Heep Hong means "to help to health". It also carries the message of being united and co-operating together to achieve health. It was in such spirit that Heep Hong Society was founded in 1963 when a group of women became concerned with the lack of post-operative care for children recovering from poliomyelitis and began to take them out for weekly recreational activities.

In the 70s, poliomyelitis almost disappeared and we served children with different kinds of disabilities including physical, mental, psychological and developmental problems. In 1981, Heep Hong pioneered the First Help Outreach Programme (now known as the Early Education and Training Centres, EETCs) which provides service to handicapped children from birth to six and their families. The number of Special Child Care Centres (SCCCs) and EETCs increased considerably during the late 80s. In 1990, we started the operation of Parents Resource Centres (PRCs) which was the first of its kind in Hong Kong. In the meantime, the occasional child care service was extended to all our service units.

In 1982, we formally changed our name from "Heep Hong Club for Handicapped Children" to "Heep Hong Society for Handicapped Children". In April 1999, the registration status of the Society was changed from a registered society under the Societies Ordinance to that of a society limited by guarantee under the Companies Ordinance, and the English name was formally changed to "Heep Hong Society" while the Chinese name remained unchanged.

In the early 1990s, Heep Hong has devoted major efforts to carry out professional training projects across the border and introduced a number of publications to share our knowledge and experiences with peer practitioners.

In the new millennium, we launched the Supportive Learning Project (SLP) to further expand our services to children studying in early secondary schools, and promote integration of children with special needs into ordinary schools and the community.

Today, we operate 12 EETCs, 14 SCCCs, 5 mixed-mode centres, 1 Nursery School and 5 PRCs throughout Hong Kong providing services to more than 6,000 families each year.