Care and compassion through a century of extraordinary change in Yuen Long

In the early 20th century, Yuen Long was a backward rural settlement and lack of medical facilities. Benefactors then raised funds to open Pok Oi Hospital (POH) in 1919, providing free medical treatment and other charitable services to people in need with the motto: ‘We love, we care, we serve.’ One hundred years on, Yuen Long is now a well-connected and cosmopolitan high-rise town with a fast-growing urban population. The hospital still serves the community and still lives by its motto but also embraces the development of diversified services to meet the needs of the times.

“In the past, there were few high-rise buildings in Yuen Long and the hospital was surrounded by farmland,” says Eric Law, former Physiotherapy Department Manager, who grew up in Yuen Long. “I would even see feral cows walk by the hospital.” Eric joined the hospital after graduating from university in 1981 and many of his colleagues as well as patients were also from Yuen Long, creating a close bond. “I practised the Hakka and Chiu Chow dialects well, so as to communicate with patients,” he recalls.

Physiotherapy was relatively new to Hong Kong at that time and Eric worked alone providing services to patients in a modest room of less than 300 square feet. It was only a few years later that a physiotherapy team was created, and more patients were admitted from other districts. After several expansions, the hospital finally had enough space to introduce more advanced equipment, including Hong Kong’s first hydrotherapy pool with a built-in water treadmill in 2012.

Eric retired in 2019 and never considered working anywhere else in the past years. “I’m so glad to have grown up with POH which has developed from scratch to its current allied health services standard,” he reflects. “It gives me a sense of belonging.”

Taking pregnant mother to the hospital by bicycle

Former General Manager (Nursing) Frances To’s relationship with POH goes back to her very first day of life. “I was born in the hospital in the 1960s when transport in the area was difficult and villagers had to take my mother to the hospital by bicycle when she was about to give birth,” she says.

As a child, she remembers the hospital as a place with queues of patients, no elevators, and staff using canvas stretchers to carry pregnant women and patients up and down stairs. “Although resources were limited then, the hospital did its best to save lives and help the sick,” she says. “I was moved by this spirit.”

She was working at Tuen Mun Hospital before joining POH in 2006 to help develop ambulatory care services as it became the largest day centre in New Territories West at that time. Frances describes a strong sense of camaraderie with her colleagues.

Today, the hospital is facing up to the challenges of rapid population growth in the district. Louisa Leung, current General Manager (Nursing) says the addition of many new housing estates and residential care homes for the elderly in Yuen Long in recent years makes it necessary to strengthen outreach and community care services, so elderly patients can receive proper care in the community. POH will also conduct artificial intelligence (AI) pilots in patients’ services.

“The older generation often sees POH as a traditional, old-fashioned hospital, but in fact we have always kept up with the times and introduced smart new elements,” Louisa points out. “We are not lagging behind.”