XN000022-1972-09-04 — Page 2

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Monday, September 4, 1972

NEW WELFARE PROJECT TO HELP IN THE HOME

The Hong Kong Family Welfare Society proposes to carry out a one-year

experimental project on home-help service.

The pilot-project has the strong support of the Social Welfare

Advisory Committee and a recurrent grant of $57,600 from the Lotteries Fund

has been approved for the purpose.

The service is designed to provide domestic help such as cooking,

washing and house-cleaning for the aged, the physically handicapped, the

mentally-ill and the chronically-ill housewives.

It also takes care of children where mothers have to be away from

home for short periods of time.

Assistance is provide in escorting the aged, handicapped or infirm

to clinics and in visiting lonely people in hospitals and homes for the aged.

Help in the home enables needy individuals and families to live

normal lives and may possibly reduce the demand for care in residential

institutions, which is expensive to provide.

With further improvements in the Government's Public Assistance

Scheme, the Family Welfare Society is now beginning to move away from the

field of relief services. The home-help service experiment could enable

the Society to review its future activities and aims.

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