A Chinese young nursing home director said by responding to the emotional and spiritual needs of the elders he wants to make his nursing homes happy places for the seniors to live and an innovative and revolutionary example for the whole industry.
Fan Jinlin, who runs five nursing homes in Xuchang City, central China's Henan Province, is one of the youngest nursing home CEOs in China.
Studying broadcasting and hosting at university, Fan said his major had nothing to do with elderly care, but a accident of his grandmother made him aware of the vulnerability of the seniors and changed his career path.
"When I was at university, my grandmother fell down at home and was hospitalized. I was right at her bedside and I wondered if I could find a job in the future that allows me to be with her every day. So elderly care became my second choice," said Fan.
Fan interned in his father's nursing home during the vacations of his junior and senior years. Staying near the elders and observing them closely, Fan said, the uninteresting life that most elders were living gave him the thought of innovating the business models of traditional nursing homes.
"I found that when the elderly people watched TV together, some of them didn't even blink their eyes. It was as if their mind went blank. It seems that they sat there to watch TV just for being together with others. Some bedridden elderly people spend most of their time looking at the ceiling. I wanted to change their lifestyle," said Fan.
Fan's father was at odds with his son's revolutionary ideas in the beginning. The old nursing home director said he supported his son's decision, but the young man was not familiar with the industry and should not press ahead with his plan.
But the father soon realized that Fan was thinking beyond the basic needs of the elders and wants to build the nursing home into a place that responds to the emotional and spiritual life of the seniors, which is long ignored by the whole industry.
"Later, I became aware that his idea is to let the elderly have fun. He thought about what to provide to the elderly when they have enough to eat and to wear. Some of them feel lonely and they need company to make them happy. Moreover, the whole society should know that the elderly can have a good time in nursing homes. It's not just about having enough to eat and being well-fed, but also being able to enjoy themselves. In fact, he is changing this industry and changing people's mindsets. I think this is very well done," said Fan Hongling, Fan Jinlin's father.
The young director, by taking advantage of what he learned in university, has encouraged the elders to participate in making short videos, which have received warm feedback from netizens and drawn more attention to his innovative business operation.
"In the beginning, I only wanted to figure out whether this can work or not, so I just shot this video with no expectations. I didn't expect it to receive 1,000 likes after I posted it, which was quite a lot at the time. I saw many comments, such as, 'you are a bit too young for running a nursing home', 'I also want to see what your nursing home looks like when completed.' I felt encouraged and decided to shoot the second episode," said Fan.
Naming his business "happy elderly care model", Fan hopes the business mode, which integrates multi-channel network (MCN) model of social media, can be promoted at a larger scale and helps the elders reduce the cost of living in a nursing home.
"By filming short videos with the elderly, we hope to generate some revenues to cover our costs, and eventually we can waive their fees partly or fully to live here. In fact, our model combines elderly care with the MCN model of social media. In the future, I want to promote my happy elderly care model, which places more emphasis on the elders’ spiritual needs and their happiness," said Fan.
Young nursing home director strives to provide elders with happy old age
