Under the JC eHealth Project, an eHealth station was set up at each of the 80 participating centres. The station was equipped with blood pressure meter, blood glucose meter, eight scale and tablet. At present, more than 5,500 elderly participants are conducting regular measurement at the eHealth stations, and their health data is monitored by a distant nursing team operated by Senior Citizen Home Safety Association through real time telecommunication technology. The nurses would make caring phone calls to the participants if the readings are abnormal. They would also conduct face-to-face interview with the participants on a monthly basis. As at Oct 2019, the nurse team has made some 500,000 calls and conducted over 8,000 visits to elderly centres for the interviews.

The telecare programme has shown significant impact on empowering self-management and improving health conditions of the participants. As for hypertension control, the average incidence of out-of-range readings on blood pressure (n=1,685) have decreased from 4.3 times per month in the first month to 2.5 times in the 13th month. In parallel, more than 42% of participants with hypertension (n=1,042) have shown a reduction in systolic blood pressure with at least 10 mmHg, or a reduction in diastolic blood pressure with at least 5 mmHg in the 13th month. It means that their risks of coronary heart disease and stroke have been reduced by 22% and 41% respectively*. Please click here for a case illustration video on self-management empowerment.