Shanxi explores optimal urban elderly care solutions

North China's Shanxi province is enhancing its elderly care system which is based on home care, backed by community services, supplemented by institutions, and integrated with medical care to advance the marketization, professionalization, and socialization of elderly care services.

Elderly people learn to play musical instruments at a community elderly care service center. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

In the face of traditional home care challenges, community-based elderly care has emerged as a crucial supplement. The Huasheng Zanjia Smart Community Home Care Service Center in Jinzhong city exemplifies this approach. The center has 1,190 square meters of dining areas, cognitive rehabilitation zones, physiotherapy and wellness areas, daycare zones, and recreational activity areas. It also features smart home voice control systems, medical emergency call systems, and integrated health monitoring machines, providing dining and rehabilitation services for the elderly.

Shanxi is also exploring new models of medical-elderly care integration. The Shanxi Provincial Elderly Apartment is a pilot and demonstration site for elderly health care services and medical integration, offering daily living assistance, entertainment, and medical services, including chronic disease management, emergency treatment, and psychological counseling.

Elderly residents play mahjong in the Shanxi Provincial Elderly Apartment. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

Upon admission, each person has a health file established. Dedicated doctors are assigned to each floor, conducting daily rounds and monitoring blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The apartment has also partnered with hospitals like Shanxi Bethune Hospital to ensure a special channel for residents’ medical services.

Li Ailing, director of Taiyuan's Xingfuhui Zangshan Villa Elderly Care Service Center, emphasizes that emotional support is equally important. The "mutual assistance elderly care" and "travel-based elderly care" models that can provide emotional support should be explored in line with local conditions.