The trend of population aging combined with changes in contemporary life has separated the elderly from the common family life, bringing them to the door of nursing homes.
In many countries around the world, the nursing home model has been developed for a long time with many methods of operation. In Vietnam, in the past 10 years, the trend of building nursing homes and care centers for the elderly has increased and flourished. At many reporter centers passing by, they confirmed that it is always overloaded.
Nursing homes are currently being built on many scales, exploiting potential "markets" with many segments. Family and children can choose the right price and choose affordable services.
However, Mr. Cuong - director of a elderly care center said that caring for the elderly does not come from money.
Is the best service for the elderly in money?
Ms. Minh - a nurse at a nursing home said: "I honestly say, caring for the elderly is not simple. Many players are very demanding. She was not satisfied with everything she did, and when she was not satisfied, she could splash water on her face and react very strongly.
Taking care of elderly people with serious illnesses, immature or bedridden illnesses, on-site hygiene, uncontrolled hygiene... is really a huge challenge".
Ms. Minh has worked for many years, she thinks that many people just think, pay a lot of money and bring their parents here, if there is any negligence, they will scold and threaten to sue the care staff.
" come to your children and relatives who are not patient enough to take care of them, so understand and sympathize with us. We also try very hard, try hard, and be careful with the elderly. But, it is not a simple or easy job, said Ms. Minh.
At a nursing home, the elderly also told the story of an old man here who was "ribbon-prone", fierce, always irritable, and threatened to burn down the room. Once, the old man hid a lighter and brought it to the fire room to burn the blanket, because he said he hated it here, he just wanted to go home.
According to Ms. Minh, the psychology of old age will change a lot, the older the elderly, the more demanding they are, especially when they are sick, so - caring for the elderly requires patience, great effort - and more than that, caregivers need to have love, share, and be close - considering the elderly as relatives in the family.
Money can buy all kinds of services, room rates, single bed prices that are "good", beautiful, and airy, but money cannot buy dedication.
"Caring for the elderly must come from the heart, compassion, and love of those who do the job. This is "regulated" in the personality of each person, not decided by money. With equal salary, there are still employees who do this job with all their dedication and love, but there are also people who work with coldness, doing their full responsibility..." - Ms. Minh said.
When children send their elderly parents to nursing homes, many people with financial conditions are willing to pay for all services and Shelters. However, the prerequisite for whether their parents are well cared for or not lies in... the heart and personality of caregivers.
Mr. Cuong - director of a elderly care center - said: "In our place, the "floor price" is 7.5 million VND/person/month. However, many lonely people, without relatives, pay their own pensions, and their pensions are only... 3.5 million VND. I'm still happy. I do business in many fields, and have a source of income from there, making up for the old so that they have a place to rest. I always tell the staff, I have to consider them as my relatives, whoever is loud, screams... I will let them quit."
According to Mr. Cuong, if you do this job without heart, without heart, and love for the elderly, you will turn yourself into people "doing business with the elderly".
And the coldness in this profession is scary.
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Mr. Oanh - a flexible person with clear memories said, when going to a nursing home, there is always an empty space in his heart. Although he affirmed that it was very fun here, occasionally in the afternoons, he and many "close friends" also organized karaoke singing.
She pointed to a friend sitting next to her, shaking, holding a spoonful of congee, saying - the friend was recently visited by her child, very happy.
The space that Mr. Oanh mentioned was family. In nursing homes, even if it is like a family - it is a different family, not a family according to the traditional model of blood, blood, and the intestines living together under one roof.
Vietnamese people have a tradition of living a happy life, children and grandchildren take care of their parents and grandparents when they are old. However, the pressure of life, the cycle of making a living, and the fluctuations of the times are separating the traditional family model.
Even though they have to separate, live in different spaces, count the time that passes at the nursing home door, those sick elderly people - still miss their family, still love deeply, and still turn to their children and grandchildren.
When they can remember, they still realize that there is nothing irreparable in their hearts.
