Suitable for aging transformation:
Let the elderly travel no longer "smashing and bumping"
Han Bingzhi, reporter of Economic Daily and China Economic Net
Affected by factors such as traditional concepts and insufficient beds in pension institutions, at present, home care is still the mainstream mode of care in my country. However, there are no calling and alarm facilities at home, lack of handrails in the bathroom, dim lighting, and no elevators in old buildings... These hidden safety hazards and inconveniences may bring harm to the daily life of the elderly at home, even if they stay at home, they are safe. risk. How to let the elderly care for the elderly safely at home has become a topic of increasing concern in society.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other 9 departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Implementation of the Renovation Project for the Elderly’s Home Fit and Ageing", clearly proposing to accelerate the cultivation of a fair competition, convenient service, and vibrant home-suit aging renovation market, and guide the elderly in need Families carry out home improvement for aging.
Urban and rural residences generally have problems with old age
Mr. Wu, 92 years old this year, has been trapped indoors. A year ago, because he tripped over an empty cardboard box, Mr. Wu accidentally fell and suffered a fracture. Although he was recovering well, he still had to walk with a walking device. Due to the small size of the bathroom at home, the walker cannot be pushed in, so Mr. Wu's toilet can only be solved outside the bathroom.
The dilemma facing Lao Wu is not an individual case. As early as 2013, a joint survey of 100 typical communities in 12 large and medium-sized cities by China Architecture Design and Research Institute and Tianjin University showed that 66.2% of urban elderly people had accidental injuries at home. Among them, the kitchen and bathroom are the most vulnerable places, accounting for 75.4%.
"The old people are not safe at home, one of the main reasons is that the house is not old enough." E Junyu, founder and chairman of Beijing Anxin Pension (Group) Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. believes that people tend to focus on home care and other services. However, it ignores the design and configuration of the suitability of housing construction. Many elderly people who care for themselves at home, especially those who can take care of themselves, often have a mentality of disobedience, but in fact this group is at greater risk of falling.
The fourth sample survey on the living conditions of the elderly in China’s urban and rural areas shows that 58.7% of the urban and rural elderly believe that housing is not suitable for the elderly, of which 63.2% in rural areas. More than half of the urban elderly believe that there are three main problems with housing: no calling and alarm facilities, no handrails, and dim lighting. Other discomfort and old problems include: the toilet or bathroom is not working well, the threshold is tripped or the floor is uneven, and the floor is easy to slip and fall.
Because there is no elevator, the trivial matter of going downstairs has become a difficult matter for some elderly people with inconvenient legs. Compared with ordinary elevators, the lack of stretcher elevators is even more worrying. According to a report released by the Pangu Think Tank’s Aging Society Research Center, in 2019, a survey covering 17 communities in Beijing found that in the communities constructed from 1980 to 2010, there were no 394 elevators in 94 high-rise buildings. Medical emergency stretcher elevator.
As our country gradually enters an aging society, the contradiction that existing infrastructure cannot meet the requirements of an aging society has become increasingly prominent. Li Jia, deputy director and researcher of the Pangu Think Tank’s Aging Society Research Center, believes that in the new round of infrastructure investment and construction, a forward-looking design for new infrastructure and a comprehensive renovation of the old infrastructure will help promote the realization. An aging society of inclusiveness, diversity and sharing, intelligent innovation for all ages.
Suitable for aging transformation is "blooming everywhere"
"Whether it is the construction of a livable environment for the elderly or the transformation of old communities to adapt to aging, they are all conducive to improving the quality of life of the elderly." According to Wu Yushao, vice president of the China Association of Aging, the transformation of old communities to adapt to aging is a good news for the elderly. It is imperative.
"Adaptation to aging is generally speaking of some positive improvements and changes made to adapt to the lives of the elderly. This is closely related to each of our families." Liu Ying, co-founder of Longli Pension, believes that most people are affected by traditional culture. The elderly still regard home care as their first choice. However, many children do not live with their parents, and the empty nest rate of the elderly is increasing. As the physical function of the elderly deteriorates, the risk of staying alone increases.
