Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong

Subdivided flats have long been a pressing problem in Hong Kong. This situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic, with many families confined in cramped, unhygienic living spaces for a long periods of time. This has adversely affected their physical and psychological wellbeing. To address this issue, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong (the Association), fully supported by Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited and the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, launched the "Care and Love for the Subdivided Unit Families in Tsuen Wan" scheme in Nov 2020 to upgrade these units, giving them a new, clean look, and giving those who live there a safe and cosy home.

Working for more than a year, the programme's volunteers have achieved so much. Earlier this month, the Association threw them a progress sharing ceremony cum exhibition and put on an exhibition on 13 Aug at D.Park to show our appreciation for the volunteers and display the profound impacts of their work on the lives of families living in these subdivided flats. We were honoured to have Ms Phoebe Wong Siu Fan, District Social Welfare Officer (Tsuen Wan / Kwai Tsing), Social Welfare Department, The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered welcoming remarks, and officiated with Mr Johnny Wong Chung Yee, Deputy General Secretary of the Association, and Mr Keith Chow Nok Wai, Senior Team Head of Public Sector, Institutional Business Department of BOCHK, at the opening ceremony. The officiating guests kick-started the event together with the representatives of volunteers and resident beneficiaries, signifying how each party worked together with a strong, collaborative spirit to create majestic "homes with love" all around Tsuen Wan District.

The scheme attracted over 150 volunteers. Apart from students, young workers and housewives, we also had volunteers with different types of technical expertise: construction experts, interior designers and renovation contractors. Together, this team has already served over 100 households using a well-planned method. First, the specialist team and volunteers pay a home visit to families living in subdivided units. After processing their individual situation, the team comes up with a plan, design ideas and solutions for remodelling; while a professional organiser offers free advice to improve the family's living environment. The subdivided flats are then refurnished with furniture chosen to fit their space, while their living space is ingeniously optimised using different storage strategies to make the flats more pleasant and liveable. At the ceremony, the volunteers and the families shared their thoughts on the success of the programme and demonstrated some of the home storage techniques they learned during a fun session, after which the professional organiser commended them for their excellent work.

When they get injured, Hong Kong athletes generally do not have easy access to quality treatment and recovery support facilities. All too often, they need to achieve higher performance standards for better services, or pay for their own medical treatment out of pocket. But when they reduce their visits to physicians for economic reasons, some athletes suffer recurrent injuries. In turn, this adversely affects the quality of their training and in the long run it can affect their level of competitiveness. To address this situation, the Association's Health Care Professions Department has launched our "Athlete A.P.P." programme – short for "analysis, prehab, performance". This scheme offers professional sports medicine healthcare and fitness training to young athletes at a discounted rate to help mitigate the risk of injury, enhance the consistency of their training and performance results and, most importantly, help them overcome injuries.

This programme is headed by a clinical squad comprising of registered physiotherapists and sports therapists. With biomechanical movement analysis, student athletes are triaged to decide who have high or low injury risks. Non-injured athletes are classified into pre-rehabilitation stage, where they will be treated with preventive therapy to strengthen common weak spots and minimise the risk of developing an injury. Injured athletes, on the other hand, are arranged to undergo rehabilitation stage before receiving preventive therapy. When it comes to the last stage of athletic performance, our therapists will come up with a periodization training plan building up the overall quality of athletes and improving their athletic performance.

Format: Individual / Group

Target group: Student athletes / full-time athletes aged under 25

• Hong Kong Representative Teams / Hong Kong Youth Representative Teams (Up to 20 discount offers per year)
• Hong Kong Representative Team Age Groups / Feeder Teams (Up to 10 discount offers per year)
• University or Secondary School Team / Affiliate athletes (Up to 5 discount offers per year)

Services and fees:

1. Analysis
   Fee: $150/30 min
   With scientific data analysis and functional movement screen, we can measure their explosive strength, body alignment and between-leg balance etc., that help us evaluate whether athletes suffer from muscle imbalance or a lack of motor coordination and find out which parts of the body are injury-prone.
    
2. 1 Rehab
   Fee: $300/session
   Our therapists will arrange for athletes with treatments and physical training in consistence with the testing results, including treatment of soft tissue injuries, recovery of range of motion and muscle strength. By doing so, weak spots in athletes will be enhanced to allow complete healing of their injuries and prepare them for getting back in games with rehabilitation exercises.
    
2. Prehab
   Fee: $300/session
   Physiotherapists and sports therapists deploy preventive therapy to athletes focusing on their muscle strength, coordination, range of motion and weak spots, with the aims of improving weak spots and reducing risks of injury for achieving a breakthrough when their performance runs into a bottleneck.
    
3. Performance
   Fee: $300/session
   After our therapists have ensured athletes is ready for return-to-sport, a tailored and complete workout plan, from fundamental fitness to motor coordination in a specific sport, would be executed to give them a boost in performance training for desirable competition results with strengthening and conditioning exercises.

For any enquiries, please dial 2743 1702 or email [email protected] to contact Mr. Marco So, Registered Physiotherapist of Health Care Professions Department.