A HK$290 million (US$36.9 million) support project by the Hong Kong Jockey Club will bring end-of-life care to the city’s disabled community, addressing a critical service gap and empowering the group with dignity and autonomy.
Building on the success of a decade-long support project targeting the elderly, the new five-year initiative launched on Monday is expected to serve more than 3,000 physically and intellectually disabled people, those in mental recovery and about 4,000 carers.
Under the project, frontline workers from 10 non-governmental organisations underwent training from mid-2024 to deliver support services, ranging from advance care planning to life and death education, primarily in care home settings.
During the process of advance care planning, patients will be guided to express their preferences in areas such as personal goals and treatment expectations, and in making advance directives for refusing life-sustaining procedures such as resuscitation and artificial feeding and hydration when they are dying.
Other services included honouring the final wishes of clients, facilitating communication with family members and providing bereavement support.
Professor Amy Chow Yin-man, project director and head of the department of social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said the end-of-life care model for disabled people was underdeveloped worldwide.
