"Assistant bather for the elderly is not just a profession"
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In recent years, with the increasing social needs, bath assistants have received more and more attention.
The objects of its bathing assistance services are mainly the disabled and semi-disabled elderly. Different institutions have different bathing assistance service models and prices, but they all require humanistic care on a professional basis.
Professionals said that at present, from the perspective of demand and purchasing power, bathing assistance for the elderly is still a niche service and needs to be further developed.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, Lei Xiao came to the door of the client at the right time. The client was an 89-year-old Mrs. Yang who lived in a residential area in Beijing.
Mrs. Yang suffers from cognitive impairment and is usually taken care of by her two sons.
On this day, Lei Xiaojing's main job is to give her a bath.
In recent years, with the increasing social needs, bath assistants have received more and more attention.
The objects of its bathing assistance services are mainly the disabled and semi-disabled elderly. Different institutions have different bathing assistance service models and prices, but they all require humanistic care on a professional basis.
Professionals said that at present, from the perspective of demand and purchasing power, bathing assistance for the elderly is still a niche service and needs to be further developed.
Different modes of household bathing aids
Wearing shoe covers before entering the door and washing hands with disinfectant alcohol. After a set of procedures, Lei Xiaojing walked up to Mrs. Yang and started a conversation, trying to guide her to recall that she was an "old acquaintance" who came every week.
After seeing Mrs. Yang getting close to her, Lei Xiaojing started to work.
She first took out the blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter and other equipment from the backpack, and coaxed Mrs. Yang to complete the test. The results showed that all the indicators were normal. Then she quickly arranged the bathroom, prepared the clothes to be changed, put Helping the bath chair, laying the non-slip mat, adjusting the water temperature... helping Mrs. Yang into the bathroom.
Lei Xiaojing speaks softly and patiently, and does things neatly.
Mrs. Yang's eldest son told reporters that two years ago, the district purchased nursing services from pension institutions for a certain group of elderly people. At his home, Lei Xiaojing entered the house once a week for 3 hours each time.
"Bathing the elderly is the main task, but after taking a bath, Xiaolei will not be idle. He will cut nails, massage, and clean the room for the elderly..."
It is understood that not only Lei Xiaojing's nursing home, but also a rapidly growing professional bathing team can provide door-to-door bathing assistance services.
At present, bathing teams have emerged in Beijing, Shandong, Sichuan, Henan and other places, and there are many young practitioners among them.
Tang Bo, 38, will become a bath assistant in May 2021.
There are 7 people in his team, two of them are born in the 90s, and the rest are about the same age as him.
Tang Bo's team provides door-to-door in-depth bathing services, and 2 to 3 members drive there together for each service.
The car is equipped with inflatable bathtubs, tarpaulins, pads, disposable bath bags, traditional Chinese medicine bags, etc.
"Usually soak for 10 minutes, the old man's complexion is rosy, and then we scrub the body and give the old man a haircut." Tang Bo said that in the process of bathing, the members have a clear division of labor, and some put inflatable bathtubs and hot water. , Measure the water temperature, and some help the elderly to do physical examination before bathing, prepare clothes, move positions, etc.
Lei Xiaojing told reporters that she would communicate with the family members about the situation of the elderly before entering the house. If the elderly are completely disabled, they may need help from the family members of the elderly during the bathing process. In most cases, the bath assistant will come to the door alone.
The difference in service mode is also reflected in the price difference.
The company Lei Xiaojing works for is a professional pension institution. In addition to bathing assistance, it also provides many services such as nursing, massage, and haircuts. The price of a single order for bathing assistance services is 150 yuan.
Tang Bo's team specializes in bathing aids. Due to more professional equipment, more manpower is required for a single service, and the price is 400 yuan.
To serve as relatives
Tang Bo's task is not only to help his colleagues complete the bathing work, but also to chat with the elderly, so that the elderly can enjoy bathing more relaxedly.
"Helping bathers for the elderly is not only a profession, but also a career of helping others. It makes the elderly live more comfortably and helps them regain their lost dignity and self-confidence." He said, "To be honest, this job is very important. Skill requirements are not high, just enough care is enough, but the moral threshold is very high.”
Tang Bo still remembers that once he served an elderly person who had been bedridden for many years. As soon as he entered the door, he could smell urine and sweat, mixed with the smell of various medicines.
Before taking a bath, the old man was very cautious and didn’t say a word. During the bathing process, the old man relaxed his emotions and gradually opened up his chatter box. He told everyone a lot about the past, such as how he chased fashion trends when he was young, and who big people he met..." At this moment, I realized the meaning and value of my work." Tang Bo said.
In this regard, Lei Xiaojing, who has 10 years of work experience, also expressed the same opinion, "For bath assistants, the most important thing is to treat the clients as relatives." Elderly people may experience incontinence during bathing, which needs to be cleaned up by the bath assistant in time, which not only tests work skills, but also tests empathy.
According to the "14th Five-Year Plan" National Aging Care Development and Elderly Care Service System Plan, it is necessary to develop bathing services for the elderly, support the development of community bathing points, mobile bathing vehicles, and household bathing aids, and cultivate a group of Specialized and chained bathing aid institutions.
In order to standardize the development of the bathing aid industry, the "Plan" also advocates research and formulation of relevant standards and specifications for bathing aid services for the elderly, and strengthens bathing aid skills training for elderly care workers.
Support the research and development of products related to bathing services, and promote the application of economical and practical products.
Encourage bathing institutions to purchase relevant insurance to improve the degree of risk protection.
Market potential to be tapped
"The bathing assistance service has become popular in the past two years, and the change may be related to social awareness." Lei Xiaojing said that in the first few years of her work, there were fewer customers who placed orders for bathing assistance, an average of one or two months meet one.
Now, not only the awareness of the industry is getting higher and higher, but also the social demand is increasing.
The relevant person in charge of the National Office on Aging once said that the elderly in our country have the problem of longevity and unhealthy, roughly 190 million elderly people have chronic diseases, and there are 40 million disabled elderly people.
At present, due to limited social acceptance, the business volume of Tang Bo's team is limited, and some members even have to find other high-paying jobs because of the high pressure of life.
In addition, although bathing assistance belongs to the segmented field of elderly care services, the lack of relevant qualification certification is also a problem to be solved by the industry.
In order to improve professionalism, Lei Xiaojing's company requires household bath assistants to hold nursing certificates.
According to experience, Tang Bo's bath assistant team has formed a set of more than 40 service procedures and standard specifications. At the same time, in order to resolve potential risks, the team has purchased relevant liability insurance and specially hired legal counsel.
Wei Xiang, a professor at the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that bathing is indeed an activity that is beneficial to the health of the elderly, but in terms of demand and purchasing power, it is still a niche value-added service.
He believes that from the perspective of the high added value of the combination of scientific and technological knowledge and elderly care, the bathing industry is expected to become a frontier in the elderly care industry. Therefore, the market-oriented approach should be the main way to promote the development of the industry.
At the same time, focus on bathing aid equipment, product promotion, and training the professionalism of bath assistants to further tap the development potential of the industry.
Tao Wen