Rejoicing in a healthy and meaningful life in her advanced years – Josephine

“Life in Long Stay Care Home is both relaxing and fulfilling. I normally do some gentle exercises after getting up in the morning. After breakfast, I do some reading, knitting and water-color painting. Sometimes I may also do some stretching exercises or just take some rest.” Josephine told us that she enjoyed her tranquil life at the Home very much and she was very appreciative of the kindness of the staff.

Josephine studied Biology at New Asia College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong when she was young. Unfortunately, she suffered deep emotional wounds over a broken love affairs and was diagnosed suffering from schizophrenia subsequently which eventually forced her to put her studies on hold. Over the years, Josephine had been admitted to different mental hospitals and halfway houses. Despite the fluctuating course of her illness, she fought her way through and tried her best to lead an independent life while she taught in a renowned secondary school as a Chinese and Chinese history teacher.

In 1996, Josephine moved to live in our Long Stay Care Home and since then life has changed for the better. Recently, her eye sight starts to deteriorate quickly. However, even with declining vision she persists in reading, with a magnifying glass if necessary! Last year, she battled courageously with oral cancer and survived. After that she has been sharing her positive experiences against the adversities of life publicly. That never-give-up spirit is something really worth our respect and learning from.

Long Stay Care Home is a unique service that provides long term residential care and community-based psychiatric rehabilitation services for people recovering from chronic mental illness. We started planning for this new service in the early 80s’ and after 10 years of hard work, the first ever long stay care home in Hong Kong was opened in January 1990 in Tuen Mun. In 1996, our second long stay care home commenced operation in New Life Building situated in Shek Kip Mei.

Since our target service users are mainly people with chronic mental illness who have been hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals for some time before they enter our service, we strive to assist them in rebuilding their self care ability, work habit and skills, confidence and social skills. At the same time, we encourage them to develop their own interests and hobbies so as to make good use of their leisure time.

Currently, the two Long Stay Care Homes accommodate 210 and 200 residents respectively and are manned by a team of professional social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapist and various support staff that provides round-the-clock care and rehabilitation services for our service users.