Society

Elderly patients create their own 'family reunion'

By Jia Xu (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-02-02 08:40

Taiyuan - As millions of migrant workers confirm the importance of family life in China by enduring considerable difficulties to return home during the Spring Festival travel peak, a group of elderly mental patients in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, has managed to bring new meaning to the term "reunion".

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On Jan 30, four days before the start of the Year of the Rabbit, about 80 elderly patients, who suffer from mental disorders, physical paralysis, senility and terminal illnesses, found that the most comforting way to celebrate the Chinese New Year was to stay in their shared "home" - the Taiyuan Red Cross Elderly Caring Center.

Amid recent discussions about enforcing the "spiritual comfort" that children should regularly give to their elderly parents, which China is about to enshrine in law, the elderly patients at the caring center supported the proposed regulation.

A 67-year-old mental patient, whom other inmates call "Teacher Gao", has lived at the center for 12 years, ever since her son went to college in Hebei province. She said the idea of family reunions should be expanded.

"What matters in Spring Festival reunions is not a physical gathering among family members but a sense of belonging, where groups of people share common understanding and personal warmth," she said.

Gao tried to take her own life twice due to the loneliness she suffered after her son took a job in Canada five years ago. However, living in the center under the care of professional psychologists has lifted her spirits.

Gao is among 103 patients who live under the care of 30 professional psychologists and general doctors at the Red Cross center.

The center, founded in 2000 with an initial investment of 800,000 yuan ($121,500), was China's first national elderly care center to accept elderly patients with mental disorders.

"Conventional elderly care centers reject people with mental disorders because they are deemed to be potential threats to other patients," said Li Lizhu, director of the center, who won the title of National Star of Commonweal in 2009.

"However, people with senile mental disorders are the most fragile group. They need both special medical services and humane care from society.

"I have spent every Spring Festival for the past 10 years with these elderly patients, and being able to provide them with a sense of family also warms my heart," said Li. "People's attitudes have changed, and Spring Festival celebrations have expanded."