As of March 1, 2016, Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province will be officially implemented.This is the first design architectural design standard issued by Sichuan provincial government for the newly built, reconstructed and expanded elderly care institutions (nursing homes). The requirements for the hardware of nursing homes are officially made for the first time to further optimize the social elderly care environment.

What are the hard-and-fast rules for the construction of elderly care institutions? Four compulsory standards are included in the Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province and if these standards are not met, construction will not be approved.Interpretation of the new regulation.

A

Nursing homes of two storeys high and above Barrier-free elevators must be installed in houses where the elders live A year ago, Grandma Cao who went to Chengfu from her hometown Yibin to have a reunion with her children finally found a stable place for her elder care in the suburbs of Chengdu, Pixian County. Her children rented an apartment of two bedrooms and a live room in a building equipped with elevators.

Grandma Cao made this decision together with her children after they were snubbed at all places. “It is inconvenient for her to live with her children, but the conditions of the nursing homes available are not desirable enough.”

The “conditions of the nursing homes” mainly refer to conditions of the living room. “I have a knee problem and it’s difficult for me to go upstairs and downstairs. We went to several nursing homes. They either had rooms on the first floor left or had no elevators.”

After Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province was officially implemented on March 1, the problem Grandma Cao met was solved.

It’s stipulated in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, “Nursing homes where the rooms for living, medical care rooms and public activity rooms for the elderly are on the second floor and above must be equipped with barrier-free elevators and at least one medical elevator.”

Liang Yi, engineer of Sichuan Provincial Architectural Design Institute, who participated in the compilation of Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, said it is a compulsory provision made for the rescue and evacuation of the elderly in daily life and in emergency circumstances and that it’s stipulated accessibility should be a prerequisite for vertical traffic facilities, "At least one barrier-free elevator should be able to be used as medical elevator for the transport of stretcher or medical bed.”

B Housing for the elderly

Should not be close to the elevator shaft and machine room

For the living space where the elderly often stay, it’s particularly stipulated in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, “The elderly’s bedrooms, living rooms, resting rooms and family rooms should not be set up in the underground or semi-underground and should not be close to elevator shaft and equipment room with noise vibration.”

Liang Yi explained that this provision is made mainly because the sunlight and natural ventilation conditions of these rooms where the elderly live in the underground or semi-underground are not good enough and might do harm to the health and safety of the elderly.

Noise vibration has a great impact on the elderly’s cardiac and cerebral functions and nervous system. Rooms where the elderly live should be set up far away from the noise source and noise reduction should be made for the noise source.

"The elderly are often bothered by nervous breakdown and usually do not sleep very well. It will become worse if the environment is noisy.”

Grandpa Nie who lives in the Shuyuan Street community in Jinjiang District had to give up a bed in a public nursing home obtained after queuing for it for one year due to the noise.

"I really could not stay there any longer after two weeks," he said with a frown."

C Ground should be anti-skidding.

The color of the building should be soft and warm.

The word “preferably” is used repeatedly in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province. It means it is the first choice when conditions permit.

For example, “Preferably nursing homes are close to medical facilities and public service facilities.”

Provisions with “should” are stricter and stipulate what must be done under normal circumstances. For example, “The ground of buildings in nursing homes should be wear-resistant, anti-skidding, flat, not easily broken. Safety protection measures should be taken for the external corner of the wall.”

Liang Yi explained that the provision is to ensure the safety and convenience of the elderly in walking around. Design requirements are made for the ground materials for the buildings in nursing homes to prevent the elderly from slipping and getting injured.

Considering the actual situation in Sichuan province, it’s particularly stipulated in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, “the thickness of the insulation layer of the ground in nursing homes should be calculated” in areas where it’s hot in summer and cold in winter and areas where it’s hot in summer and warm in summer, in order to prevent the elderly from falling over and hurting themselves as in these areas the ground is prone to be damp and slippery in transition seasons.

There are a lot of “warm” provisions in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province. For example, it’s clearly stipulated, “The color and logo designed for nursing homes should be soft and warm and the characters and patterns on the logo should be clear.”

According to the explanation, it’s because the elderly’s cognitive ability, memory and reactive potency are declining. As soft and warm colors can be easily noticed by the elderly, they can improve the elderly’s perception ability and make them feel warm and safe.

In studying Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, the reporter noticed that due to the weakening or loss of the walking function, the elderly usually need the support of wheelchairs. As a result, it’s clearly stipulated in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province that the barrier-free design should be made for the buildings and sites in nursing homes in accordance with the existing national standard Barrier-free Design Specifications.

