Betty Pong
MIRI: The Miri Chinese Charitable Trust Board (MCCTB) welcomes tipoff from the public on any homeless senior citizens, to enable the organisation to reach out and provide help to them.
MCCTB’s Miri Home for the Aged supervisor Betty Pong told The Borneo Post that even though there is no obvious increase in the number of cases relating to homeless senior citizens during the Movement Control Order (MCO), they will constantly be on the lookout for any case brought to their attention.
“Just yesterday (June 22), we had a case where a senior citizen was brought to the centre after we were informed by a member of the public. The senior citizen had no personal documentation on him to prove his identity, hence we sought help with the Welfare Department to scan his thumb print.
“Thankfully, records showed that he has family members. After tracing and contacting one of them, he is now back home with his family,” said Pong.
The Home, which relies on grants and donations, currently has over 20 senior citizens under the care of an administration staff, a cook and a cleaner.
Pong said under their standard operating procedure (SOP), their priority was to assist the homeless individuals to find their family members.
“Whenever we are informed of a new case, we will not immediately settle the person into the centre. Instead we will first do a background check with the Welfare Department whether this person has any immediate family members that could take care of them.
“The centre is mainly for the elderly who do not have any family members taking care of them. If we have the option, we would like them to return home to their family,” said Pong.
She said during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order period, the Welfare Department has temporarily settled a group of homeless people at Miri Red Crescent’s multi-purpose hall at Jalan Bulan Sabit.
“We went to check on these homeless people to see whether there are any homeless elderly people that we could help. There was one homeless elderly who had returned back home after the Welfare department did a background check on this person.
“In fact, we take very seriously the issue of homeless senior citizens, because we believe there must be a reason for them to be in that position,” said Pong.
She also thanked the Welfare Department for constantly assisting MCCTB with cases concerning the homeless, especially senior citizens.
“At times, when we failed to obtain any useful information for the person, we had to seek help from the welfare department. They have been very helpful,” said Pong.