The Caring Corner®
Look East for Better Senior Care
In the US, we like to think of ourselves as progressive world leaders. We’re home to Wall Street and Silicon Valley, right?
In the field of dementia and senior care, some of the most aggressive pioneering efforts are taking place out side the US. In particular, The UK, Northern Europe and China re art the forefront, dealing with their sizable aging populations.
China is unique. It has nearly 200 million people over the age of 60. It must look at innovative ways to provide good home care and institutional care for this population.
Beijing is exploring ways to deliver to as much as 90 percent of its elder citizens at home, and arrange for community-based care services and nursing home care for the remainder.
In one model, they use a nursing home as a center for services that are distributed throughout the surrounding area. The particular home has 100 beds but provides services to approximately 500 elders each day.
The director commented that most older people want to stay at home, so in-home care is the starting point and focal point of their care options.
