Junior Dr. Golden Programme 

Programme Overview

Plagued by the pandemic for over three years, many elderly citizens living in residential homes and care homes have experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety due to the restrictions on travel, visits and social interaction. Signs of insufficient service in residential care homes have started to emerge since, and it reflects room for improvement. As our society begins to recover from the pandemic, all sectors have to work together in dealing with the post-pandemic challenges. “Junior Dr. Golden Programme” recruits students from kindergartens, primary schools, to universities to join us as Junior Dr Golden to support the elderly and those in need of improving their mental health through smart ageing technology. With the successful application of smart ageing technology, we improved the service quality of residential care homes. Through the programme period, we provide training courses and professional guidance to Junior Dr Goldens and allow them to participate in and design their own volunteering activities. These experiences cultivate our youngsters to enhance their soft abilities, including communication skills, creativity, connectivity, adaptability, open-minded thinking, etc., in building empathy and self-confidence, and to equip them to face different challenges. The programme also highlights cross-generational collaboration, which promotes cross-generational integration and communication.

 

Programme Feature

1. Intergenerational Harmony

The programme uniquely recruits both Golden Age volunteers, focusing on intergenerational harmony. It emphasizes communication, cooperation, mutual understanding, and appreciation to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, strengthening the connection between generations to achieve social unity and harmony. It is rare for young volunteers to take the lead, particularly in intergenerational harmony-focused volunteer services. We consider intergenerational collaboration as a vital element of our programme.

2. Youth-Led Initiative

The programme is aimed at training the next generation, providing young people with design thinking training and allowing them to take the lead in the content. Throughout the activity design process, mentors will provide follow-up guidance to continuously optimize the activity content, providing young people with a deeper and more meaningful experience. Currently, volunteer activities are mostly designed by social workers and then executed by volunteers.

3. Leveraging Community Capital

The programme aims to connect individuals from different generations, ages, and backgrounds to enhance community capital, encourage and improve self-help and mutual assistance capabilities, and strengthen community support networks. Volunteers come from diverse age and background categories, weaving an interconnected network of volunteers. Currently, volunteer services are mostly characterized by a more singular type of volunteering.

4. Multi-dimensional Engagement

The programme not only serves those in need but also allows participants to personally understand social issues and assist in solving them. By filling existing gaps in social services, participants also engage in improving and enhancing the quality of social services. The depth and breadth of participant involvement are rare in current social services.

 

Programme Content

• Movie Sharing Session and Programme Launch Ceremony

Movie Sharing Session and Programme Launch Ceremony: The movie "Care Nin – Thank God You're Here" was used as an introduction to let participants understand the meaning of serving the elderly. The film describes the growth of carers and their preserve when encountering adversity, strives to focus on the well-being of the elderly, and explores the way to get along well with the elders. After the screening, a sharing session will be held to invite the carers and industry leaders for sharing, laying a solid foundation for future events. At the same time, the launch ceremony was held to kick off the event.

 

• Training

Recruited 50 students to participate in the programme, becoming volunteer "Junior Dr. Golden" and provide them with training courses to prepare them for serving vulnerable elderly individuals. The training includes volunteer skills, elderly communication skills, leadership training, event planning and design guidance, design thinking training, and more. Additionally, institutional visits and sharing sessions will be included.

 

• Visiting

Pairing service users with Junior Dr. Golden and the participating volunteers. The Junior Dr. Golden will be assigned to conduct a series of volunteer visit activities for approximately 200 elderly residents from two participating care homes and 20 vulnerable elderly individuals living at home as part of the programme. These activities will be designed to incorporate the use of smart aging technology to achieve optimal service effectiveness. Throughout the process, we will monitor the activities, provide guidance to the Little Golden Doctors and volunteers, and document the activity process, experiences, lessons learned, and outcomes. Approximately 220 beneficiaries will be served.

 

• Effectiveness Sharing

Participate in a three-day Golden Age Expo and Summit, responsible for two booths. The Junior Dr. Golden and participants will lead the exhibition content, booth design, and related programme segments. The Junior Dr. Golden will take turns on duty to introduce the programme content to visitors. Additionally, the Junior Dr. Golden will record their experiences and feelings, turning them into short stories compiled into a book distributed to the public. A public voting event will be held for the short stories to select the most beloved case.