Four compulsory requirements must be implemented. Otherwise, the construction should not be started.It should be noted that in Design Specifications for Nursing Homes of Sichuan Province, in addition to the two compulsory provisions, Article A and Article B,

Thereare two other compulsory provisions. “The terminal equipment of the heating system should have room temperature regulation and control function.” “The radiator in rooms where the elderly live must be equipped with protective cover.”

Why are the above-mentioned requirements made?

Liang Yi said that room temperature regulation is a necessary means of saving energy. If the terminal equipment of the heating system has the room temperature regulation and control function, on the one hands, it can achieve the purpose of saving energy and, on the other hand, it can meet the different demands of users for comfort.

At the same time, in order to protect the safety and health of the elderly, necessary measures must be taken to prevent burns and bruises when the radiator is used for heating.

Sichuan is one of the few provinces that issue local building design specifications for nursing homes. Liang Yi stressed that in terms of mandatory standards, Sichuan’s provisions are consistent with the national ones.

These four mandatory provisions “must be implemented by all newly built and reconstructed nursing homes in Sichuan; otherwise the construction should not be started.”

Present situation of demands /

More and more humane elderly care is sent to the elderly and their family members.

Elderly care is an unavoidable issue as everybody will become old. What do you want most from it?

Bearing this question in mind, the reporter of West China City Daily further visited some old people and their family members, trying to find the answer.

In nursing homes

Physiological needs are guaranteed.
More than 80% of the elderly say they feel lonely.

First, the reporter selected 6 nursing homes in the downtown of Chengdu and interviewed almost 100 old people who live in these nursing homes.

The old people were asked questions about physiological needs, social needs, environmental demands and economic demands.

According to the interview results, of the almost 100 old people, more than one third said their greatest physical demand was to solve the pain and inconvenience through drugs and care.

The interviewed old people said this demand could be met in nursing homes.

On the contrary, more than 80% of the interviewed old people said they felt lonely.

“My children do not have the time to take care of me.”

Grandma Du who lives in Hualin Nursing Center in Jinjiang District had the same story as the other interviewed old people.At the very beginning she refused to live in the nursing home, but after she fell over at home, she gave in to her daughter’s persuasion.In terms of environmental needs, more than 30% of the interviewed old people needed single rooms while more than 60% of the interviewed old people needed single rooms attached greater importance to location of their rooms.

“I prefer a room with good ventilation and lighting, but it must not be on too high a floor.

When no elevators are available, the first floor is preferred.”

Outside nursing homes

Home is best.

Community day care centers have 400 visitors every day.

At noon on February 26, Grandpa Li came out of Xihanggang Street Longhu Community Day Care Center and went home for lunch.

At the same time, at Langli Elderly Care Service Center located in North Yulin Road Community, Wuhou District, Chengdu, 5 old people began to take lunch delivered to them by the staff after playing mahjong.These are the daily scenes in elderly care institutions in Chengdu.Grandpa Li and other old people who live in Longhu Community have regularly visited Xihanggang Street Longhu Community Day Care Center in the past year.

“Every day we have more than 400 visitors.” One employee of the day care center told the reporter. Visitors include those who live in the community as well as those who live in the neighboring communities.

The day care center has comprehensive service room, recreation room, cultural activity center, day care room, barber shop, bath room, laundry room, outdoor activity room and other basic function rooms and facilities. Most importantly, it is in the neighborhood and the visitors can go home every day.

The above-mentioned information reflects a new phenomenon in recent years. The home care model based on the community elderly care services has become more and more popular with the elderly. For example, immediately after the day care center in Yanheba community, Shuangliupeng town was put into operation, it was full every day; the survey of the elderly who live in the community made by Gongrencun Community, Simaqiao Street, Jinniu District shows that more than 60% of the investigated old people accept elderly care in the community.

“East or west, home is best.” Grandma Deng who lives in North Yulin Road community spoke the truth that the elderly are attached to their homes.

According to Sichuan Province Elderly Care and Health Services Industry Development Plan (2015 - 2020), home care will become more and more humane.

It’s proposed in the Plan to support medical and health institutions to provide elderly care services, including the establishment of the “family beds”. To be specific, medical and health institutions should extend medical care and rehabilitation services to the family, explore the “family bed” for the disabled and semi-disabled elderly, and provide the responsible doctor contract services for people aged above 60.