Hangzhou Daily reporter Zhang Lei text/picture Some pictures are provided by the interviewee
2023-12-27 23:11:50
Taking a bath may seem like a trivial matter, but for the elderly disabled and semi-disabled, every time you move to the bathroom, turn on the hot water faucet, rinse it down, and say "It's so comfortable!", it is an adventure.
December 13th, an ordinary day before the arrival of a super cold wave. Xu Zhiying was a little busier than usual, "The cold wave is coming on the weekend, and the weather that suddenly cools down is not suitable for bathing the elderly, and there will be health risks." So we've been very busy these days. ”
Xu Zhiying is the person in charge of the Blue Sky Service Center in Fuyang District. Since July 2019, she has provided free bathing services at least once a month for the disabled elderly from poor families in the district in the form of venture philanthropy. In the past four years, Xu Zhiying and her team of 7 full-time elderly care workers have insisted on driving all over 24 towns (streets) in the district, and have assisted in bathing more than 4,500 times, serving more than 1,050 elderly people, bringing the most practical help to the disabled bedridden elderly and their families.
Xu Zhiying continued to learn Xi theoretical knowledge and skills of bathing for the elderly, established the only social organization specializing in bathing for the elderly in Fuyang, and undertook municipal and district-level bathing projects for four consecutive years, so as to strengthen the characteristic volunteer service brand of "bathing for the disabled elderly". This year, she was honorably named the 19th Hangzhou Moral Model (Civilian Hero).
(Xu Zhiying came to help the elderly bathe, photo provided by the interviewee)
"We will let Uncle celebrate the New Year cleanly"
On this day, the elderly people Xu Zhiying went to serve lived in Xianli Village, Fuyang District, about 20 minutes' drive from the location of the Blue Sky Elderly Service Center she founded. This is already considered a close distance, and it takes more than two hours to drive a single way to a distant village. At five or six o'clock in the morning, she had to load up a cart of bathing equipment and set off.
In the past four years, Xu Zhiying and her friends have been on the road almost every day, providing services for the disabled and semi-disabled elderly from difficult families in Fuyang District who need to take a bath.
The second family of the day was 72-year-old Xu Jinlong, a veteran who served in Tibet and was paralyzed by a cerebral hemorrhage more than 30 years ago, leaving him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His wife is also over seventy years old this year, and she told reporters that she could still help him wipe himself in the early years, but she really couldn't wait for it in the past two years.
Because he has been in a wheelchair for a long time, Uncle Xu's calf muscles are swollen and hard, his skin is purple and red, and he taps it lightly with his hand, and there is a knocking sound. My wife said that his legs were like tree trunks, hard and heavy, and he had to use both hands to move them. "He loves to smoke, and sometimes the cigarette butt falls on his pants, and the pants burn through, and he doesn't even know that he burns his thighs. ”
Xu Zhiying used to open a barber shop, she first used a barber tool to quickly push the old man's long gray hair, and the little friend next to her turned on the heater to heat up the room and prepare hot water. Then, three people helped the old man from the wheelchair to lie down in the inflatable bath, then inflated the bed, and then gently helped him take off his clothes and cover him with a bath towel - both warm and private.
During the bath, Xu Zhiying kept communicating with Uncle Xu, gently supporting his head with her hands, applying shampoo to him, and gently rubbing and washing. The old man could no longer express his thoughts clearly, but his hand kept holding Xu Zhiying's hand, babbling in his mouth, and with a relaxed smile on his face.
After the scrubbing, when he wanted to help the old man into the wheelchair, out of instinct, the old man was so nervous that he firmly grabbed the hands of several bathing assistants and refused to let go. Xu Zhiying leaned over the old man's ear and used the local dialect to persuade him not to be afraid, take your time, take your time...... The uncle's hand finally let go, and Xu Zhiying also breathed a sigh of relief. While his companion was cutting his uncle's nails, he turned his head and explained to his aunt the cleaning skills of the elderly's incontinence, and helped clean up the stubble and water stains on the ground.
After Xu Zhiying and his entourage left, the aunt chased them out and insisted on stuffing a few oranges into their hands, "sweet, very ......sweet" and wanted to say something, but she wanted to stop talking.
Xu Zhiying saw the aunt's thoughts: "Don't worry, we will come again before the New Year, let the uncle celebrate the New Year cleanly." ”
"Everyone gets old, and you can't stop doing it because it's risky"
The first time I came into contact with the bathing service for the elderly was the hospice care provided by Xu Zhiying for an elderly person.
