Why is it so difficult to deliver meals to the elderly?

　　Our reporter Wang Qipeng

　　In order to solve the "difficulties in eating" for the elderly at home, the city plans to develop 1,000 meals for the elderly this year, which will be located in the elderly post.

However, the pension station has prepared high-quality and inexpensive "heart-warming rice", which is a bit difficult for the elderly to eat conveniently and quickly.

On the one hand, some elderly care inns have few staff and cannot provide door-to-door service; on the other hand, when the weather turns cold and the daylight becomes shorter, it becomes more difficult for elderly people with inconvenient legs to go out to eat.

With hot meals, old people can’t eat them

　　The old man Yin Shouqi, who lives in Panjiayuan, is worrying about the inability to deliver meals to the retirement post.

The old man is 92 years old this year. Due to his advanced age, the problem of eating is usually solved through the pension post.

"The old-age post has a food-help function, which allows us elderly people to eat warm meals, which is very convenient."

　　Some time ago, the old man fell and fractured his left leg, which suddenly became very inconvenient to travel.

In desperation, he called the old-age post in the Warwick Xili community he often visited, hoping to provide door-to-door meal service.

However, the pension station said that it could not provide food delivery services, and currently only supports picking up meals at the store.

The old man said that from home to the retirement post, he needs to leave the community and take another bus stop to get there. He has poor eyesight and poor legs and feet. It is very difficult to go out.

What annoys the elderly even more is that the pick-up time at the pension station is 11 o'clock, and it may be gone if you go late.

　　According to the description of the old man, the reporter came to Warwick Xili Community Pension Station to find out the situation.

The staff said that the station only provides lunch, the dishes are three dishes and one soup, including one staple food.

The post has also established a WeChat group for ordering meals. The elderly need to book one day in advance and pick up the meals on their own the next day.

Due to insufficient manpower, the inn was unable to provide door-to-door meal delivery services.

　　The reporter also visited the nearby Jinsongxi Community Pension Post.

This "three-star" inn can provide three meals a day for the elderly.

The staff said that the food delivery service is available here, and the delivery fee is 3 yuan per order, but the distance cannot be too far. "One is that we can't deliver it, and the other is that the food is cold and the elderly will feel uncomfortable eating."

The cost of delivering food is high, and the station is "intentionally weak"

　　The reporter visited a number of elderly care stations and found that due to limited space and shortage of staff, most of the elderly care stations with meal assistance function do not have their own kitchens, but provide meals for the elderly by way of catering.

"This can save costs and meet the needs of the elderly in the community." said Mao Yu, the head of the elderly care station in Fuxiang Community, Dongcheng District.

　　Fuxiang Community Pension Post is located in the area of ​​Nanluoguxiang. The senior citizens’ meals at the post are provided by the nearby Ginkgo House Elderly Service Center.

The Ginkgo House has a team that specializes in making meals for the elderly. After the meals are prepared, they can be delivered to the station in a few minutes, and the surrounding old people will eat at the station.

Mao Yu said that the post does not exclude food delivery services. “If there is a demand from the elderly around, we will definitely find a way to deliver it to the door.” But he also said that home delivery of meals for the elderly is indeed difficult for most of the post.

He introduced that an elderly care post usually has only two to three staff members. If the elderly need to deliver meals, it is okay if they are nearby. The post can deliver it by themselves or ask the delivery master of the elderly care service center to deliver it along the way; if the distance is relatively long If you are far away or have a large delivery volume, you can only ask someone to deliver the food.

Taking Fuxiang Station as an example, about 30 servings of meals for the elderly can be sold a day. If the highest price is 30 yuan per serving, the sales will only be more than 900 yuan a day.

Calculating it in one month, it is very difficult to cover the expenses of three people after the cost is calculated. If you ask someone to deliver the goods, the cost will be even higher.

Mao Yu said frankly that the inability to increase the amount of meals for the elderly in the inn, and the inadequate cost, coupled with the lack of manpower, are the fundamental reasons why many inn's unable to deliver meals to their door.

　　The post is "weak in heart", so can the takeaway platform assist the elderly with meals?

The reporter learned that because it is not a pure restaurant, pension post generally does not enter the take-out platform, and the elderly cannot order the post’s elderly meals through the take-out platform.

Multi-party efforts are expected to solve the difficulty of food delivery

　　How to help the "last mile" of the elderly meal?

The reporter learned from the civil affairs department that, in order to further improve the level of catering services for the elderly and solve the problem of inconvenience in eating for the elderly, the city is stepping up to formulate the "Administrative Measures for the Beijing Municipality on catering services for the elderly."

The measures will, in accordance with the requirements of the quarter of an hour old-age service circle, make overall plans for the layout of the centralized distribution center for old-age meals and the old-age assistance meals, further improve the old-age assistance catering service network, and make provisions for meal delivery services.

　　From the perspective of industry insiders, in order to solve the problem of difficult meal delivery for the elderly, apart from relying on government subsidies and support, it is more important to build a complete street pension assistance system.

He suggested that elderly care service centers such as Ginkgo House could become the hub of the street elderly meal support system in the future, radiating the surrounding stations that cannot make elderly meals, and coordinate and coordinate with the help of the Internet platform to properly solve the problem of elderly meal delivery.

The reporter learned that the forthcoming "Administrative Measures on Supporting Meal Services for the Elderly in Beijing" will encourage districts to use social platforms to assist in the standardized management of support meals for the elderly, support the provision and delivery of meals for the elderly, and carry out the entire process of restoring support information. Set etc.

At present, Xicheng District has carried out a digital pilot program for catering for the elderly in 6 stations. The stations participating in the first batch of pilots have signed contracts with take-out platforms to screen suppliers of restaurants and other qualified restaurants within 3 kilometers of the station, and provide “take-away” assistance to the elderly. Meal service.

The elderly order food on the takeaway platform, and the takeaway rider can deliver it directly to the home. The delivery fee is consistent with the current standards of the current takeaway platform.

　　Many elderly people welcome this model.

"It has been raining lately, and in autumn, the sky will get darker and earlier. If you fall because of going out to buy food, the price will be too high." Senior Yin Shouqi said, "For seniors over 80 years old, The food delivery service is a kind of rigid demand. The delivery staff have paid the labor, and it is reasonable to charge the delivery fee appropriately."