Geriatric Health Association

The Elderly Health Association is neither a "marketing pit" that sells health care products to the elderly, nor is it a "stall" that only engages in chess and card entertainment. It is currently the most accurate non-profit social organization at the community level in China to meet the health needs of the elderly. Its core role is to supplement public health services to the "last hundred meters" of ordinary elderly people's homes.

Many elderly people waved their hands when they heard the words "health association". I don't blame them for being wary. In the past few years, fake institutions have used this name to deceive too many people - renting a small conference room near the community, giving ten eggs and half a catty of noodles as a gift upon entering, giving a two-hour health class by a person claiming to be a "special expert of the association", and finally tricking the elderly into buying tens of thousands of yuan worth of work. Many elderly people have suffered from health care products that can be used as mattresses and "cure all diseases". Now that a genuine association sets up service points in the community, the first thing to do is to post the registration certificate from the Civil Affairs Bureau and the letter of introduction from the community in the most conspicuous place, otherwise no one will even come to ask.

I spent half a day at the service point in Zhaohui District 1, Hangzhou last week. As soon as the door opened at 8:30 in the morning, aunts and uncles carrying vegetable baskets lined up in a line. In front of them, there was a circle around the table for measuring blood pressure and blood sugar. Dr. Wang, a retired orthopedic surgeon, held a foot model and was telling Aunt Zhang why she fell easily when wearing soft-soled cloth shoes. While he was talking, he tried on anti-slip insoles purchased by the association for free. There is a stack of colorfully printed manuals on the table in the corner. They are not difficult-to-understand medical treatises. They are all down-to-earth content such as "Don't eat more than a beer can of salt every day" and "Three stretching exercises you can do on the way to buy food." Xiao Zhou, a 1998-year-old full-time social worker next to him, knows the tastes of 17 elderly people at high risk of dementia who live alone in the community.

In fact, there have always been two different voices in the industry regarding the service direction of the association. Scholars who conduct research on geriatric public health in medical schools are more "medically oriented" and believe that the core responsibilities of the association should be to help community hospitals fill the gap in chronic disease management, establish standardized health files for the elderly in the jurisdiction, track blood pressure and blood sugar data every week, and move forward the prevention of acute and serious diseases such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Otherwise, no matter how many entertainment activities they engage in, they will be just "frivolous". However, most front-line service people do not agree with this view. The old president of Chaohuidian is Aunt Wang, the retired director of a community hospital. What she said is very true: "You want an old man and an old lady who usually has to stand up and turn around twice every ten minutes to sit there and fill in files for half an hour? They will not come next time. I will hold them for two months first. Ba Duan Jin and singing chorus for two months. After getting familiar with it, he will be willing to test anything you ask him to do, and the health concept will slowly penetrate. "Nowadays, most of the associations that do well are doing both. While slowly building files for the elderly who often come to connect with medical resources, they also warm up the place first so that the elderly are willing to come in.

To tell you something interesting, Uncle Li in the community used to be the most resistant to the association. A few years ago, he was defrauded of more than 20,000 yuan to buy health care products by a fake "health association". When the social workers came to his door, he immediately closed the door without even showing his face. Later, every time Xiao Zhou came to deliver medicine to the elderly living alone next door, he would bring a printed recipe to Uncle Li. Occasionally, he would help him carry vegetables upstairs. It took two months for Uncle Li to come to the service point to measure his blood pressure. When his high blood pressure reached 180, he still took medicine randomly. The association contacted a doctor from a community hospital to adjust his medicine. He came to check his blood pressure twice a week and it was stable in three months. Uncle Li is now the association's "anti-fraud voluntary publicist". When he sees someone in the community dragging an old man to sell health care products, he goes up to disrupt the situation, and his voice is louder than anyone else's.

Of course, there are many problems now. Many community elderly health associations in third- and fourth-tier cities have not yet been established. Most of the ones that have been implemented lack funds and manpower. One social worker has to take care of the needs of hundreds of elderly people, and occasionally has to be blamed by fake organizations. Supervision has not been completely tightened. But if you go to the small community square in the evening and see the group of old people playing Ba Duan Jin with the association coach, their faces are flushed with the sun, and their wrinkles are wrapped in the sun when they smile, you will know that this is worth doing. After all, for the elderly, sleeping soundly, walking steadily, having someone to talk to, and having someone to take care of their minor illnesses and pains is the most real health.