Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) is to launch home care services for elderly people on Oct. 16 in response to the increasing need for long-term care providers in an aging society.
The postal company has been studying the feasibility of offering long-term care services since Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) took office last year.
Earlier this year, the firm proposed establishing elderly care facilities, such as an elderly care center or senior-care communities, and to build a second Postal Hospital.
Chunghwa Post acting chairman and Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said the ministry reviewed the legality of the proposal, but found that such facilities fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Instead of building and operating elderly-care facilities, the company opted to provide home care services, he said.
About 12,000 postal-delivery personnel have volunteered to provide services to elderly people who live alone, he said.
The company, which has 1,300 branch offices nationwide, is more capable of offering home care services than taking care of elderly people in senior-care communities, he added.
Among the services the company plans to offer are hosting events for elderly people. Postal guesthouses, which were previously open only to the company’s employees and their families, can be used to host events for older people, Wang said.
Twenty branch offices have been designated to host such events, which will be free to postal insurance subscribers aged 65 and above, he said, adding that about 160,000 subscribers would qualify for the activities.
Each of the 20 branch offices will be responsible for arranging the time and the place for the activities it is planning to host, such as one-day field trips or social gatherings, the company said.
Each office is to host one event before the end of this year, and three per branch next year, it said.
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