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According to the Communiqué of the Seventh National Census released in May 2021, there are more than 260 million people aged 60 and over in the country, accounting for 18.7%. Among them, according to the "White Paper on the Development of China's Pension Industry" released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2016, the number of empty nesters and elderly people living alone in China has approached 100 million.
On the occasion of the Chongyang Festival, Station B released a short video of "Invisible Old Man", telling the story of the solitary life behind the empty nest old man.
The solitary death of empty nesters
"I passed away last night, and my heart stopped when I left", this is the words left on the suicide note by an 81-year-old man living alone in a small area of Nanjing in December 2017, when the body was found, the old man had been dead for more than two months.
What is even more sad is that the old man originally thought that his children would return as soon as possible, and also instructed his body to be cremated quickly, and everything was from Jane...
With the increasingly serious problem of social aging, nearly 100 million elderly people living alone are becoming "invisible" groups falling at home, trapped, sick, lonely, and out of touch with the times are all unavoidable problems of this group.
In November 2013, a 75-year-old man living alone in Hefei, Anhui Province, was found to be sent to the hospital for rescue after 2 days of illness at home.
In April 2021, Hu Mou, an 83-year-old man in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was trapped for 2 hours because his bedrooms were locked.
In August 2020, an elderly man living alone in Bengbu, Anhui Province, fell at home and was rescued after 4 days of knocking on the basin.
In the "Summer of the Eaves" program launched by Station B and the China Association on Aging, Liu Xuehua, a 62-year-old actor, said that a person living in other places is not afraid, afraid of falling, because no one knows.
Under the camera, Liu Xuehua, who has played the empress dowager many times in historical TV dramas, took off her costume, but in real life, she is just an old man who needs a TV set to be accompanied by 24 hours a day. She doesn't go out without work, the TV doesn't turn off twenty-four hours, and her phone just makes calls.
In the program, La Hongsang, the UP master of Station B, lived in Liu Xuehua's home. Liu Xuehua enthusiastically wanted to cook dumplings, but he didn't know how to turn on the range hood. The little girl sent a message asking her if she wanted to drink morning tea, Liu Xuehua saw it but would not reply, so she had to call and say.
The elderly who live alone are most afraid of sudden illness
Most of the elderly living alone can basically take care of themselves in daily life, at least eating, going to the toilet, bathing and other basic activities are not a big problem. However, when encountering sudden diseases, how to save themselves and whether they can be sent to the hospital for treatment in time have become a major challenge that the elderly living alone need to face. Most unfortunately, the sudden illness was not discovered until after his death.
Open the browser, enter keywords such as "the elderly living alone" and "death" in the search bar, and more than 20 million related content will immediately pop up.
In March 2020, a 64-year-old elderly man living alone in Wuhan, Hubei Province, was found dead at home. Doctors deduced that he died of cerebral infarction.
In December 2020, the residents of the first floor of a residential area in Kunming found that the 63-year-old elderly living alone upstairs was constantly seeping water, and repeatedly knocked on the door without answering. After calling the police for help, the police broke the door and entered the inspection only to find that the old man had no vital signs due to a sudden illness.
Recently, an elderly man in his 70s who lived alone in Beijing died at home, and it was not until the smell of the corridor was discovered.
For the elderly living alone, there is also an inseparable difficulty in seeking medical treatment, there is no one to accompany the doctor when the disease occurs, the appointment registration will not be operated, and the signature of relatives cannot be found for surgery...
In "Summer of the Eaves", Liu Xuehua talked about living alone, and once said: What I am most afraid of is that in case of any accident, no one will know.
In addition, the elderly living alone are also prone to negative emotions, especially for the elderly widowed and sickly elderly, because their children are busy with work for a long time and cannot be cared for, they often have a depression of "standing alone and hanging on each other".
In clinical practice, Academician Lu Lin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University, often encounters elderly people who come to consult because of psychological problems caused by living alone. There is an old man in his 80s who impressed him, the old man himself is in good health, but his wife has cancer, the doctor said that at most three months to half a year, the old man is sad and painful, can not accept the reality, feel that he does not want to live. After the death of his wife, the old man received treatment for a period of time, and the child who lived abroad also came back to take care of him for a period of time, which was through that difficult period.
