China Takes Big Steps in Improving Care

The city of Beijing in China has one of the largest populations of any city in the world, with over 21 million people claiming the city as home. In a city with millions of people, you would undoubtedly expect to find millions of senior citizens, as well. That’s true for Beijing, but the steps that they have taken to care for these individuals is beginning to improve drastically. With the potential in the United States for a care crisis as the population of seniors continues to grow compared to the rest of the population, looking to how major hubs like Beijing have addressed the issue could potentially give us and our country some guidance moving forward.

 

One way that the city has approached this is by increasing the number of retirement homes and care centers. Also, a newly expanded care center in the city is capable of caring for about 3 million people over the course of a year. This is a mammoth operation, and involves helping people at or near their homes.

 

This is yet another example of a government finding that it is more cost effective to bring care to seniors rather than to have seniors go to care. Not only is it cost effective, it is also producing better results. More seniors have a safe place to live and a way to get healthy nutrition than ever before in Beijing, and it is a model that holds a lot of promise for expansion into other parts of China.

 

At the same time, Beijing has also increased its pension fund for seniors dramatically over the last six years, almost doubling it. Now, that is in part because of the increased senior population, but it does show that the government is paying attention to the needs of the elderly citizens it is responsible for.

 

China has taken great steps to improve the lives of its seniors.

 

These are definitely good things, but we need to remember that attempting to fix all of the issues or potential issues that our country is facing when it comes to senior care just by looking at another country’s system is foolish. It misses out on the fact that the political and financial structure of each country is unique. But at the same time, it can be quite illuminating to see what other countries are doing because even if we do not use the exact same idea and implementation method that another country–China, in this case–is using, we can still learn and improve upon our own care infrastructure.

 

In the meantime, it is important that we take what steps we can to help ensure that our elderly loved ones receive the very best care that we can give them. This means knowing what care is available in your community and how those will or will not help to make the life of your elderly parent or grandparent better. If you’re in the Bay Area and have questions about which type of care meets your family’s needs best, feel free to contact us. We offer free consultations that will help you to get pointed in the right direction. From there, you can be better informed so that you will know exactly how your community and its resources can help you more.

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