Xu Zhiying recalled that the first time she was engaged in volunteer service was in 1998, when a friend talked about doing public welfare, "At that time, they all said that they were learning from Lei Feng. I think I can get a haircut and I can also contribute. She still remembers that the event was in Linpu, Xiaoshan, where she helped 48 people get haircuts in one morning, and the smiles of the old people who praised her became the driving force behind her devotion to public welfare.
Later, she developed her barber shop into a convenient service point in the village, going to a nearby nursing home every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to give haircuts to the elderly, and 246 to serve in the village, "As long as someone has a disability certificate or a low guarantee certificate to get a haircut, I don't charge money." In 2016, she and her friends set up a Blue Sky Service Center for the Elderly in Xindeng Town, Fuyang, providing free haircuts, baths, massages, nail clipping, blood pressure measurement and other services for the elderly. In 2019, she launched the "Hospice Care" program in the service center to give haircuts to the elderly on their deathbed.
"Once, when I came to the service, I heard from my family that the old man had been bedridden for many years, not only could he not get a haircut, but he could not take a bath, and they wanted the old man to be clean when he left. ”
(After bathing the elderly, Xu Zhiying carefully helped the elderly dry their hair)
Hospice care has been around for a long time, and such needs are being heard more and more. Xu Zhiying was wondering in her heart if she could do this for these old people: so that even if they lose their ability to take care of themselves in their later years, they can live with dignity.
"I asked the leaders of the Civil Affairs Bureau for advice, and they agreed with my idea, but reminded me that the risk is relatively large, and I must be prepared and evaluated. Xu Zhiying knows that this is the care and protection of the competent authorities. She hesitated for a long time, but decided to give it a try, "My idea is very simple, there are elderly people in every family, everyone will get old, and you can't stop doing this good thing because of the risk." ”
The process of turning ideas into reality was more complicated than she expected. In 2019, she and two specially recruited nurses went to Haining to train for the elderly to help bath, "At that time, my husband still disagreed, saying that you spend 3,000 yuan to do public welfare, I support, but is it too much to spend 30,000 yuan? ”
Unexpectedly, the first practical operation after returning from the training dissuaded two-thirds of the team members.
Xu Zhiying recalled that when she bathed the old man, it was smooth at first, and halfway through the wash, the old man suddenly became incontinent, and the whole room was filled with a strong odor, and the old man's daughter couldn't stand it and ran out. Although they insisted on cleaning up the old man's dirt, drying his body, and taking a bath, the two caregivers who went to the training with her firmly said that they would not do it.
Xu Zhiying herself hesitated. But when she learned that more than 65% of the more than 2,000 elderly people in Fuyang District's subsistence allowance and subsistence allowance marginal households urgently needed this bathing service, she decided to continue to do it and began to undertake municipal and district-level bathing projects.
(Xu Zhiying's team is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more volunteers)
With the support of the civil affairs departments at all levels of the district and township, she trained the caregivers, studied the purchase of equipment, and the distribution of routes, and now the service scope has achieved full coverage of 24 towns (streets) in Fuyang District, and the team has expanded from 5 in 2022 to 25 people. As long as there are no special circumstances, every morning, three groups of people will set off from Yongchang Village to provide services for the elderly.
From suspicion to dependence, the old people especially trust the "bosom friend"
Today, Xu Zhiying's team has refined the bathing service into different types, providing services such as bed bathing, mobile bathing and professional drug wiping according to the physical condition of the elderly, "Our process is very standardized, and when we first visit the elderly to serve the elderly, we will take doctors and nurses to give the elderly a pre-bath assessment, and then provide a notice." Blood pressure should be measured before and after each bath for the elderly, if there is a big difference between the blood pressure after the bath and before the bath, the staff will have to accompany the elderly until the blood pressure is normal...... "Details determine success or failure, especially the services provided for the elderly, and more need to be fully considered.
Xu Zhiying remembered that once when she was helping to take a bath, it may have been too comfortable, and the old man who was being served fell asleep, and he couldn't wake up no matter how he shouted. The bathing assistants were scared and cried at the time, thinking that the old man had an accident. After that time, we asked for a bathing assistant to talk to the elderly and observe the situation at all times. Xu Zhiying said.
