Helping Hands to Love Banks

INNOVATIVE community servicesare making aging in China lessdaunting.Services for the elderlytop the publie agenda of Dong-gaodi and many similar communities inChina's re'ban centers,where organizersand participants have not only createdthoughtful programs but proven quitecreative about the nature of elder care intheir precincts.Outreach programs suchas "love banks" and specialty volunteerserwices are blossoming.

The sub-district of Donggaodi in Bei-jing is,like many others,caring for an ev-er-growing and increasingly needy agedpopulation.Of Donggaodi's 5o,865 resi-dents,29.6 percent are seniors over 6oand nearly 7 percent are aged above 8o.Multiple levels of government contributeto the social security system: a regularallowance frmn the city for the elderlywithout pensions,and a subsidy fromthe local sub-district office for needy andelderly residents; community service sta-tions provide material aid,companionservices,house cleaning,emergency re-sponse and other kinds of payment-freecare.What makes Donggaodi and severalother subdistricts worth noting are thedistinctive voluntary services they haveorganized for their residents.Its neigh-borly and accessible community serviceoutlets,and the programs run throughthem are an emergent model for commu-nity outreach.

Yang Zhixian is 84 and has no retire-ment pension.She lives alone in her tinyapartment in the Donggaodi commnunity,Fengtai District,Beijing,but is alwaysseen with a smile lighting up her face."Ihave many daughters; those girls work-ing at the community serrice station areall my daughters," Yang says proudly.Their "mother" has seen many misfor-tunes in her life.Several years ago,herhusband passed away,leaving her with-out any regular income.Her only son,a6e-year-old retiree who was handicappedby a childhood illness and lost his jobwhen his factory closed a decade ago,ishard pressed to provide his elderly par-ent with financial support or even helparound the house.The girls include their"mother" on their voluntary service calls.As part of the group working on behalf ofthe Donggaodi Community Service Out-let,Yang's "daughters" pay regular visits,free of charge,to other needy and elderlypersons living alone.

Grey Power Spurs Innovation

A home-visits system has been set upin Donggaodi.Its local community ser-vice outlets organize voluntary groupstwice monthly to visit needy elders andfolks aged over 9o,confirmed vice di-rector of Donggaodi Sub-district OfficeZhang Qingchang.The most importanttask for the group is to learn the needsand difficulties of the elderly,collectingtheir information for the sub-district'sassessment of what services may beneeded or should be extended.

The Xiwadi community establishedan Old-Age Care Mutual Benefit Associa-tion in 2008.This is based on the idea ofmutual help among seniors.In light ofthe special conditions impacting its aged membership,the association determineswho is qualified to benefit from the sixdifferent voluntary services they run,that include help with shopping,gettinga haircut,doing laundry,houseclean-ing or making an emergency trip to thehospital.Sometimes volunteers just stayand have a chat,as loneliness late in lifesometimes "conms with the territory."

Another advantage of membershipin this Xiwadi association is the "lovebank." After five years of volunteer-ing,people can enjoy a life-long servicefrom other volunteers when they are inneed.Senior residents only need to payRMB 10 for membership (free for thosein financial difficulty),and then accessround-the-clock assistance by callingthe association."Apart from member-ship fees,this association also receivesdonations from the families of members,and fi'om the senior citizens who believethey will need the services in the futurealthough not currently.Moreover,somemembers are willing to pay more,someup to RMB 200 for membership," indi-cated Xie Weihua,head of Xiwadi Neigh-borhood Committee,one of initiators ofthe association.The fees go to odds andends the volunteers may need to bring tothe homes of the aged.

"Different communities find they needto offer different services - ones suited totheir populations," said Xu Gang,direc-tor of the seniors affairs department withDonggaodi Sub-district Office.He givescredit for their medical service teaminitiative to the No.711 Hospital close tothe community.The team conducts freemedical checkups for senior residentsand calls on the house-bound or thosewho can't get around easily.

These volunteer services are justsome of the functions community ser-vice centers perform.Nationwide,manycommunity selwice outlets are exploringways to make life easier and more pleas-ant for the elderly by establishing diningand activity centers."Last week my sontook me to a nice restaurant nearby; ourtable was groaning with food," recalledYang cheerfully.The treat was paid forwith a government-issued coupon worthRMB 8o,otherwise the cash-trappedmother and son would never consider it.Many eateries,laundries,barber shopsand other neighborhood businesses inBeijing accept the municipal governmentcoupons issued to citizens over 8o,andsome are approved suppliers."For thoseold folks with mobility problems,desig-nated barbers for example are requiredto offer on-site service," Sun Xiangting,asenior worker of the Donggaodi Commu-nity Service Station,explained to ChinaToday."This arrangement also benefitsthe businesses,for our designation rep-resents an endorsement for their set-citequality,contributing to their popularity."Service providers return the collectedcoupons to the sub-district office forcash.

Some comnunities in bigger cities likeBeijing,Hefei and Shanghai have takenthings a step further,establishing diningcenters for the elderly who have difficulty cooking,and centers where the elderlygather during the day when their adultchildren are at work.Their demands forfitness and entertainment are also an-swered by community recreation parlors.Last year,Sanjiaodi No.1 Community Ser-vice Station in the Donggaodi Sub-districtestablished a ping-pong room and club."We're exploring a way to mobilize the el-derly and find they have a great interest inparticipating in the organizational work;the elderly also know what the elderlyneed,and how to stimulate each other'sinitiative," said Xu Gang.

Independence Starts at Home

Though community medical dentersare within a few minutes walk,manyold people still take the trouble to travelto bigger hospitals and spend hours inlines waiting for their turn because theybelieve the doctors and equipment thereare better.To encourage more visits tocommunity hospitals,some cities haverequired doctors at big hospitals to spendsome working hours with communitymedical centers or to set up clinics atthe community level.Currently,in mostareas of China,community health carecenters provide primary care to old folksvirtually on their doorstep and save themthe grief of jostling with huge crowds atbig hospitals.Such facilities have beenintegrated into the public medical insur-ance system: visitors pay their share ofthe cost by swiping their insurance cardat the medical center's cashier booth.Renowned senior doctors of traditionalChinese medicine are encouraged toopen private community-based clinics;medical insurance will also be acceptedfor these treatments,according to ZhaoJing,chief of Beijing Chinese MedicineAdministrative Bureau.

The Sixth National Census indicatedthat the Chinese elderly aged over 6onumbered 177.65 million,accounting for13.26 percent of the total population.Ithas been predicted that this group willswell to one third of Chinese popula-tion by the middle of this century.Re-cent surveys also indicate nearly half ofChinese elderly aged over 6o live alone.As a consequence of China's one-childpolicy,many of today's young coupleshave to take care of four elderly parents,a crushing personal and financial bur-den.However,studies find that morethan 9o percent of the elderly in Chinachoose in-home care rather than nursinginstitutions,indicating the continuingstrong influence of the primacy of familyin China.