Hard work, dedication needed for care of elderly
- Source: Global Times
- [20:51 December 07 2009]
- Comments
GT: Is it hard to find people with the right skills for the industry?
Wang: The most important goal of long-term care is to increase the independence of elderly people, "to enable those staying in beds to sit up, and to enable those sitting to walk." Our care-givers should master both professional care and communication skills.
Therefore, we recruit only people with nursing education backgrounds, professional certificates, and clinical care experience.
China's large number of nursing graduates could be the main resource of our staff. Driven by cost considerations, Chinese hospitals often employ an insufficient number of nurses – there are often only three nurses for every two doctors – and many graduates who major in nursing cannot find jobs in hospitals.
This gap provides us with an opportunity to find sufficient qualified care providers.
Zhang: Although such graduates could be a large resource for us, we still suffer from serious human resources problems.
It takes courage to work in this industry. Most Chinese still consider caring for elderly people as a menial job, and because of a lack of funds, the salaries for workers in old folks homes are generally not good enough.
Moreover, few care workers in old folks homes work only eight hours a day, partly because of the lack of workers and partly because employers needs more operating funds and thus have to cut costs as much as possible.
These factors lead to the current situation where few talented people would like to do such jobs. Consequently, the overall quality of elder care workers is comparatively low, producing a vicious circle in which the low quality of workers contributes to the poor reputation of the job, and vice versa.
GT: What are your personal feelings about working in this industry?
Zhang: Elder care is different from any other industry, as it caters to people in their last years. Therefore, people engaged in this industry should display an abundance of love, responsibility and enterprise.
These elderly people have devoted their whole life to the society, and without them we would not enjoy our lives. We cannot discriminate against them.
We must get rid of the idea that caring for elderly people is a menial job. It's a respected industry, and people should attach the same importance to it as to others like assisting impoverished students and post-disaster work.
People in this industry should be treated equally and respected. Their rights and interests should be protected, and they deserve good salaries and enough time for relaxation.
Wang: We are trying to change the traditional image of caregivers by providing professional care with highly qualified staff. It has taken many years for the industry to grow out of its infancy. It will take even longer for the senior care industry to professionalize, and the challenges and frustrations have made it very tough.
However, we believe that serving the aging population is one of the most rewarding businesses. Our persistent efforts are seeing positive results, both in terms of the differences we have made to the lives of senior citizens and their families, and in terms of the long-term return on investment.
We consider elderly people to still be an active part of society. Satisfying the needs of seniors and their families with a healthy perspective and a sustainable business model is the future.
