Jinan ＂After 00＂ Bath Assistants Home Service Emerging Industries Protect the Cleanliness and Dignity of Disabled Old People
Qilu. com Lightning News January 4 th Taking a bath is a normal thing for ordinary people, but it is not easy for elderly people with mobility difficulties. Some disabled and semi-disabled elderly people may not have bathed for half a year or even a year. Faced with this situation, the profession of bath assistant came into being.
In the Kunlun Street Community of Jinan, Zhang Hui and her colleagues took out large and small boxes from the trunk in an orderly manner, the most striking of which was a large bathtub.
This is Zhang Hui taking a bath for the second old man today. Colleagues moved the bathing equipment to the residential building one by one.
Grandpa Jiang, 86, has been waiting at home for the first time since winter.
Because Grandpa Jiang has lung cancer, he can’t take care of himself. His wife usually takes care of him. Grandma Ma told reporters that to bathe him at ordinary times, it is necessary to wash the upper body on the first day, and then the lower body on the second day. It takes two days to take a bath. This is because the old man takes a lot of physical energy to bathe. On the one hand, Grandpa Jiang can’t persist for too long, and even Grandma Ma, who is over 70 years old, is physically difficult to support. Grandma Ma told reporters: "Children are usually busy at work, and as old people, they don’t want to let them worry."
Before taking a bath, Zhang Hui patiently checked Grandpa Jiang’s heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen and other physical functions.
Zhang Hui’s "small team" consists of three people, with a clear division of labor and their respective duties. During Zhang Hui’s physical examination for the elderly, colleagues have already assembled the bathtub. A waterproof pad is placed under the bathtub to avoid soiling the ground, and a stretcher-like device can be lowered or raised above the bathtub to help the elderly take a bath.
The staff joined forces to hold the old man in the bathtub, and the water temperature was controlled at around 40 C. Zhang Hui said, "Grandpa, is the water temperature ok?" "Yes," said Grandpa Jiang. Later, they covered Grandpa Jiang’s body with a big towel and gently rubbed the old man’s body. Zhang Hui told reporters that when bathing, it is necessary to take a bath for five to ten minutes first, and then wash the body of the elderly. The first time, it will be deeply cleaned, and the second time, it will be cleaned with a bath lotion made of traditional Chinese medicine. After more than an hour of operation, the whole bathing process will be completed.
Grandpa Jiang, who hasn’t bathed for two months, finally took a nice hot bath. Grandma Ma said, "This bath is much cleaner than our own. It is too inconvenient for the elderly to take a bath when they are old. We are really grateful to them." Zhang Hui said that bubble bath can promote the body’s blood circulation, improve metabolic capacity, and at the same time increase the mobility of muscle joints, reduce muscle burden and eliminate fatigue. Regular bathing can also reduce the occurrence of bacterial diseases such as skin diseases, effectively remove the body odor of the elderly, and increase physical comfort, skin metabolism and disease resistance.
As a new industry in Jinan in recent years, bath assistants are relatively unfamiliar to most people. "But with the gradual aging of our society, the occupation of bath assistant has become just needed for some elderly people," Zhang Hui told reporters. In the past six months, Zhang Hui has bathed more than 100 elderly people.
"I will meet all kinds of old people in this trip, some are relatively clean, and some have not bathed for half a year." Zhang Hui said that she was also distressed to see these old people. Being unable to take a bath not only affected health, but also affected the mood and dignity of the elderly. "I once bathed a 94-year-old disabled old man. The old man has been lying in bed for many years. He had not bathed for at least half a year before we went. As soon as you enter the room, there is an unpleasant smell, plus some unclean excrement, which is what we often call’ the smell of the elderly’. " Zhang Hui recalled.
"When I took a shower, I found two serious bedsores on the old man’s ass. Before we found out, his family didn’t know." Zhang Hui said. Because the old man didn’t take a bath for a long time and there were many dirty things on his body, Zhang Hui and his colleagues repeatedly cleaned it three or four times. "After the shower, the old man’s condition is much better. Although there is still some unpleasant smell in the house, the old man is clean." Recalling that experience, Zhang Hui still feels distressed. Thinking of the helpless appearance of the old man lying in bed, she feels that she should firmly do this job.
According to statistics, there are 267 million elderly people over the age of 60 in China, including 40 million disabled and semi-disabled elderly people. "One person is disabled and the whole family is unbalanced" is a true portrayal of many families. In February, 2022, the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year National Plan for the Development of the Cause for the Aged and the Service System for the Aged", which clearly pointed out that we should support the development of various formats such as community bath-assisting points, mobile bath-assisting vehicles, and home bath-assisting services, and promote the research and development of bath-assisting services related products.
In recent years, a team of bath assistants has begun to appear in some first-and second-tier cities, many of whom are young people in their twenties and thirties, and the entrepreneur of Jinan Chunshanhan Pension Service Co., Ltd., where Zhang Hui is located, is also a post-90 s. Cao Shuai, the founder, told the lightning journalist, "The company officially started operation in August, 2022, and had a long period of technical study and market research in the early stage. The bath-assisting teachers here all graduated from nursing and have professional nursing knowledge, although we are pioneers in the industry, but we have mature technology to provide services for the elderly."
Cao Shuai told reporters: "We have old people in our own family who are paralyzed in bed. This is a personal experience. For me, this venture is not a complete commercial activity. We also want to do our part for the social pension problem. When we finished the service, the enthusiastic feedback from every old man strengthened our confidence and felt that we had found the meaning of this career. "
Lightning journalist Yin Chengqian reports from Jinan
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