Nursing homes, an increasingly popular place for elderly
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Pan Meirong, 80, ate a "Double-Ninth cake" during lunch Saturday at a nursing home in the Putuo District in east China's Shanghai Municipality.
Saturday saw the celebration of Seniors Day, or the "Double-Ninth Festival" that fell on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.
Pan's nursing home, named "Ganquan Hongli Old People's Home," opened in October 2005, and has run at full capacity since, with most residents being above 80 years old and the oldest being 100 years old.
"The staff here are very nice to us," Pan said. "We feel lonely and insecure at home, so we like to stay here and feel it is like home."
The nursing home was built through both government and social efforts, with more than six million yuan (882,300 U.S. dollars) of official investment and two-million-yuan in business contributions.
The home also cooperated with six local enterprises, which would regularly send money and daily necessities to the nursing home.
As one of the most developed Chinese cities, Shanghai faces severe challenges due to its ageing problem.
Ni Hui, director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Shanghai's Putuo District, said Putuo had a serious ageing problem as the proportion of older people above 60 years reached nearly 24 percent of the district's population, higher than the national average.
"The expanding elderly population will produce more influence on the government's policy making," Ni said.
She added that, currently, about 90 percent of the elderly people in Putuo were cared for by their families, seven percent cared for by communities and only three percent live in nursing homes.
As for the community-based care for the aged, the community provides services such as medical care and meals, as well as other daily needs for older people living at home.
In Shanghai's Jingan District, more than 30 elderly people would go to a "daytime nursing home" each morning to participate in activities such as singing, dancing, performing in fashion shows, watching films, or simply chatting with each other. They also had lunch in the canteen and even medical services are provided to the elderly.
Li Yueqin, 64, said every day she went to the daytime nursing home for more than a year as her life became more meaningful by taking part in various activities.
Further, two other "daytime nursing homes" are to be built over the next five years in the same neighborhood.
Ni said the government is working to improve the service system and make more reasonable payments for workers providing the services.
She said among all nursing homes in the district, 55 percent were built by the government and another 45 percent by private businesses.
Additionally, the Office of the China National Committee on Ageing said the number of people aged 60 or above stood at 167 million in 2009, or 12.5 percent of the 1.3-billion population.
Ni said mobilizing social forces to participate in building the ageing services also boosted employment.
The "Ganquan Hongli Old People's Home" has about 50 staff members, most of whom were laid-off workers, retirees and migrant workers, said its president, Wang Shuangqing.
Wang said the requirement for staff members to work with the elderly is being patient, loving and caring, and "not fearing dirt and fatigue."