Xu Zhiying's WeChat nickname is "Blue Sky Bosom Friend", Blue Sky is the abbreviation of the institution, and Bosom Friend is not only a homophone of her name, but also her vision - hoping to become a bosom friend with the elderly.
After serving in the past few years, she feels that everyone has gradually understood this service and is willing to support and help promote it, and her "bosom friends" have become more and more.
(In addition to bathing the elderly, it is also one of her jobs to explain the details of daily care to the families of the elderly)
When I first went to publicize it, many elderly people and their families didn't understand it. "The old man is so embarrassed and embarrassed that you three strangers came to bathe me. The family members thought we were going through the motions, and some even thought we were liars. She can only keep explaining that sometimes relying on the elderly who have been served around her to bring "word-of-mouth marketing". Now, many elderly people have become dependent on the services provided by Xu Zhiying's team, and they refuse their children to bathe them, and take the initiative to call Xu Zhiying and ask for door-to-door service.
An elderly man had not walked on the ground for several years because his toenails were too long and embedded in the flesh, and he was afraid that his children would not be injured again if they did not cut well, so he did not let them help. After Xu Zhiying learned about this situation, after bathing the old man, she soaked the soft toenails in warm water for the old man, and slowly trimmed off the part embedded in the meat.
"That night, the old man specially called me and said that he could walk on the ground and no longer hurt. The joy and dependence transmitted through the phone is the biggest motivation for Xu Zhiying to continue this service.
There are more and more elderly people served, and Xu Zhiying feels not only the changes in the elderly's body, but also the change in mood. "There are always people who say that the elderly have a 'smell of the elderly', in fact, it is the smell of not taking a bath, and now we regularly come to take a bath, the smell of the elderly and the room is much lighter, the living environment is better, and their mood is more comfortable. ”
"I 'pulled the whole family into the water'"
During the interview, Xu Zhiying said lightly that she was also a patient. After careful questioning, she still has cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, and in December 2021, the right upper lobe lung was surgically removed.
"When I was bathing an old man, he suddenly lost his strength and threw himself on me. For his safety, I gritted my teeth and held him until my friend helped hold him steady. Xu Zhiying, who was very small, felt out of breath afterwards and often coughed, and at that time she thought she was infected with new crown pneumonia, and went to the hospital for examination, only to find that the lung tumor had developed to stage 2.
From diagnosis to surgery, it only took more than half a month, but it took even less time for her to stand by the old man's bedside from being discharged from the hospital to standing again at the old man's bedside.
"During that time, I was a little worried, although there was a relatively complete set of operating procedures and specifications, some bathing assistants were still young and inexperienced, and they were afraid that they would not be able to solve the problem, so they always wanted to go back quickly. While recuperating in bed, she remotely commanded through her mobile phone to solve tricky problems.
At that time, the team bathed an old man whose face was ruddy at first, suddenly turned blue and purple, and finally turned pale. The bathing assistant at the scene was at a loss and hurriedly called Xu Zhiying. According to the description, Xu Zhiying judged that it may be because the old man did not eat before taking a bath, which caused low blood sugar. She instructed the bathing assistants and volunteers to help the elderly sit up, wrap them in blankets, and open the windows for ventilation...... "In the video, I saw that the condition of the elderly was gradually improving, but I still secretly hid from my husband and drove to the scene to check the condition of the elderly, and my heart was put down." ”
After the operation, you still work so hard, do your family have no opinion?
"I'm recovering pretty well now, nothing is wrong, it's just that sometimes I'm out of breath. As long as I bathe the elderly, I will not feel tired, but I will feel uncomfortable when I am idle, and my husband will say that I am working hard. Xu Zhiying smiled and said that the most supportive person in the family was her son.
Her son, who is studying in a military school in Xi'an, always told her that he was very proud of what his mother had done, and that he would learn from his mother Xi in the future. Xu Zhiying's lover is her little technical expert, and under his transformation, the hose has been lengthened and the pumping is better under his transformation.
