China News Service, Chongqing, May 11 (Liang Qinqing) Prepare the pressure gauge, sterilize the bathtub, put on the disposable bathtub cover, put the hot water, measure the water temperature, and prepare the bath towel... After preparing all this, Longsu Rong and the nurses took the old man into the bathtub and started the bathing service.

　　Recently, the emerging profession of bath assistant, which provides professional bathing services for the elderly, has attracted the attention of Chinese society.

According to data released by the National Health Commission of China in 2019, the number of elderly people aged 65 and above in China is about 167 million, and the population of disabled and semi-disabled elderly exceeds 40 million. There is a huge and rigid demand for professional nursing services.

In recent years, groups of bathing assistants have gradually emerged in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Chongqing and other cities to relieve the "silver-haired" bathing problems.

　　Long Surong, 44 years old this year, is a bath assistant of Chongqing Sanxintang Elderly Service Co., Ltd., and has served thousands of elderly people in the past three years.

In an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com on the 11th, she said that helping the elderly in bathing is not always smooth. Some elderly people who often bathe only accept specific bathing assistants, and some elderly people are demented or disabled, and can only communicate by movement , and some elderly people will have faster heart rate and higher blood pressure when they are touched by strangers, and they need more care, patience and skills than ordinary people.

　　"Bath assistants are the 'timely rain' for many families." Long Quanming, founder of Chongqing Sanxintang Elderly Service Co., Ltd., said that at the end of 2015, his 80-year-old father fell off the bed and fractured his tailbone, and his three children went home to take care of them. Father, but the bathing problem was especially troublesome as the elderly man became semi-incapacitated after surgery.

"None of us are professionals. It takes a lot of trouble to give Dad a bath every fortnight."

　　Long Quanming thought that professional things should still be done by special people.

From 2014 to 2015, he went to Japan three times to study experience. In 2017, he developed the "Bath Express" with 3 national patents.

The body of the bathing express train is assembled with special materials with thermal insulation function. The bathtub, shower, sink, massage bed and other facilities in the car are all available, which can be driven to communities, institutions, rural areas and other places to form "temporary bathing spots". ”, to provide home-based health and bathing services for the elderly, disabled, semi-disabled, orphans, living alone, disabled and other elderly.

　　With the support of the Chongqing Charity Federation, the emergence of the "Bath Express" has led more and more people to enter the bathing industry.

The 32-year-old Deng Chuangui is the driver and bath assistant of the "Bath Express". When he was serving in the countryside, he took the 88-year-old Xie Lao in the bath car as usual, took off his clothes and helped him to sit in the special room. Jacuzzi.

Xie, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, will subconsciously play with bubbles like a child when water is sprinkled on his body.

Deng Chuangui kept chatting with the old man, but because most of the demented old people couldn't understand, he could only be regarded as an assistant bather talking to himself.

　　"Mom! Mom..." After taking a bath, Xie Lao shouted to Deng Chuangui happily, and stretched out his arms to hug Deng Chuangui's arms.

The scene of an 88-year-old man calling a 32-year-old boy "Mom" may be a bit funny, but Deng Chuangui, who was in it, had red eyes.

　　In February 2022, the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the National Aging Career Development and Elderly Care Service System" to support the development of various business formats such as community bathing points, mobile bathing vehicles, and household bathing assistance, and encourage "children's online and offline". Single, elderly experience service”.

Up to now, "Bath Express" has entered 26 districts and counties in Chongqing, and has carried out more than 800 bath assistance activities, providing bath assistance services to more than 31,000 elderly, disabled and semi-disabled elderly.

Long Quanming said: "Zhejiang Wenzhou, Guizhou Bijie, Ningxia Guyuan and other places all have teams coming to Chongqing to learn experience."

　　"The elderly service of bathing has gradually entered the public's attention, indicating that the needs of the elderly are increasingly being paid attention to by the society." Qu Qingzhang, a professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said that taking a bath is a very private thing, and the elderly are relatively traditional. , The concept of "gender and recipient is not intimate" is deeply ingrained. If you want to shorten the distance between bath assistants and the elderly, you need the help of government agencies and social organizations, and you must also change traditional ideas.

At the same time, the profession of bath assistant is still relatively low in Chinese society, and there is a huge shortage of talent supply in the elderly care industry, and a large number of professionals are urgently needed to join the "sunset" career.

　　The old and the old, the group of bath assistants brought a pool of clean water to those old bodies to wash away the dust.

"I bring health to the elderly, and the elderly bring meaning to my life." Long Suyong said, "I started working in society at the age of 17. I went to a factory and worked as a waiter. There is no job that makes me feel like a bath assistant. Enriched, every time the old man hugs me and says thank you after taking a bath, it strengthens my belief in continuing to do it.” (End)