[Community Innovation and Regional Sustainability: The Practice of Time Banking at Fooyin University].

Abstract

The need for health literacy in the context of older adult healthcare has increased significantly with population aging. Employing innovative models of social service delivery will be necessary to effectively integrate academic, medical, and community resources to address diverse healthcare needs. The project of university social responsibility supported by Fooyin University is a comprehensive program that employs a time bank model and cultivates community. The Fooyin Time Bank leverages reciprocity to cultivate sustainable manpower to satisfy community needs. The five strategies of the Fooyin Time Bank include: 1) strengthen the awareness of the time bank in community volunteers, 2) cultivate seed members to initiate the time bank, 3) adapt the mutual help model to meet local individual needs, 4) promote the online platform system of the time banking infrastructure and diversities of resource exchange, and 5) emphasize the key role of community and supplementary role of university to enhance sustainability. The Fooyin Time Bank coordinates with government agencies, private companies, and academic institutions to bolster the sustainability of its networks. In addition, faculties and students participate in the community to create a social climate of mutual help, inter-generational aged care, and social welfare.