About three-quarters of family caregivers are worried that after they reach old age or pass away, no one will be available to look after a family member with a disability, a survey released yesterday by the Eden Social Welfare Foundation found.
The survey, conducted from May 25 to June 10, asked family caregivers of people with disabilities served by the foundation to select from a list their top concerns for their disabled family members.
Respondents could select more than one option from the list.
While 76.6 percent of respondents were worried there would be no one to take care of their disabled family member following their death or in their old age, 69.7 percent of respondents were worried their family member with a disability would be unable to live independently.
Forty-one percent said they were worried that their family member with a disability would suffer from emotional problems or a disease, while 39.4 percent said they were concerned that their family member would have no job opportunities, the survey showed.
Caregivers could also choose multiple options from a list to express the types of resources they hoped for most in caring for their relative with disabilities, with 57.5 percent of respondents saying that they wanted a channel that would allow them to seek help any time.
This was followed by respite care at 43.1 percent and financial assistance at 41.4 percent.
The survey found that 22.4 percent of caregivers said they hoped for psychological counseling, while 19.5 percent said they wanted training on caregiving skills and 18.4 percent said they wanted caregiving consultation or courses.
The survey, which was commissioned by the foundation and conducted by InsightXplorer, collected 191 valid samples, had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 7.09 percent.
More than 1.18 million people in Taiwan, or about one in every 20, have a physical or mental disability, the foundation said, citing Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics.
Many tragedies result from a lack of help-seeking channels, foundation resource development department head Amy Chang (張炎玉) told a news conference at the Taipei NGO House, encouraging people to sympathize with and lend a hand to people with disabilities and their families.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai