Serving the Elderly

ByWang Juan　November 12, 2012

By 2015, the number of China's senior citizens is expected to reach 221 million, which will test China's nursing capacities. However, only three percent of senior citizens currently choose to move into nursing facilities, which means that there is a vast market for qualified professionals offering at-home nursing services.

Lu Yun, a social worker who graduated from the Nanjing College for Population Program Management in 2010, has seized upon this gap in the market to start an at-home nursing business with three of her classmates.

Lu Yun and one of her clients [yzwb.net]

Beginnings

In October 2010, Lu established the Senior Citizens Home Service Center in Nanxiu Village in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province. Lu and her classmates began their business with a simple service: delivering food to seven senior citizens in the neighborhood.

Although they did not have many clients, Lu was happy and kept herself busy. Every day, she set out at eleven in the morning to deliver the food that her clients had ordered.

Gradually, Lu and her colleagues began to introduce other services. Based on market research, they realized that most elderly people are vulnerable to injuries while taking baths. Last year, they started to provide services to help senior citizens take baths.

"Taking care of them is also a good way to learn about their lives and what they need," said Lu.

It was not an easy job. Every time Lu and her colleagues visited a senior citizen, they had to check his or her blood pressure before deciding whether or not their physical conditions allowed for a bath.

They also had to be patient in finding the right way to help the clients wash themselves and enjoy the bath. As part of the service, Lu also frequently clips the client's nails.

"Once, I clipped the nails of an elderly lady who had not had her nails clipped for a long time and they smelled bad," said Lu.

Service with a Smile

Last year, a nursing home called Lu and asked if she would like to take on the care of an elderly woman who had just lost her husband. She was afraid of being home alone and needed someone to stay with her at night. Lu unhesitatingly accepted the offer.

The elderly woman was 82 years old but in good physical condition. Every night, Lu visited her and chatted with her, reading her news stories and watching over her after she fell asleep.

However, as Lu's business was growing rapidly back then, she soon found it unfeasible to take care of the elderly woman full-time. The woman was sad to see her go, but Lu often receives calls from her and they talk about life and work.

"I recommended one of my colleagues to her, but she said, ‘I do not want anyone else to keep me company'," said Lu.

Currently, Lu has 140 senior citizens to take care of. However, her classmates who started the business along with her have left the center as they have gotten married and sought other careers.

In order to better service her clients, Lu recruited two university graduates to help her. However, she often feels that her work is misunderstood by others. She has often heard people say of her, "What a strange girl! Why not do something else other than this back-breaking job?"

But for Lu, she has found fulfillment and happiness in this job. "The senior citizens are lonely, simple and warm hearted," said Lu. "While I help them, they also help me in return. Many of the clients prepare hot water and fruits for us before we visit them."

"I feel that this job is making me grow as a person," said Lu. "By walking in the shoes of a senior citizen, I have come to understand them a lot better."

(Source: yzwb.net/Translated and edited by womenofchina.cn)

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Serving the Elderly

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