Kinmen promotes integrated outpatient service for the elderly

Kinmen Sep. 30 (CNA) Kinmen County Magistrate Yang Cheng-wu (楊鎮浯) and Town Mayor of Jincheng Township Li Cheng-chih (李誠智) acted together in a promotion film released on Wednesday, to promote the integrated outpatient service for the elderly. In addition, they also announced to offer clinical consultations three times per week under the service starting in October.

Yang mentioned Kinmen has become an aged society as defined by the United Nations with 14.88% of the total population aged 65 or older. With the aim of providing elders better medical care, the county worked together with the Kinmen Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare to launch the program so they can get all health services in one clinic. He hopes senior citizens could receive holistic informed medical advices and clear guidance of integrated medication through the service.

The public health bureau of the county said the integrated outpatient clinic, opened in last May but suspended for lack of doctors, resumed operations this year. There are 165 patients over aged 65 having problems of multiple medications or multiple chronic diseases, as of August this year, according to the statistics; however, most of them received the advanced care currently.

Following the announcement of extending the service, the senior citizens aged 65 with problems such as multiple chronic diseases, multiple medications, unexplained weakness, cognitive decline and many others have received the health and medical care. The physician will conduct a thorough evaluation for the first time, if the patient requires further treatment, a specialist will involve in the case. In addition, a long-term personal care will be managed by designated nurses to keep tracking and integrating medication, medical resources and discussing follow-up treatment plans with family members.

In order to help the elders make good use of the integrated outpatient service, Yang and Li played the roles as a doctor, nurse and patients in the film to remind the elders to seek for proper medical care.

The film premiered on Yang’s Facebook with 30,000 people clicking the link at night on Tuesday. The county also organized a quiz contest, with prize chances of winning mobile phones and many others, to encourage locals to watch the film to deepen their understanding and get more information about the integrated service.(sponsored content)