"After the operation, my husband also advised me, saying that people only have one life, so don't fight so hard. But he saw that I couldn't stop, so he just said a few words, and continued to do a good job of serving me. ”
Xu Zhiying's courtyard is parked in a van, which is provided to the service center free of charge by Fuyang District, and the design ingenuity of the car comes from her lover - 360-degree rotating seats, first turn to the door, convenient for the elderly to get on the car and sit down, and then turn people to the bathing area; the bathing area is specially set up with a buckle to fix the bath and a storage area for storing bath products; special heating equipment can raise the temperature in a short time to prevent the elderly from catching a cold. "These are all designed by my husband, and he communicates with the modification team to make adjustments, which saves too much money compared to a special bathing RV. Xu Zhiying said proudly. At present, the bathing vehicle is making final adjustments, and it is expected to be able to drive to various villages in Fuyang before the year to provide services for the elderly who do not have a suitable bathing space at home.
not only "pulled her husband into the water", but she also pulled her sister into the team. "She used to earn seven or eight thousand yuan a month in the factory, but she could only get two or three thousand yuan a month when she came to me. But I think that in the future, this love cause will definitely become bigger and bigger, and more professional people are needed to join. Then start with your family and train more professionals. ”
(Xu Zhiying conducts training for volunteers who are interested in the bathing industry, photo provided by the interviewee)
"It's a lot of fun, but the future needs norms and standards"
In the past, when she opened a barber shop, her income was higher than that of the average local factory employee, especially during the New Year's holidays, which was always the most profitable time for the head shaving master. Although I am still busy around the New Year's Festival, I am making much less money. Xu Zhiying is very economical with herself, and even the office of the service center is located on the first floor of her self-built house, and she has transformed the yard into a drying field. But she is very willing to spend money on the project of bathing, the equipment for the elderly is the best, the toiletries are also in separate small bottles, and many consumables are disposable and never reused.
"When I went to the service a few days ago, I found that the quilts at the homes of several elderly people were too thin, so I bought a few for them on the Internet and sent them over. Overspent, overspent...... This month's pension has been used up. Xu Zhiying said that since the lung cancer surgery, the barber shop that was originally open has also closed, and the pension of more than 2,000 yuan per month is used to subsidize the charging fee of several bathing cars, and every penny of government subsidies must be used on the elderly, "My husband feels sorry for me and thinks I don't need to be so tired." He said, I can still afford to raise you. ”
This year, Xu Zhiying's team has carried out more than 2,000 bathing services, and she has memorized the routes of each village in Fuyang, and she doesn't even need to open the navigation. She said that now she often receives calls from outside Fuyang, wanting to invite them to come to the door, but because of the lack of manpower, she can only decline.
As an emerging industry, bathing services are in a state of "free growth". There are no qualification requirements for bathing institutions and bathing assistants, and there is a lack of unified guidance and specifications for industry standards, service processes, and operation specifications.
"The old revolution will also encounter new problems", in the past few years of bathing for the elderly, Xu Zhiying and her team have often summarized, recorded the problems and solutions in the bathing process, not only posted the complete standardized process after many adjustments in the office, but also formed a book of internal communication tips.
She also asked the team members to learn Xi professional skills, and the Blue Sky Service Center for the Elderly will carry out several professional trainings every year, involving the professional theory of volunteer service, service requirements, emergency response strategies and professional skills for the elderly. 90% of the members of Xu Zhiying's team have obtained elderly care worker certificates.
At the end of November, the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs published the industry standard "Specifications for Bathing Services for the Elderly", which carried out detailed specifications in terms of bathing service personnel, processes, and accident handling. Xu Zhiying was very excited after seeing this news, and specially posted it on Moments.
"Next year, I would like to compile a small manual of my own experience over the years, so that the practical experience can help more people who are willing to engage in the bathing career. After all, to do this, love alone is not enough, we must be more careful, more patient, and more scientific process specifications. She plans to set up an experience center in the center of Fuyang District, so that more elderly people can understand and experience this service.
(The old man is happy, Xu Zhiying is also happy)
The old and the old are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. When China enters an aging society, how to let the elderly, especially the disabled, live a quality and dignified life in their old age is a problem that the whole society needs to think about.
"The government has included our project in the charity bathing program, which is also financially and policy-oriented to support us to continue to do this. Xu Zhiying and more and more friends wiped the bodies of the disabled elderly with their hands, bringing them cleanliness and comfort, and also making them feel the respect and care for the elderly in the new era.
From the basic service of measuring body temperature and blood pressure, to the hospice care of door-to-door haircuts, to the bathing service, the path Xu Zhiying chose seems to be getting more and more difficult, but she has been walking firmly, and the road is getting wider and wider. "Respect for the old and filial piety to the old can't look ahead and backward, everything is done thoughtfully, we can wait, the old can't wait. Her words were unpretentious and eloquent.
Editor in charge: Zhang Qian
Review: Wang Chenyu Mao Di