A New Way to Be Taken Care Of
Bathing in the sunlight. Cuncao Chunhui, or Greatness of Maternal Love, sets a good example for community-based nursing services for seniors who don’t travel far from home. However, many challenges hinder widespread usage of such a model.
At 3:00 p.m., Cuncao Chunhui bustles with various entertainment activities. Some play mahjong on the second floor. To motivate healthy living, the nursing center has formulated a strict schedule for its residents.The Old Folks Home
A celebratory aura hovered over the senior center on the 10th block of Heping Jiayuan (Home of Peace) in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, laughter and cheers reverberating through the air. Normally quiet Mr. Guan volunteered to perform Peking Opera. When he left the stage, he received warm applause and cheers and bowed to a picture on the wall. “What are you doing?” asked a nurse. “It’s a nice painting! I just wanted to show my respect.”
Guan formerly served as a guest professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Today, he suffers from slight dementia, which causes him to “show respect” to any painting he passes as if it was a masterpiece. His condition is the reason he resides in the privately-operated nursing center known as Cuncao Chunhui (Greatness of Maternal Love).
Wang Xiaolong and four of his classmates from the college founded the nursing home in 2011 with an investment of over 10 million yuan. Its floor space of 1,700 square meters includes offices, living quarters, a rehabilitation center, dining room, employee dorms, and beds for 100 disabled and semi-disabled elderly from surrounding communities. Moreover, it provides professional care services for some 5,000 senior citizens in the neighborhood.
The senior center is a welcome oasis for many silver-haired guests, and Mr. Guan is not an outlier. Mrs. Li, in her eighties, is another example. Although her children live in the same community, they don’t have the time to take care of her during the day be-cause of work. They come to visit her every day after work and then go home.
The center is also home to some couples that moved there together because they could need hospital treatment at any time. Easy access to several top hospitals and well-facilitated medical services in the local community meet the needs of many seniors, for whom traveling long distances to receive medical care is a major ordeal.
Residents spend their days resting, eating, exercising, and receiving medical care. Each day’s cafeteria offerings are announced on an electronic screen in front of the building so people still get choices for their low-cost meals.
Platform for Providing for the Aged
Founder Wang Xiaolong still remembers hunting for a place for his father after he was struck by early onset dementia. Most established homes in Beijing rejected the patient citing risk and difficulties providing care.
Wang made up his mind to establish a professional nursing center for seniors with disabilities, which seemed like a major void in the market. To figure out how to make it happen, Wang made an investigative trip to Japan and was greatly inspired by its community nursing centers.
“In Japan, community nursing institutions connect various nursing resources, something from which China with a huge population can learn,” asserts Wang.
The concept for Cuncao Chunhui was first a general service platform for professional care for seniors more than simply a retirement home.
Wang Xiaolong decided to follow institutional nursing patterns after factoring in payment ability and Chinese public’s lack of awareness of professional nursing. Compared to older nursing institutions which are comparatively independent, his nursing center is more connected to the local community and provides not only accommodations but also individual services according to neighborhood needs.
Home of Peace, the area where Wang’s nursing center is located, is a residential area with an abnormally large population of senior citizens. Every building is six stories and lacks elevators. Wang’s nursing center provides seniors with services ranging from food delivery, daily health care, and socialization to preventative medical treatment and free home repair. It also sponsors various activities for seniors such as charity clinics, art performances, and volunteer campaigns.
Data backs the center’s success. As a private nursing institution for communities, the center has been cited as a model project by the municipal government of Beijing and has a long waiting list.
Ready for the Senior Boom
In modern China, community-based nursing services will surely alleviate the tension exerted by the large elderly population on required resources and conditions.
The latest statistics show that by the end of 2014, seniors over age 60 numbered 212 million, accounting for 15.5 percent of China’s total population. As predicted by the World Health Organization, by 2050, 35 percent of the Chinese population will be more than 60 years old, making the country the epicenter for aging globally.
The aging dilemma will undoubtedly present new challenges in providing for the elderly. Statistics from 2014 show that there are more than 40,000 nursing institutions in China, including nursing homes, seniors apartment buildings and welfare housing, with bedding capacity of 3.9 million. Considering the total elderly population, 20.5 beds are available for each 1,000 seniors.
In July 2012, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs promulgated Suggestions on the Implementation of Encouraging and Guiding Private Capital in Services for the Aged, offering certain subsidies for the construction and operation of non-profit nursing institutions or service facilities founded with private capital, with hopes of developing social forces as the backbone of the elderly nursing industry.
The government’s move has created more hope for private nursing institutions like Cuncao Chunhui. “A chessboard of brands and franchises will eventually blanket cities like Beijing, some places with only a few dozen beds and others with more than 200,” continues Wang. “Not only do such institutions provide sustainable, professional services for senior citizens in local communities, they offer wonderful branding opportunities that will accelerate the development of the nursing industry.”