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May 14, 2020

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Latvian director is the star for residents of elderly home

By Hu Min | 00:05 UTC+8 May 14, 2020 | Print Edition

Anastasija Puzankova, who is from Latvia, greets every resident in Mandarin at the Jiufeng Senior Home in Qingpu District’s Liantang Town where she is the director.

“Ni hao (Hello) Grandma Zhang,” the 35-year-old said with a brilliant smile as she hugged a resident yesterday.

She started work at the senior home in Zhanglian Village in April last year. It has 217 residents with an average age of over 85.

Puzankova described herself as their mother.

“They behave like kids, sharing their joy and pain in life with me, and they resort to me when they need help. I like staying with them,” said Puzankova, who knows them all and can remember 80 percent of the names.

Puzankova has been living in Shanghai for 16 years.

She studied Chinese in Latvia for two years and law at Fudan University as an exchange student. Her postgraduate major at the university was environmental protection law.

The senior home is affiliated to Haiyang Group, and Puzankova said that her boss arranged for her to work at the senior home, which opened in July 2018.

Recalling her first contact with the home’s residents, Puzankova said she was surprised.

“I was surprised by their age and learned that Chinese seniors enjoy longevity,” she said. “My first impression was that they were very healthy, enthusiastic and vigorous.”

But she soon found that language was a problem because the residents at the home spoke in Liantang dialect.

“Some cannot understand Mandarin, while I don’t understand the local dialect,” she said. “My Liantang colleague helped me with the translation.”

Time gradually smoothed these obstacles. “We don’t use language only, but body language sometimes,” she said. “As we have been together for a long time, now they understand me and I understand them.

“Some seniors here have rich sign language and they can replicate the whole story with that. They like sharing their life with me.”

But there are a few bad-tempered residents.

“I have many skills and I use them differently on different seniors,” Puzankova said.

When there is a problem, Puzankova asks nursing staff who know the residents well first.

“Some just want to catch our attention as they miss their families, and I analyze different situations and source of contradictions, disputes and problems. Then I pacify the seniors and offer a solution to tackle the problem,” she said.

A senior with cognitive disorder kept herself isolated in her room all the time. She was sick and her husband had passed away. “We didn’t intervene too much, and gave her time to get accustomed to the environment,” Puzankova recalled.

The woman has been living at the senior home for six months. In the past, she hid when seeing others. But now, she is willing to share her life with Puzankova and expressed a willingness to communicate. “It is big progress as she wants to communicate with others,” Puzankova said

The senior home has established a specific area for seniors with cognitive disorder. It is a safe place for them and has old items helping them to recall their past.

Living in downtown Xuhui District, Puzankova takes two Metro trains and one bus to reach the senior home. A single trip takes almost two hours, but she has no complaints.

“I like the job very much,” she said.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, many group activities were canceled at senior homes.

“Seniors here were very bored during the pandemic and we had to ensure their safety and also divert their attention,” she said. “Their psychological situation can affect their health.”

Puzankova and her colleagues arranged one on one activities for seniors when they were feeling down.

The Latvian is now a star at the senior home.

“She is like our sister and she cares for seniors with her heart,” said Cui Xuedong, a nurse at the home. “Seniors are willing to share their difficulties with her and she helps tackle them immediately.”

Yu Yinnan, 90, said she likes the foreign director. “I was surprised she can talk with us in Chinese. She likes communicating with us and always hugs us when meeting us.

“My health has turned better after living here due to my better mood,” said Yu.

Metro


 

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