Time to care for our carers

Leveraging resources

To best serve carers, synergy across the social welfare sector is important.

"By leveraging resources and stakeholder networks, we can gather more strength and maximize the support for carers," said Joe Wong Ngan-chung, service head of community support and care services for the elderly at the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service (BOKSS).

Care College, a project initiated by the BOKSS in 2019, has been promoting services for seven types of carers, who look after the elderly, physically disabled and intellectually disabled, as well as those with mental disorders, addictions, special educational needs and chronic diseases.

The BOKSS has collaborated with the University of Hong Kong to develop a board game guiding carers through life planning and helping them find a back-up carer for when they need a break.

"Carers lack personal time, shouldering duties as an employee, parent, husband/wife, sibling or son/daughter. They struggle with the conflicts of the role and meeting others' expectations," Wong noted.

The BOKSS had partnered with other NGOs to establish the CarerEPS platform, in which carers are given a card that recognizes their status as a carer, and granted access to support services and shopping discounts.

Carers can support each other and learn caregiving skills at the college's workshops. The BOKSS also organizes workshops for other NGOs and enterprises to promote services and carer-friendly workplaces.

The workshop helped Yolanda Hui, 45, meet the challenges of looking after her mother, who has suffered from schizophrenia for over 30 years.

"Living with my mother was frustrating, as she kept repeating her strange behavior," she said.

With symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, the mother had a habit of talking to herself and hoarding in their tiny home, causing tension in the family.

"Back then, no one was aware of the role of carers, making it difficult to seek targeted assistance," Hui recalled.

Struggling with her caregiving duties and full-time job as a programmer, Hui spent a lot of time and money taking her mother to checkups for other minor diseases. Her schizophrenic symptoms persisted, despite taking her medicine every day. She even went missing several times.

A social worker arranged for the mother to live in a nursing home, while Hui joined a carer support program based on a family-focused recovery model to change carers' attitudes toward those they look after. Ten themes - including respect, personal strength, and peer support - were emphasized through games, group discussions and peer sharing.

"Carers' roles are not to ask care recipients to see a doctor or take medicine. Family interaction is about expressing understanding and appreciation," said Jan Koon Man-wai, the BOKSS social worker handling Hui's case.

Other than understanding more about psychosis behind her mother's behavior, Hui learned to appreciate how her mother had made progress in changing herself. "We, as family carers, need to fulfill our duties unconditionally, but we also need support to keep going."

Contact the writer at garychiu@chinadailyhk.com