December 2006, Vol 28, No. 12
Internet

What's in the web for family physicians - local gerontological resources

Alfred KY Tang 鄧權恩

1. SH Ho Centre for Gerontology and Geriatrics
健康耆年資源中心
http://healthyageing.sph.cuhk.edu.hk

The website consists of useful assessment tools, therapeutic games, information on relaxation exercises, pictures of common drugs for elders, and links to both local and international websites. Audio files on various topics including sexuality and ageing, elder abuse and rehabilitation equipment for the elderly are also available. It was hoped that the aggregate of information would enable development of greater responsibility for one's health. For health professionals, it contains materials on elderly health and hyperlinks to useful website overseas on topics like smoking cessation, healthy diet, exercise and psychosocial well-being.

2. Elderly Health Service, Department of Health
http://www.info.gov.hk/elderly/english/index.htm

The Elderly Health Services was set up by the Department of Health in July 1998. Elderly health centres and visiting health teams were established to enhance primary health care for the elderly. The goal was to improve their self-care ability, encourage healthy living and strengthen family support so as to minimize illness and disability. The website hosted a lot of health information, including self-help tips and education pamphlets for the elderly. Publications and newsletters by the unit on elderly health are also available.

3. Elderly Service in Hong Kong
http://www.hkcss.org.hk/el/index.htm

The website on elderly service of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) aims to outline and define the problems of the ageing population in Hong Kong. It covers the overall health and living conditions of the elderly in Hong Kong, and the various elderly services available. Future trends and international linkages on the topic are also available. The website also provides information on the residential and day-care health services for the elderly of the HKCSS as well as other health-related information, telephone hotline services and discount privileges for the elderly from different providers.

4. Jockey Club Centre for Positive Aging
http://www.jccpahk.com/

The mission of the centre is to provide high quality and comprehensive care for the elderly with dementia through the provision of integrated support with the aim of facilitating dementia patients to stay with their families as much as possible. The emphasis is that the care should be community-based with professional training of healthcare workers and care-givers in the field of dementia on the manipulations of dementia assessment tools. The centre also provides all-round resources on dementia care. The website also includes facts on dementia, with links to other related sites. A resource centre on internet is established with the primary aim of providing comprehensive resources relating to dementia for the professionals and the public. These include books, serials, audio-visual materials, and other reference resources.

5. Sau Po Centre on Ageing
http://ageing.hku.hk/

Apart from covering the mission, goals and services of the centre, the website harbours lots of links on gerontology and healthy ageing, local and overseas. The section on 護老情真 (http://ageing.hku.hk/ev/index.htm) of the web site is a series of educational videos jointly produced by The University of Hong Kong and Radio Television Hong Kong. The four-part series, sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, aims at equipping carers with comprehensive skills in caring for the elderly.

6. 長者資訊網
http://www.elderlyservice.com/

This is one of the most popular websites for elderly. The website has six sections which include information and advice on physical check-up, common health problems, rehabilitation, psychology, nutrition and physical fitness. A diversity of other activities are available at the website which include online games, job hunting, home safety measures, advice on saving and money matters and how to prepare a will.

7. Healthy Ageing Net 耆樂網
http://www.healthy-ageing.net/

Apart from services offered by Haven of Hope Christian Service, the website is hosting a lot of useful information for the elderly. Health information, common disease conditions, ways to keep fit, healthy eating, advice on exercise and mental health are all available. Other attractions include useful websites on Internet, IT skills and leisure activities. Volunteer recruitment information and short video on fitness exercise are also present.


Alfred KY Tang, MBBS (HK), MFM (Monash)
Family Physician in Private Practice

Correspondence to: Dr Alfred KY Tang, Shop 3A, 2/F, Hsin Kuang Shopping Centre, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.

E-mail: alfredtang@hkma.org


Please note that this and previous editions of "What's in the Web for Family Physicians" are now on the links page of the Web site. All suggested sites are connected by hyperlinks and can be reached by a click of the mouse.