Academician Lu Lin said that loneliness will cause a lot of mental and psychological problems, and the risk of senile dementia, depression, insomnia and even suicide will increase significantly for the elderly who often live alone.
Elderly people living alone have to make some "changes" to themselves
In June 2019, seven institutions, including the Chronic Disease Center of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Beijing Geriatrics Research Institute of the National Health Commission, and the Aging Communication Branch of the Chinese Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, jointly issued the "Joint Tips for Preventing Falls for the Elderly", which is the place where the elderly fall the most, and the aging home environment can effectively reduce the probability of the elderly falling at home.
With the change of physical functions, the living environment at a young age is no longer suitable for the current physical conditions and behavior habits of the elderly. Home ageing modifications typically include:
Place handrails in stairs, aisles, etc.;
Eliminate sill and floor height differences;
Addition of a shoe changer stool with a height-appropriate handrail;
Replace the wet and slippery ground with anti-slip material;
Choose a safe and stable bath chair and bathe in a sitting position;
Add handrails in shower areas and near toilets;
Add sensor lights in commonly used aisles such as bedroom leading to bathroom;
Choose a bed with the right height, and set up a table lamp next to the bed that is easy to reach.
At the same time, home aging transformation can be evaluated and implemented by professional institutions.
In addition, active and scientific exercise can maintain or increase the muscle strength of the elderly, reduce joint stiffness caused by aging, improve flexibility and balance, and maintain bone health. Seniors should maintain at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, such as walking, cycling, aerobics, etc., or appropriate physical exercise according to physical conditions.
Psychologically, Academician Lu Lin also gave a few suggestions to the elderly living alone, living alone, but also to maintain the law of life, balanced diet, regular work and rest, adhere to exercise, physical permitting conditions to participate in more community activities; more out of the house, more communication with friends, which is conducive to the physical and mental health of the elderly.
For children, they should try their best to overcome various difficulties to accompany the elderly, maintain contact with their parents, and strengthen exchanges and communication between each other. "What about in the house?" "What's all right?" "Pay attention to the body"... These short sentences and simple greetings bring full touch and lengthy warmth to the elderly. It's not hard to be kind to the elderly, and some heart-warming chats are a good start. For them, happiness comes simply, even with just two warm greetings.
Caring for the elderly living alone requires the efforts of the whole society
Academician Lu Lin believes that caring for the elderly living alone is something that needs to be worked on in many aspects.
"First of all, call on the state to further improve the pension system, such as nursing home group pension, may be better than the lonely home pension, to avoid the elderly out of society; secondly, the streets, volunteer organizations, enterprises and other social institutions, to pay more attention to the elderly living alone, organize some activities that the elderly can do, so that they continue to communicate with the society, with the community, with others, to avoid too narrow a life circle; and then to remind young people, conditional can live with the elderly, if the conditions are not available, It is recommended to call and dial a video to the elderly every day, which is also a very good spiritual comfort for them. After all, no matter how perfect the community support is, it cannot replace the affection and care. ”
At the level of national management, Song Yu, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with Health Times in July 2020 that vigorously developing market-oriented means and public welfare means play a role in helping the elderly living alone. The pension system should be further improved, such as nursing homes for the elderly, to avoid the elderly from separating from society; secondly, the streets, volunteer organizations, enterprises and other social institutions should pay more attention to the elderly living alone, organize some activities within the reach of the elderly, so that they can continue to communicate with the society, the community, and others, to avoid too narrow a life circle. Give full play to the advantages of third institutions and public welfare organizations in caring for the elderly living alone, and organize regular visits to the homes of the elderly living alone. Community health stations can participate in serving the empty nest elderly, emphasize the role of family doctors in helping the elderly, and reflect the service coordination aspect of the combination of medical and nursing care in practical work.
Everyone will go to old age, and caring about the present of the elderly living alone is caring about our future.
This article is synthesized from:
(1) 2019-06-12 , "Falling into the first cause of death due to injury to the elderly!" Seven institutions issued a joint tip for the elderly to prevent falls, (Health Times reporter Liang Yuan)
(2) 2020-07-21, "The Death of Living Alone Without Words", (Health Times reporter Hao Qianyu Wang Zhen)
【Source: Health Times】
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