New meal plan helps fill up hungry seniors
Print Edition
Hehuanyuan residential community in Taopu Town now has dining carts serving hot meals to seniors.
Built in the 1980s, the community has a large number of seniors without live-in family members to care for them. Many struggle to cook meals every day.
Two years ago, the community worked with nearby schools to have the seniors dine in their cafeterias, but the long walk and limited seats made it implausible.
Only some seniors could go.
Building a new dining hall for seniors in Taopu also presented problems. The town comprises one third of the district’s entire area and one dining location would never have worked for all the seniors. And working with different restaurants was fraught with food safety concerns.
The administrators in Taopu decided to hire a catering company to deliver meals to centers for the elderly in each community.
The service began in April in the communities of Ruixiangyuan, Hehuanyuan and Yangguang. It was welcomed by seniors.
Popular service
“We haven’t had one food safety problem, and the meals meet the tastes of seniors. After word of mouth spread, more seniors have said they want to join,” said Wang Yifang, deputy director of the social development office in Taopu.
In May, the service was introduced across Taopu with 35 locations serving food to more than 640 seniors. The cost is 10 yuan (US$1.6) per person per meal. For those who can’t walk to the centers, meals are delivered to their home.
The service solves the meal problem many seniors face while also providing them an opportunity to socialize with others. Many seniors who live alone have said they are lonely.
In Taopu, there are 2,557 people who are over 60 years old, representing 27 percent of the town’s total population.
In addition to the meal service, health clinics have been opened in different communities to help seniors.
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