China News Service, Chengdu, February 11th (Wang Liwen) "Handwritten Spring Festival couplets still have the flavor of the New Year. They not only decorate the house, but also convey love and blessings." The arrival of the Year of the Dragon in Jiachen brings freshly baked couplets to homes in Chengdu, Sichuan. After the Spring Festival couplets with the words "Spring fills the world", 68-year-old Li Defang could not hide her joy.
On January 29, a local calligrapher from Sichuan went to Jintu Community in Pidu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province to write Spring Festival couplets and send the word "blessing" to the people for free. Photo by reporter Wang Lei
Li Defang's special gift came from a community event not long ago. The team of "post-00" volunteer Yang Jiaqi invited professional calligraphy teachers to make a special trip to write calligraphy for the elderly in the community. At the event site, a pair of Spring Festival couplets were spread across the table, and the fragrance of ink overflowed. There was a long line of elderly people waiting to receive the blessings of welcoming the Spring Festival, which was very lively.
According to data from the seventh national census, the population aged 60 and above in Sichuan Province reached 18.164 million, accounting for 21.7% of the total population. The elderly population ranks third in the country. Under the new situation of population aging, building a new home-based elderly care service system has become an important form of the "silver economy". During the Spring Festival, the elderly care service industry ushered in a boom, with many young faces sticking to their posts and launching various heart-warming services to protect the family flavor and New Year flavor of the "seniors".
On January 29, a local calligrapher from Sichuan went to Jintu Community in Pidu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province to write Spring Festival couplets and send the word "blessing" to the people for free. Photo by reporter Wang Lei
"Jintu Community can be regarded as an 'elderly community'. Among the total population of more than 20,000 people, the elderly group accounts for about 20%." Liao Feiyu, secretary of the Jintu Community Party Committee, said that the community provides the elderly with a comprehensive elderly care service including medical care, nursing and education. It also provides special services such as mental health intervention for the elderly living alone, in difficulty, and with disabilities. In order to create a festive atmosphere and enrich the life of the elderly, the community actively contacted surrounding universities and held this New Year event.
"College student volunteers are motivated to participate in elderly care services and can take advantage of winter and summer vacations, which are in perfect harmony with the needs of community governance." Yang Jiaqi, who is responsible for organizing the activities, is not only a junior majoring in e-commerce at Chengdu Industry and Trade Vocational and Technical College, but also a company specializing in providing The legal representative of an enterprise that provides home care services for the elderly. Most of the company's 14 team members are "post-2000" college students. They are committed to using intangible cultural heritage, recreation, health and other activities to encourage the elderly to "go out of the house" to participate in community governance and cultural and entertainment activities to meet their spiritual and cultural needs.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, staff at Xinqiyue Social Work Service Center in Xindu District, Chengdu provide home care services for the elderly. Photo provided by interviewee Fan Runqiang
In Sichuan, in recent years, the “15-minute elderly care service circle” in urban home communities and the three-level rural elderly care service network have basically taken shape. Actions to care for the lonely elderly and care for the disabled have benefited 2 million elderly people in need. Life care, health monitoring, medical accompaniment... Even during the Spring Festival, caregiver Fan Runqiang's home care services did not stop. The social work service center where he works focuses on providing "tailor-made" services to rural elderly and disabled elderly people. The team of 20 caregivers covers more than 10 towns and villages around Chengdu and provides door-to-door services to more than 20,000 people every year.
After eight years in the industry, Fan Runqiang has deep feelings for home care services. He believes that home care services not only provide daily help, but more importantly, provide spiritual companionship to the elderly. "During the service process, the initial resistance of the elderly living alone to the caregivers gradually changed. During the New Year and the holidays, they are like waiting for their children to come home, expecting us to come to their door." In the new year, Fan Runqiang hopes that more and more young people will join the elderly care service team to further enhance the professionalism and efficiency of embedded home care services.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, the housekeeping team of Li Qinglong, a veteran born in the 1990s, provided services to elderly families in Chengdu. Photo by Wang Liwen
As a social force in home care services, Li Qinglong, a veteran born in the 1990s, and his veteran housekeeping team observed during the door-to-door service process that orders from elderly families are gradually increasing and expanding. In response to the housework troubles of the elderly, they have launched targeted services: focusing on cleaning dangerous areas that require climbing, classifying medicines for sick elderly people and checking the shelf life, etc. With this carefulness, they have accumulated a lot of "silver-haired" customer resources, and they entered the "explosion order" mode around the Spring Festival.
In order to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, 73-year-old "annual card customer" Wang Shaoji made an appointment in advance for Li Qinglong's team to come to the house for New Year cleaning. Watching this group of deft young men sweeping and cleaning the house, the old man sighed with emotion: "Not only do they do things professionally, they also take the time to chat with us and water the flowers. After one cleaning, the house and heart are 'renewed'." "(over)