Our Story

“I’m not alone in this pandemic period. All the efforts made by the Centre’s caring team during this anti-epidemic period have deeply moved me. Thank you.” – Parent Mrs Lai

 

As the Pandemic Grows

In times of pandemic and class suspension, the pressure on parents has increased tremendously as they have to take care of their homebound children 24x7. The pressure facing parents of children with special needs is not difficult to imagine. Ka Fai is a trainee with mild intellectual disabilities and autism who has been receiving training at the Hong Chi District Support Centre - N.T. (North District) (DSCNT) since 2005. As a result, his behaviours have been much improved in recent years. “Ka Fai becomes emotionally stable after attending drawing classes at DSCNT. He used to be short tempered when he had difficulty in expressing his feelings verbally. But now, he can communicate with others by using simple vocabularies.” said Mrs Lai. Even if he is in bad moods, he knows how to deal with his temper when it flares.

 

Caretakers’ Pressure

To reduce the risk of spreading the disease in the community, the DSCNT has to provide limited service as instructed by the Social Welfare Department. With the day training being affected, Ka Fai started to feel increasingly anxious and Mrs Lai often felt tired, physically and mentally, as she had to take up a full-time role in taking care of her adult son. “In the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, the acute shortage of medical masks and anti-epidemic products have indeed been frustrating for many families, especially those with children with special needs, as they could hardly spare the time to leave home and source for the needed products.” said Stella Lau, registered social worker of DSCNT. Besides, the fear and frustration felt by the trainees themselves might also lead to challenging behaviours, and thus even higher pressure on the parents. In these challenging times, DSCNT has adjusted its service patterns aiming to provide a wider range of support to trainees and their parents. Besides making regular calls to parents for better understanding the trainees’ needs, as well as distributing medical masks, hand sanitizers and other anti-epidemic items to the needy families, training packs have also been prepared to help trainees continue with their training at home. DSCNT also offers video-learning classes for trainees on a daily basis, as well as mental health and psychosocial support to parents in need. Special arrangements are also made by DSCNT to provide the needed services to trainees that cannot be taken care of by their families during the day time.

 

We Are In This Together

“I’m not going through these times alone.” Mrs Lai said. “It’s never easy to look after children with intellectual disabilities, especially in times of pandemic. The online parent support group provides me with the space to vent, seek advice and connect with other parents going through the pandemic just like me. It is all right for parents to reach out for support, especially when we feel stressful and overwhelmed while taking care of our children with intellectual disabilities.” Although the anti-epidemic situation remains unstable, the Hong Chi team will continue to step up our efforts in serving our students, trainees and parents with care through the challenges we all face together.

 

Please click here to watch the full video interview