Elderly care services expand in community

In an aging society, serving senior citizens has become the top priority for many community officials in Shanxi province.

In the Xiyu community in the provincial capital of Taiyuan, for instance, local officials are teaming up with volunteers to launch a range of services for elderly people.

The community is home to a great number of people aged over 80. As they are no longer able to cook, eating has become a challenge. This is especially true when they stay at home alone as their children are out working.

"Cooking a meal always takes more than an hour for an old woman like me," said Li Fumei, a senior resident in Xiyu. "I don't have the energy to stand in the kitchen for so long."

She added that she is reluctant to get deliveries from nearby restaurants as she thinks takeouts are not healthy.

The Xiyu community recently opened a not-for-profit canteen for senior citizens. Li said she sometimes eats at the canteen. "But dining is still a problem when the weather and my physical health keep me at home," she said.

The problem was solved by community officials by collaborating with local volunteers to deliver food from the canteen to the senior citizens' homes.

"The delivery is free and the food is still hot when it arrives at my home," Li said. "I'm very satisfied with their service."

In addition to food delivery, the community's officials and volunteers go to senior's homes to help them with housework, offer massages and other healthcare services, or simply chat with them.

At the elderly care center in the Binhe community in Taiyuan, the installation of stairlift chairs has become a sensation among the seniors.

As many old residential buildings in the community, as well as the rest of Taiyuan, are not equipped with lifts, climbing or descending staircases is a serious challenge to many elderly people. "The automatically controlled movable chairs have been installed along the rectified stairway handrails, transporting people up and down," said Zuo Guilan, an 83-year-old resident of the Binhe elderly care center. "It makes it possible for us to bathe in the sunshine in the courtyard and visit our friends on other floors frequently."

The Binhe elderly care center was established in December 2020 in an old three-story building.

According to Zhao Zanhong, deputy chief of the community, the center mainly offers daytime care. The seniors stay at the center during the day and go back home when their children return from work.

"The seniors can enjoy various social activities. They can dine at the canteen and have a rest in the bedrooms at the center," Zhao said.

Guo Yanjie contributed to this story.