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About CADENZA

CADENZA: A Jockey Club Initiative for Seniors is a HK$380 million project initiated and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust in light of a rapidly ageing population. The Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong and the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong are the project partners. CADENZA aims at creating an elder-friendly community which fosters positive community attitude towards older people and continually improves the quality of care and quality of life for Hong Kong's elderly.

CADENZA is an acronym for "Celebrate their Accomplishments; Discover their Effervescence and Never-ending Zest as they Age". In classical music, a "Cadenza'" is an extended virtuosic section, usually near the end of a movement in a concerto. The word is used figuratively to describe the apex of one's life and the celebration of a lifetime's accomplishments.

The initiative aims to: promote the image of the elderly as "social growth" rather than a "social problem"; plan for the needs of the "soon-to-be old" whilst enhancing skills and services for the current old; devise new services in response to changing needs; train different levels of professionals and front-line workers involved in elderly work; encourage inter-generational understanding: and nurture academic leadership in gerontology.

The initiative consists of four major components:

Community Projects
CADENZA community projects are innovative and sustainable service models to cope with the changing needs of seniors, especially in achieving seamless interface and collaboration among various sectors and mobilising untapped community resources. Project themes include chronic disease management, rehabilitation, transitional care, dementia, mental wellness, retirement, employment, intergeneration harmony, abuse prevention, and medical and social service integration. Each of these projects was evaluated and documented by the project team or CADENZA Fellows.

One of the innovative projects is the Jockey Club CADENZA Hub in Tai Po, which is an integrated primary health and social care centre for the old and the soon-to-be-old. The services include: (1) primary health services covering healthy lifestyle programmes and professional consultation; (2) chronic conditions management; (3) day care service and (4) other services, e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine and optometric assessment.

Leadership Training and Research
This component is to nurture new academic leader in gerontology. The "CADENZA Fellows" conduct research to advance gerontological knowledge and to evaluate the outcomes of different CADENZA projects. Research findings have been used as basis for the planning and promotion of public education programmes and community projects.

Public Education
Public awareness and public education programmes promote positive ageing and highlight important issues pertaining to the elderly population, covering 6 themes: (1) health promotion and maintenance; (2) health and social services in Hong Kong; (3) living environment; (4) financial and legal issues; (5) quality of life and quality of dying; and (6) age disparities. The goal is to reach all segments of society through different means, including territory-wide campaigns, TV programmes, publications, symposia, with wide diffusion and high impact.

Training Programme
The CADENZA Training Programme includes on-line courses, workshops and public seminars to train different levels of professional front-line workers, care givers and the general public. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion from CADENZA and will be able to earn continuous education credits from the corresponding accreditation bodies.