Aug 2016
With generous support from the Simon K Y Lee Foundation, the GrandMove Project 耆力無窮, a structured exercise programme, was established last year with the aim of preventing and alleviating frailty among the elderly in Hong Kong, as well as to train young-olds as peer coaches for healthy and active ageing among the elderly community.
Led by HKU’s Sau Po Centre on Ageing and in collaboration with the University’s Institute of Human Performance, the Department of Medicine and the School of Nursing, the project’s partnerships include the Institute of Active Ageing of Polytechnic University and nine NGOs. It is expected that this three-year project will train 79 “younger” elders to become coaches, and will benefit 390 pre-frail and frail elderly people.
Frailty (體弱) is the condition of being weak and delicate. It is mainly but not exclusively age related. Elderly people who are frail have decreased reserves of energy, physical ability and health that give rise to vulnerability and the risk of poor health.
While the frail or pre-frail state is common in Hong Kong elderly population, it is proven that effective intervention is possible simply by exercising.
More details on the GrandMove Project can be viewed from the following TV programmes (in Cantonese):
