With America’s Baby Boomers aging, maybe we should pay attention to what China is doing to care for its “exploding elderly population,” according to The New York Times.
In cities such as Shanghai, China has begun building nursing homes with multitudes of amenities — such as movies houses, beauty salons, game rooms and karaoke suites — for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
In its Page One story last Thursday, headlined “China, In A Shift To Acceptance, Takes On Its Alzheimer’s Problem,” says that China within 30 years will likely have almost 400 million people older than 60.
Instead of being ashamed when a family member has Alzheimer’s, or putting them in hospital psychiatric wards, China is starting to construct more nursing homes to deal with its elders suffering from dementia. In Shanghai, which has an estimated 120,000 residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s, there are plans to build a nursing home in each of the city’s districts. Shanghai will need 5,000 more beds each year, according to The Times.
China’s problems dealing with its aged have been exacerbated by its policy limiting couples to having only one child. That means that a single Chinese person will be expected to support and care for two parents and four grandparents, The Times reported.