At present, many cities in our country have begun to promote the renovation of the aging of homes, showing a trend of "flowering everywhere". For example, Liu Ying said that the first user of Langlishi's aging transformation was the home of the 75-year-old man with hemiplegia. Uncle Chen is usually taken care of by his wife. The old couple has no children and lives in a low-rent house of 30 square meters. Uncle Chen usually uses the support of his wife to go to the toilet, take a bath, and go downstairs. However, as his wife gets older and older, he is already unable to do so. Uncle Chen couldn't bear to watch his wife take care of him so hard, and would rather lie on the bed by himself. Over time, Uncle Chen's self-care ability became worse and worse.
Through communication and evaluation with the elderly, Lang Lishi's aging transformation finally installed a support frame on the side of the bed on the side of Uncle Chen that is not hemiplegic, and installed handrails along the support frame to the living room, bathroom and other places, and installed it according to the height of the elderly Removable dual-purpose toilet. When Uncle Chen walked independently to the living room with the help of the handrails on the wall for the first time, seeing the scenery outside the balcony, the old man wept. Uncle Chen couldn't help sighing, "Happiness is so simple, it can be exchanged with a handrail."
Since the physical condition of each elderly person is different, and the environment of each family is different, this is destined to be "private customization" for aging reformation. “Currently, many old-age care service models have not yet opened the door for the elderly.” E Junyu said, on the one hand, we should make the home environment of the elderly safer and solve the pain point of "cannot afford to fall" through adaptation to aging. On the other hand, it is necessary to create a personalized and integrated solution, and use a market-oriented approach to enable the vigorous elderly, semi-self-care elderly, and bedridden elderly to enjoy the "three in one" personalized home improvement, home care products, and health rental. Customized service.
Age-appropriate transformation requires consideration of the whole age dimension
The aging-adaptive transformation of residential buildings is only part of the aging-adaptation transformation of infrastructure. Li Jia believes that the new generation of elderly people has the characteristics of better health, higher retirement income, and more psychological expectations. Their scope of activities is no longer limited to the family, and needs to be comprehensively adapted in a wider field and at more levels. Aging transformation.
"For example, in terms of the ageing of the community, it is necessary to base on the needs of the elderly, and promote the barriers of public building nodes such as ramps, stairs, elevators, handrails, and rest facilities, sign systems and other community public facilities; Urban roads, public transportation and other barrier-free construction and renovation; in terms of commercial aging, it is necessary to widely use slow elevators, large-character labels, and lightweight shopping carts to build a barrier-free shopping environment." Li Jia gave an example.
Lu Jiehua, deputy director of the Research Center for Aging Health and Development of Peking University, also believes that suitable aging is not only for the elderly, but also for everyone, and belongs to the whole-age dimension. Therefore, there must be more in-depth and systematic research on this dimension, including transportation and housing, public participation, respect and tolerance, outdoor spaces and buildings, and facilities. This should be done in a broad sense.
There are also experts calling for the digital technology to bring a lot of convenience, but for the elderly, technology needs to be lowered. Zuo Meiyun, deputy dean of the School of Information, Renmin University of China, believes that ageing should be combined with intelligence, that is, smart aging, so that a lot of monitoring and testing data analysis based on the elderly can be done, and the extensive needs of the elderly can be considered.
In April 2019, Beijing's first pilot project for aging-adaptive renovation of old communities, which was implemented by Anxin Pension, was officially launched. In addition to the aging modification of public facilities in the community, the pilot project also made home aging modification for some severely disabled elderly families, and entered the home through smart devices to monitor the elderly’s sleeping, toileting, bathing and other data. If there are abnormalities , Medical staff and family members can be informed immediately.
"The renovation of home aging is not a one-time project. As the body and family of the elderly change, services need to be continuously provided." E Junyu believes that the renovation of home aging must establish a standardized system. Since 2015, Anxin Elderly Care has begun to explore the service model of aging renovation at home, and has gradually built a professional system from home service to aging renovation of old communities, elderly care institutions, and urban public environments. To achieve "affordable" complete business chain closed loop. "Aging adaptation is not only a livelihood business, but also a market consumption. It requires the whole society to start with top-level design, involving the competent government departments, neighborhood communities, property companies, and every elderly family. It will gradually form a development path of specialization, scale, and branding."
“Aging groups can be both the beneficiaries of modern economic and social development, but also participants in modern economic and social development.” In Li Jia’s view, as the pace of aging adaptation accelerates, in the future, aging infrastructure will be implemented through physical and The dual role of the Internet has continuously eliminated barriers for the elderly to integrate into and participate in society.