Mon, Jan 24, 2011 page2

• FEATURE: Elder daycare fills necessary niche

  OLD SCHOOL: Programs, including music therapy, games and study groups, aim to fight neurodegenerative diseases and provide seniors with a sense of community

  • By Nancy Liu / CNA, with Staff Writer
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  Every day, Chang Chung-han wakes up at about 6am, gets on a bus and arrives at a local assembly hall for a morning flag-raising ceremony.

  He starts off his day like any ordinary student in Taiwan, except that he’s not — Chang is a 94-year-old man who suffers from moderate dementia.

  The “school” Chang attends is one of 13 senior community daycare centers commissioned by Taipei City Government to serve the growing aging population, particularly elderly people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.

  As of last month, there were 331,906 people aged over 65 in Taipei, accounting for 12.67 percent of the city’s inhabitants. Many people work long hours in offices and have no choice but to leave their elderly parents at home alone.

  Taking care of the elderly, particularly those with dementia, can take a serious toll on family life and disturb the routine of the entire household, said Tang Li-yu (湯麗玉), secretary-general of the Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association, who noted that senior centers are a great help to families and to the patients themselves.

  “Leaving them at home is not a wise choice. The important thing is that the activities offered at the centers help restore and refresh long-forgotten social and language skills, which has been [to be] found effective in delaying the degenerative process of the brain,” she said.

  Chang’s “school,” for example, features various activity programs that help the elderly regain their confidence and smile. Music therapy, ball games, study groups, handicraft lessons, cooking demonstrations, karaoke, even mahjong. You name it, they have it.

  One of the most popular -activities is the flag-raising ceremony, said Huang Shu-hua (黃淑華), vice manager of the Xihu Senior Daycare Center, a newly opened public-funded institution for seniors.

  “We wanted to make the elderly feel they are still a part of the community. So, as many of our clients are military veterans and retirees from school and government service, we came up with the idea of holding a flag-raising ceremony,” Huang said.

  “Everyone participates in the ceremony, one way or another,” said Huang, adding that a military retiree rings the bell, a retired principal delivers speeches and a former civil servant leads the group in singing the national anthem.

  “They love it,” Chang’s daughter said. “My father was so excited to go to school for the first few days that he would get dressed as early as 4am, out of concern that he would miss the bus.”

  “The service has taken a burden off my mother’s shoulders. My father, who used to be short-tempered, has learned to care for others’ feelings through interacting with his ‘classmates,’” she said. “It has brought us closer than before.”

  While the centers have obviously benefited some families like the Changs, Tang said, the government’s goodwill is not always well accepted.

  For example, there are only 27 seniors being cared for at the Xihu center, far less than its full capacity of 60.

  “Sending your parents, especially those with minor mental degeneration who do not show physical disabilities, sometimes invites rumors from conservative neighbors who think you are abandoning your parents and shirking filial duty,” Tang said.

  Many are also unaware of the benefits of senior daycare centers and hold a stereotyped view unless they come and see for themselves, she said.

  Of course, there are more who worry about the cost.

  The maximum charge for government-run senior centers per person admitted is about NT$16,000 per month, covering all costs Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, regardless of health condition, a social welfare department official said.

  All services, including lunch, are free to low-income families.

  “If the family cannot afford the monthly fee, I still suggest sending them in one to two days a week, which costs about NT$600 per day,” Tang said, adding that private daycare centers are normally more expensive.

  While Taipei City launched a senior-friendly plan to establish at least one public daycare center per administrative district years ago and is three short of accomplishing its goal, Tang expressed concern over the availability of such facilities in the country’s other municipalities.

  “The aging problem will only worsen over the years and the centers should strive to be more reachable,” she said.

  Saying that many senior centers are located in the countryside and require a lot of travel time, she applauded the idea of setting up centers in more traffic-convenient locations.

  “Growing old in a community with which you are familiar is important,” said Huang, pointing to the dual advantage of staying with family at night and meeting new friends in the daytime.

  Since 1993, Taiwan has been classified as an aging society, based on the UN definition, which is when the over-64 population reaches 7 percent of the total.

  Demographers predict that the figure will double by 2018, which will put Taiwan in the “aged society” category. Taiwan’s over-64 population is growing at the second-fastest rate in the world, slightly behind Japan.
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