Recently, at the Welfare Elderly Center in Zhongfang County, an exciting “Happy Ring Toss” event was held. The participating elders were fully concentrated, while those watching cheered on their peers, creating an atmosphere of joy and harmony.
The diverse recreational activities are initiatives taken by elderly care institutions to enrich the lives of their residents, and serve as a microcosm of the municipal civil affairs bureau’s implementation of the “open-door management” approach in elderly care institutions. Since the beginning of this year, the city has taken the lead in the province in exploring the “open-door management” of elderly care institutions. With the implementation of these measures, the quality of service in elderly care institutions has been significantly improved.
More services provided to the elderly
On October 11 (Double Ninth Festival), a medical team from the Hexi Street Community Health Service Center in Huaihua visited the Elderly Care Center to provide free health checkups to the elderly residents.
At the health examination site, the elderly residents of the welfare home, accompanied by staff, waited patiently and orderly for checkups. The medical personnel meticulously conducted comprehensive physical examinations for each elderly person, including measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, dental checks, and blood routine tests. They also inquired in detail about the elderly individuals’ health conditions and medical histories, and established health records for each one accordingly.
Experts and volunteers from medical, psychological, educational, and other relevant fields are invited to elderly care institutions to provide lectures on healthcare and wellness knowledge for the residents and to train the management and nursing staff on management and nursing skills. This is a “bring-in” initiative of running the institution with an open-door policy. So far, elderly care institutions at all levels across the city have invited over 100 experts from various fields such as medicine, elderly care, psychology, and legal affairs to regularly visit their institutions to deliver lectures on relevant professional knowledge, and conduct workshops on health preservation in traditional Chinese medicine.
Staff of the medical and healthcare center of the Yuanling Social Welfare Institute conduct monthly educational sessions on medical and healthcare knowledge for the elderly, and invite medical and healthcare experts to the institute to provide health education and free clinic services. A branch of the county’s elderly university, located within the welfare institute, organizes quarterly recreational activities to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the elderly.
Four elderly care institutions in Zhijiang have established comprehensive health records for the elderly and enhanced their medical healthcare knowledge by regularly inviting medical institutions to conduct routine health examinations, health knowledge lectures, and free clinics for the elderly.
The Civil Affairs Bureau of Hongjiang has established working relationships with departments related to affairs about healthcare, human resources and social security, culture and sports, and retired cadres, and created an expert pool with over 50 professionals, who will provide on-site guidance for each event.
Through the two-way interactive approach, these measures have not only enhanced the understanding and support of all sectors of society for the old-age care industry, but also allowed elderly individuals to feel the warmth and care of society while enjoying professional elderly care services. Furthermore, they have elevated the caregiving abilities of management and nursing staff of the elderly care institutions, promoting their service quality and skills.
More professional care provided
The 2024 Skills Training for Family Caregivers of Disabled Elders was successfully held, with the participation of 110 frontline caregivers from elderly care institutions across counties, county-level cities and districts of the city.
The training curriculum emphasized both theoretical explanations and practical operations, providing comprehensive and systematic training on ethics for elderly caregivers, first aid, daily care for the elderly, and other theoretical knowledge related to elderly care. Beyond the traditional theoretical teaching model, greater emphasis was placed on on-site practical courses, where each participant engaged in hands-on activities to ensure a deeper understanding and a more solid grasp of the knowledge.
Since the beginning of this year, the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau has organized two training sessions and one vocational skills competition for nursing staff, with over 400 person-times participation. Additionally, counties, county-level cities and districts have conducted 20 training sessions, with the participation of over 1,200 person-times. By applying what they have learned at the trainings, the management of elderly care institutions across the city has become more standardized, and nursing skills have been enhanced.
While ensuring safety, elderly care institutions have organized outdoor activities such as spring and autumn tours, outdoor labor, and social activities for the elderly to promote their physical and mental health, benefiting 4,138 elderly individuals and fostering closer connection between the elderly care institutions, the residents and society.
Outuan Branch of Jingzhou Welfare Home organized more than 50 senior citizens to visit Jingzhou National Forest Park, where they could relax their eyes and spirits amidst the lush mountains and green waters. Various fun games such as Happy Ring Toss and Treasure Hunt in the Grass were conducted. Medical staff were also on site to provide full-time attendance during the trip.
Huairen Jinyuan Elderly Apartment organized an autumn outing to Yingfeng Park for elderly residents in good physical condition. The elderly climbed hills, sang songs, chatted, enjoyed delicious food, and praised the well-organized event.
Managers and service personnel of Huairen Wellness Industry Park and its community elderly care service centers regularly conduct health knowledge lectures to provide easy-to-understand instructions on healthcare, covering topics such as daily dietary regulation, prevention of common diseases, and fitness methods suitable for the elderly. These lectures have been warmly welcomed by the elderly. Up to now, 256 public welfare lectures have been held, benefiting over 20,000 elderly individuals.
The “going out” approach has greatly enhanced the management abilities and nursing service levels of the staff in elderly care institutions, while enriching the lives of the elderly.
Extensive social influence
The key to the “opening-up” elderly care institutions lies in scientifically and reasonably shifting from the traditional management approach of keeping them tightly closed.
The Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau requires elderly care institutions to operate flexibly, facilitating free access for self-caring and healthy elderly individuals, enabling family members to visit and care for their loved ones residing there, and providing opportunities for the public to enter and understand the operations of these institutions. This also allows elderly care institutions to consciously accept supervision from all sectors of society and the news media, fundamentally changing the public’s impression that entering an elderly care institution is akin to being imprisoned without freedom. By doing so, it compels elderly care institutions to make changes and drives the upgrading of their management and service capabilities.
Zhao Shuntao, deputy secretary of the Party Group and deputy director of the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, introduced that since the implementation of the “open-door policy” for elderly care institutions, 70 institutions across the city have actively explored feasible paths in improving leave systems, enhancing safety measures, and providing travel assistance. As a result, over 1,000 elderly individuals with the desire to go out have been able to leave the institutions to participate in family reunions, medical appointments and social activities. This has greatly helped the elderly integrate into their families and society, significantly enhancing their happiness index.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau has actively leveraged technology to enhance capabilities, utilizing the face recognition access control system of the “Safety Internet” for elderly care institutions. As a result, visiting hours for family members have been extended to 22:00 every day. While retaining the traditional reservation method, a new online reservation option via smart phones has been added, allowing relatives and long-term guardians to visit by recording their information once and using facial recognition to enter the institution.
Some elderly care institutions have also established public reception days and media open days, regularly inviting people from all sectors of society as well as friends and family of the residents to experience life in the institutions. They also utilize official media and self-media to increase the profile of the institutions, aiming to change people’s perceptions of institutional care. This promotes the coordinated development of home-based, community-based and institutional elderly care, providing more models and choices for public elderly care.
It has become a common practice in Huaihua for people from all sectors of society to visit elderly care institutions and provide care and assistance to the elderly. On October 11, the Xinhuang Federation of Industry and Commerce organized three caring companies, namely Jinlong Automobile Driver Training School Co., Ltd., Hunan Lisheng New Material Co., Ltd., and Xinhuang Chengxin Logistics Consulting Co., Ltd., to visit and provide comfort to the residents of the Yushi Elderly Care Home.
The staff from the caring companies had conversations with the elderly, inquiring about their living conditions in detail, listening to their thoughts, and organizing a warm collective birthday celebration for them.
In order to provide a platform for the elderly to enjoy themselves and showcase their talents, as well as to raise awareness about elderly care and foster a strong atmosphere of respecting and loving the elderly in society, Huaihua took the lead in organizing a large-scale themed variety show on the evening of October 22. The event was held at the municipal Party committee auditorium and featured wonderful performances staged by elderly care institutions such as Huairen Kangyang and Yuanling Welfare Home. Since the beginning of this year, 70 elderly care institutions in the city have taken measures, including inviting 12,000 people from the community and family members to interact with the residents, publishing 46 news articles in newspapers and on official online platforms, receiving 168,900 likes, and over 4,590 comments and shares. These efforts have effectively improved their profile, comprehensively showcasing the characteristics and advantages of the institutions to the public and creating a social atmosphere of filial piety and respect for the elderly.
Enhanced supervision to ensure safety
As the safe operation of elderly care institutions is important, Huaihua has prioritized the safety of people living in these institutions.
According to Zeng Qingyu, secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, the city has taken the lead in the province by establishing a unified “one network, one platform” system. This innovative approach promotes the integration of safety and quality management supervision for elderly care institutions across the city through a single network, and extends the smart elderly care service platform to the county level. It achieves interconnection of elderly care data and services at the city, county, and township levels, and implements cloud supervision for the safe production of elderly care institutions. With over 8,000 various alarm messages sent cumulatively, it ensures the safety and worry-free living of the elderly, providing a safety net for the institutions.
To strengthen the supervision of illegal fund-raising activities involving the elderly in elderly care institutions, the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau plans to sign a strategic framework agreement with commercial banks that have qualifications for supervising elderly care funds, such as the Agricultural Bank of China Huaihua Branch. The aim is to enhance effective supervision of the deposit and withdrawal of pre-paid fees in elderly care institutions through the “Elderly Care Institution Fund Supervision Platform” to preventing the risk of illegal fund-raising in these institutions.
Cloud supervision with full coverage of the welfare home ensures that the elderly can live in a safe condition. “I’ve been living here for eight years. The food, accommodation, and service are all excellent. My children are very relieved,” said Liu Fangwu, an elderly resident at the Hongjiang Social Welfare Home, along with his relatives, expressing their great satisfaction with the services provided by the institution.
“As the Chinese value the principle ‘Extend the respect of the aged in one’s family to that of other families’, ensuring that each senior citizen can fully share in the fruits of social development and enjoy a dignified, healthy and happy life is our unwavering and steadfast goal,” said Zeng Qingyu. He added that in the next step, civil affairs departments at all levels in the city will continue to promote the “open-door policy” for elderly care institutions, summarize experiences, improve systems, enhance services, and drive the high-quality development of elderly care services so as to continuously improve the sense of fulfillment, happiness, and safety among the elderly.
(Translated by Yang Hong)