Every year, the United Nations celebrates the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on 3 December which aims to promote the rights of people with disabilities in all aspects so that they can live in a fair and barrier-free society.

The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation (HKSR) shares the same goal by not only providing physically rehabilitation service, but also focusing on disease prevention, health promotion and health-risk factor assessments. It also helps target clients to learn about health management and promote wellbeing in an inclusive community.

As one of the winners of ACS’s Jockey Club (JC) Engage Digital Exploration competition, HKSR’s Senior Manager (Rehabilitation), Ms Jackie Kwan, talked to our Community Outreach Team about their work and why this pioneer in rehabilitation services joined ENGAGE.

What types of services does HKSR provide for local citizens?

When HKSR was first founded in 1959, we provided mainly rehabilitation services. After more than 5 decades, the scopes of our work have expanded to disease prevention, mental health, services for the elderly and employment of persons with disabilities.

How would HKSR like to make a more positive social impact through its mission?

It’s our aspiration to create an inclusive society irrespective of the locations and physical conditions of the patients. At the moment, our Rehabus and Accessible Hire Car services provide accessible transport to those who are in need. Our dream is that the world will not need these services anymore when it is totally barrier-free.

We also hope that companies will build a more inclusive workplace culture so that employers will focus mainly on the ability and potential of their employees instead of appearance and physical conditions.

In the past, patients only listened to doctors and followed their advice. Through inclusive communication, we hope stakeholders can connect with medical practitioners and understand the whole treatment process which will enable them to feel respected.

HKSR is a pioneer to set up the 1st cross-border elderly care home in Shenzhen for Hong Kong retirees who can enjoy a high-quality retirement life with a small budget. Currently, we are discussing with medical sectors to provide medical service for seniors who have moved to the elderly care home in Shenzhen.

Our organization has been collaborating with the Hospital Authority to provide community rehabilitation services for the underprivileged, too.

Personally, do you find the ENGAGE program useful?

Oh, definitely. As a social worker myself, I don’t know a lot about marketing and technology. The program has enriched my knowledge about digital marketing terms and helped me to develop a data-driven mindset. Now, I find it easier to communicate with our Marketing Team when planning and executing our proposals.

The pitching sharing sessions also offered me a chance to learn about the marketing strategies of other NGOs.

How did ENGAGE help HKSR to develop?

Joining the ENGAGE competition helps us to reach out to youngsters through social media to educate them on good health and offer early intervention programs for treatment of different diseases. Information accessibility impacts our work. We can ensure the public can learn more about our services and products. Obviously, we can promote our social mission too.