Memory Home a boon for Yangjing senior residents
Senior citizens with slight cognitive impairment work at Memory Coffee.
A man with cognitive impairment is helped to improve his dexterity.
The Memory Home in Pudong’s Yangjing Subdistrict is nothing like a conventional community-based center for senior citizens with cognitive impairment. It’s more like an exclusive clubhouse for elderly members.
The site covers around 700 square meters on the ground floor of Yangjing’s community cultural center at 717 Juye Road.
Decorated in bright colors, it’s where people who have problems with their memory or difficulty in concentrating or learning new things bake cookies, enjoy coffee and make things by hand. Or they can plant tomatoes and other salad vegetables in a small outdoor garden.
“We provide the space, local companies finance it and a professional elderly care social group runs it,” said Gu Min, vice chairman of the subdistrict.
About 34 percent of Yangjing’s population are over 60, above the average for the Pudong New Area. Among them, 1,050 are 90 and 24 are over 100.
Age-related cognitive decline has become an increasing problem for local families and for Yangjing.
Gu said the subdistrict launched a “one-day donation” program in 2016 to raise awareness of dementia. In 2019, it became one of 28 across the city to pioneer a dementia-friendly community.
Over the years, it has formed a system covering education, early screening, diagnosis, non-medical intervention, care and professional counselling for patients’ families.
Memory Home provides a variety of activities to stimulate the brain, including music and art therapies suited to each individual. It has also sets up several real-life scenarios such as a bank and a wet market to help those struggling to remember pin numbers or who have trouble in shops.
Training in memory, language, logic, sensation and perception, and limb control can delay the worsening of dementia, promote social intercourse and keep elderly people healthy psychologically.
A woman is helped to control her hand movements.
Senior citizens with cognitive impairment make cookies at Memory Home.
Its Memory Coffee is where people with mild cognitive impairment act as staff. It helps them improve their memory and connect with people and draw attention to the condition.
“We welcome more people to join us,” Gu said. “You can donate 15 yuan to get a cup of coffee or tea. The money is fed back into the site.”
Next, she said, the subdistrict aims to extend the service to every neighborhood to make it available closer to people’s homes.
Pudong has the city’s largest aging population. At the end of 2020, there were nearly 1.03 million residents over the age of 60, almost 33 percent of the total population.
Pudong currently has 55 comprehensive senior service centers, 105 daycare nursing centers and 733 neighborhood elderly care sites among other elderly care facilities. Together, they provide elderly people with access to services within a 15-minute walk, according to Zhou Xiaoping, director of the Pudong Civil Affairs Bureau.
“Now, we focus more on how to prevent risks taking place when seniors are at home alone. So, we have to accelerate the progress in installing assisted living facilities. Not only for certain families, it should be part of makeover of a whole residential complex,” he said.
Zhuang Dajun, Pudong’s deputy director, highlighted a lack of professional caregivers.
“Physically, Pudong is well on its way to become a dementia-friendly district, but the lack of professional caregivers could become a bottleneck. So, we are now working to regulate a salary system to create a sense of belonging, “he said. “We also provide free training for middle and high-ranking officials at nursing homes."
Zhuang emphasized the importance of digital transformation in elderly care.
“Big data analysis has greatly improved management efficiency. Every community elderly care institution should embrace it. And we are stepping up efforts to teach the elderly how to adapt to the digital era, like using smartphones,” he said.
A scenario resembling a wet market helps people with cognitive impairment to shop and with counting.
Planting in a small garden is one of the center's activities.
