten years ago, and was glad that the vision had been translated into awareness.  “We agree with the Jockey Club that active ageing is very important element for the society, not just for the elderly but also for members of the family.  We have always been supporting the Club’s CADENZA Project, and we really appreciate the Club for not just devoting resources and manpower, but also raising the awareness of active ageing.” 

Dr Leong also commended the JCCPA for doing a wonderful job in improving care for people with dementia over the past ten years. “Having visited many centres for dementia patients around the world, I think JCCPA is one of the best, not only in hardware but also software. We are delighted to see that society has joined hands to look for better ways to care for the demented patients and to provide support to their caregivers and family members. We also count on JCCPA to continue the much needed support and services to this group of persons” 

To mark its 10th anniversary and help eliminate public misunderstanding about dementia, JCCPA organised a citywide competition to rename the Chinese term for the disease.  Choosing from some 1300 entries to the “Changing the Way You See Dementia – Renaming Competition”, the judges picked the entry of Luk Tsz-ting, a ten-year-old Primary 5 student  from Si Yuan School of the Precious Blood, who suggested  “﹐£°h?A‾g” as the new Chinese term for dementia.  Over 18 government departments and organisations including the Department of Health, Hospital Authority, the Equal Opportunities Commission, CUHK Faculty of Medicine, and HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine will support this change and adopt this new name gradually. 

Since its opening in 2000, JCCPA has operated under the auspices of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and served over 200,000 dementia patients. It provides integrated day care services, home-based training and short-term residency for dementia sufferers, as well as support services for their caregivers to help relieve their burden.  The centre has also committed considerable resources to applied research studies on dementia treatment and the effectiveness of different care services. 

In addition, members of the CARE@hkjc Volunteer Team have been paying regular visits to JCCPA since 2007 to bring elderly clients out for activities such as lawn bowling, tea and dim sum, and assisting in JCCPA’s public education activities such as exhibitions and events. In the past three years, the team has delivered over 600 service hours to the Centre alone. For more information about JCCPA, please visit the official website: www.jccpa.org.hk 

Elderly care is one of the prime concerns of the Jockey Club. Over the past decade, the Club’s Charities Trust donations to projects and services related to the elderly have exceeded HK$900 million. Besides the establishment of JCCPA, the Trust also initiated CADENZA: A Jockey Club Initiative for Seniors in 2006, providing a range of training and public education programmes through cross-sectional collaboration between organisations and introduce a new mode of elderly care services to cope with the challenges brought by a rapidly ageing population. 

The Hong Kong Jockey Club 

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has become one of Hong Kong’s best known and respected organisations, providing the public with world-class sporting entertainment as well as being the city’s major non-Government community benefactor, now donating more than HK$1 billion a year to charitable and community projects.  It has been a part of Hong Kong through good times and bad, sharing the city’s growth and development with its people, and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.