The Heart of Gold Nationwide Hospice Service Program initiated by Mr. Li Ka-shing has received RMB 680 million in aggregate funding as of June 2018. With annual contributions of over RMB 52 million, the Program supports more than 30 hospices in public hospitals across 27 provinces (including autonomous regions and municipal cities), with services rendered 2.67 million times in aggregate.
The Program also supports a volunteer development program, with over 19,000 volunteers serving more than 439,000 hours.
In March 2018, hospice workers and volunteers funded by the program received the “Best Research Poster Award” at the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network 2018 General Assembly hosted by the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) in Boston. SWHPN is a national network dedicated to providing the best and latest information, professional resources, policy updates, and new and emerging education and research best practices in palliative and hospice care.
To this day, Heart of Gold remains the only free nationwide hospice service program, offering pain alleviation, psychological and grief counselling, and other essential services for terminally ill patients and their family members. The holistic services, provided by healthcare experts and volunteers across disciplines, aim to improve the quality of life for patients and enable them to live their remaining days with dignity.
The scope of services includes home visits, pain control and alleviation, clinical visits, psychological and grief counseling, and volunteer development. Approximately 16,000 patients benefit from the services, with a total of 188,000 patients served over the years, with services rendered 2.67 million times in aggregate.