Hong Kong NGO shows care homes how they can stop the misery of restraining elderly to beds, wheelchairs and even toilets
- Understaffing and lack of resources prompts some care homes to tie down elderly residents – often left alone and miserable
- Christian Family Service Centre programme emphasises more exercise and more empowerment
Cheng So-mui remembers the days when she was confined within the four white walls of her room in one of Hong Kong’s private residential homes.
She was tied to her bed, and tied to her wheelchair, sometimes for days. It was for her own good, she was told, “to prevent self-harm and harm to others”.
“It was a bland and meaningless existence,” she said. “Every day was boring and a chore to me to get through.”
She said that back then she could not move about, chat with other residents or even ask a nurse for help to go to the toilet. Now 82, her life is completely different.
She is no longer bed-bound or restrained. She can sit up for up to six hours a day, walks about using a walking aid, and exercises using rehabilitation machines that involve light weightlifting and stretching.
“Being out of bed and able to walk again is such a liberating experience,” said Cheng, who has only one child, a daughter who is unable to care for her at home. “Now the pain from being strapped is gone and I can do things without having to depend on others.”