Have you ever thought of what life is like for old people? Have you ever helped old people who live alone? Can they get help when they need it?
Six students from Beijing 101 Middle School looked deeper at this question and wrote a proposal (提案) to the China Youth Model Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (全国青少年模拟政协活动). They advised to build more old people's service stations in the neighborhood. They also gave suggestions about how governments, neighborhoods and hospitals can work together to make this happen.
An old people's service station is different from a nursing home. It offers things like daytime care, cooking, cleaning and friendship to old people who live in their own homes. The students surveyed more than 1, 100 people, about 90 percent of them said they would prefer using the stations' services to moving into a nursing home. However, there are not enough of these stations, and many are not run very well.
The six students came up with a solution after reading more than 60 surveys, interviewing 108 people and visiting 25 different organizations. Their proposal beat out almost 100 others to win the Best Proposal award (奖项) in 2021.
"This experience helps me to better understand the importance of caring old people. Also I see the light and abilities in us, "said Xu Wanqing, one of the students.
"Taking part in the China Youth Model CPPCC has been good for students," agreed their teacher Li Jie. "They've developed a sense of caring old people, as well as gotten more confidence about themselves since they've seen how much they can do for others. "
