The "curtain agreement" gives the empty nester an extra sense of security

【Place of occurrence】 Bai paper fang street in Xicheng District, Beijing

【Highlights of the event】 Empty nest elderly people use the curtains as a "secret sign" every day to report safety to the community helpers

Once the empty nest elderly become ill, if no one finds out and takes timely treatment measures, the consequences are unimaginable. In addition to community care, frequent greetings from children, and door-to-door visits, neighborhood watch is a way out. In Bai paper fang street in Beijing's Xicheng District, neighbors confirmed the safety of the empty nest elderly through the "secret code" of "curtain agreement".

What is a "curtain convention"? It turned out that the elderly who were helped used the curtains as a "secret code" every day to report to the helpers that they were safe. Once the curtains are not opened, the helper will rush to the scene as soon as possible to rescue, and contact the street, the community and the family of the helped person at the same time.

Agreed To pull open the curtains means that everything is normal

"Today, the curtains of Teacher Zhao's house were opened normally, indicating that she was all right." At more than 8:00 a.m. on November 12, Zhao Meili, who lives in the Caiyuan Street community of Bai paper fang street, came to the window of the 80-year-old Zhao Hongyu's home as usual and found that the curtains of the old man were opened normally, indicating that everything was smooth. After breakfast, she came to Zhao Hongyu's home to chat with the old man.

Zhao Hongyu's family lives on the first floor, just diagonally opposite Zhao Meili's home, although living in the next building, but Zhao Meili can pay attention to the general situation of Zhao Hongyu's elderly at home, and feel free to help when encountering problems. Two years ago, Zhao Hongyu's old partner died, and in order to let the old man out of his grief, Zhao Meili often invited Zhao Hongyu to participate in community cultural activities, including making handmade tapestries and wood carving paintings. With the joint efforts of community volunteers, community workers and Zhao Hongyu's family, the old man's mood gradually improved and began to actively participate in community activities, and everyone felt that the enthusiastic "Teacher Zhao" had returned.

"The landline telephone of Xiao Zhao's family is my exclusive hotline." Zhao Hongyu said, "When I am older, I am used to using a landline telephone, and if there is anything at home, as long as I call Xiao Zhao, she will come to my door at any time to help me, and my heart is particularly steady." ”

Pass on "elderly" volunteers to enjoy help

About 20 years ago, the enthusiastic Zhao Hongyu began to help the empty nest old man Sun Huiran. At that time, Zhao Hongyu mainly helped the elderly Sun Huiran to run errands to buy things, pass on new policies, and accompany medical treatment.

Due to the reinforcement and renovation of the old community in 2018, the residents temporarily moved out of the community, and the elderly Sun Huiran, who Zhao Hongyu helped, has lived in the nursing home since then. "Sister Sun and I are decades old neighbors. At that time, she lived upstairs, I lived downstairs, and when there was a problem, she tapped on the heating pipe, and I heard the voice and immediately went upstairs to see if there was anything that needed help. Zhao Hongyu said with a smile, "Sister Sun has a special wooden stick to knock on the heating pipe." It was through each tap that I determined if she was safe. ”

Once, Zhao Hongyu heard several rapid knocks on the heating pipe, and she immediately ran upstairs and found that Sun Huiran was unwell and vomited. Zhao Hongyu immediately called the old man's son and sent the old man to the hospital together. "To go to the hospital to see a doctor, someone needs to run up and down, so I will accompany Sister Sun in the hospital to let her feel at ease." Zhao Hongyu said, "The old people who are paired up are not only neighbors but more like relatives, and there are things that can arrive and help at the first time, which is also our original intention." ”

Today, as Zhao Hongyu grows older, his physical condition is not as good as before, and the "elderly" volunteers have also changed from volunteers who help people to recipients. The relatively young volunteer Zhao Meili and her formed a new pair of "curtain agreement", which also made the old man feel more at ease.

Upgrade from "one-to-one" to "many-to-one"

Zhao Meili is more than 60 years old this year, her knees are not particularly good, and sometimes when Zhao Hongyu needs help, she will be unable to do so. Due to the physical reasons of volunteers, the inability to be present in time occasionally occurs, and the one-on-one "curtain agreement" also needs to be upgraded.

In order to break the bottleneck of the "curtain convention", the streets and communities have no less ways to do it. In the No. 1 courtyard of Nancaiyuan in Jiangong Nanli Community, Liu Yingjie and his wife Zhang Xueying, a party member couple, assumed the responsibility of convener of the "curtain agreement". Similar to other pairs of helpers, Liu Yingjie's two sons mainly focus on the details of the life of Han Shuyuan, the object of help. Once the elderly have travel, medical treatment, shopping and other needs, the couple will be the first time to lend a helping hand. The meticulous care and concern of the neighbors allows the empty nest elderly to experience the warmth of "empty nest" and not "hollow". Han Shuyuan often said: "Liu Yingjie's two sons are 'responsive to every need' for me. ”

However, an unexpected occurrence last winter made Liu Yingjie and his wife experience the limitations of the "curtain agreement". Liu Yingjie, who has always been in good health, suddenly felt uncomfortable in his eyes. After going to the hospital for examination, she learned that surgery was needed, and Zhang Xueying had to spend all her thoughts on taking care of her husband.

"Our 'curtain agreement' is now one-to-one or two-to-one, once there is a problem at one end, it is difficult to deploy personnel, if you can change the way and become many-to-one." "Yes, don't we have two volunteer groups, simply pull more than a dozen pairs of 'curtain agreement' helpers in our hospital into the group, one is convenient for the community to grasp the situation of each pair at any time, and it can also help the pairs who have temporary problems find replacements." At the branch meeting, Liu Yingjie and his wife put this difficult problem on the table, and everyone discussed it word by word and offered suggestions for solving practical problems.

The "many-to-one" proposal was quickly recognized by everyone. Liu Yingjie and his wife immediately took action and took the initiative to assume the role of the convener of the "curtain agreement" in the No. 1 courtyard of the South Vegetable Garden. "There were more than 30 people in the group at once, in addition to more than a dozen pairs of helpers, there were other party members in the community, everyone was very active, and they were willing to give us both as substitutes." Zhang Xueying said that her and Liu Yingjie's hanging hearts were put down at that time. After discussion in the group, another neighbor, Ms. Chen, temporarily performed the "curtain agreement" with Han Shuyuan in their place, and the volunteers had a love relay.

Innovation is more intimate for the old volunteer service

The bold attempt at Nancaiyuan No. 1 Courtyard has given a wake-up call to the streets of White Paper Mill. At present, the 19 communities in Bai paper mill street have more than 100 pairs of "curtain agreement", in order to solve this problem, the street is also constantly exploring a more reasonable and effective management model.

According to the relevant person in charge of The White Paper Mill Street, in 2017, the street produced the "Curtain Agreement • Street Watch Service Log" for the helpers to record the daily assistance situation. At the same time, a support point system has also been established in the help log, and all volunteers who provide volunteer services for the elderly will receive a "love seal". Helpers can redeem these "love seals" for other support services.

Nowadays, the "curtain agreement" has become a good story of folk watching and helping each other, and it also provides a reference sample for solving the "empty nest problem". At present, Bai paper mill street is incubating the "curtain agreement" special team in 19 communities, in order to give play to the volunteer service spirit of "helping the elderly with the old", helping the community to build a new type of neighborhood relationship and helping to build a harmonious and livable community. At the same time, through the "curtain agreement" this model of neighborhood watch, let the home care become "enjoy the old", so that the empty nest elderly are not "hollow".

Wen and photo/Wen Wen