Illustrative image (Source: hanoimoi) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Nguyen Thị M (not her real name) made thedifficult decision to take her mother to a Hanoi nursing home five monthsago.
She suffered a stroke a few years ago and can’t walk. To make matters worse,M’s husband is also sick, so she can’t take care of her mother.
M’s mother is one of an increasing number of retirees in Vietnam spending theirfinal years in nursing homes, but there are concerns the country doesn’t haveenough cheap nursing homes to meet demand.
"We can’t stay at home to look after her orrely on house workers to take care of her, so the nursing home is our bestchoice,” M told Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper.
Similarly, Nguyen Trung Van from Hoang Mai district, took his father to a localnursing home about two years ago.
He said, at first, many people in his family and neighbours opposed thedecision, but he was afraid of leaving his father home alone.
"I think taking a parent to a nursing home to get good care and joyfulnessis good. It does not mean I lack responsibility for my parent. People shouldnot be prejudiced against nursing homes and should be more open-minded,” Vansaid.
In Vietnam, the conceptof filial piety, or taking care of one’s parents, is taken very seriously. Manythink those who send their parents to nursing homes are selfish and haveforgotten those who loved and nurtured them as a child.
In many families, a married couple has to live with one partner’s parents.
Dien Hong, a nursing home in Ha Dong district takes care of about 70 elderlypeople.
Due to increasing demand, the centre opened another location in July, said HoangThi Thu Ngan, deputy director of the home.
According to Ngan, there are three old groups of old people who need nursinghomes.
The first is the elderly with children settled abroad or work away.
The second group includes people who still live with their family but want tolive in a home to spend time with people of the same age.
Finally, the elderly with chronic illness, weak health and in need of constantsupport also need nursing home care.
The demand for nursing homes or elderly care centres is increasing but it isnot easy to operate a centre effectively, according to Ngan.
In addition to the large investment, nursing homes face difficulties in humanresources.
Each elderly person usually has at least one or two chronic illnesses, so thework of a nurse is very hard and finding qualified candidates is a challenge.
Luu Thi Huong, head of the Elderly Care Department of the Vietnam CentralElderly Association, said that in modern society, the elderly could easily feellonely. "As a result, more and more people want to live in nursing homesto improve the quality of life in their later years."
There are more than 400 nursing homes across the country, half of which receivesupport from the Government, with the other half privately-owned.
There are three State-supported nursing homes in Hanoi but all lackrehabilitation equipment, proper infrastructure and human resources, with onecare worker per 10 elderly.
Private nursing homes can provide good services but not many people can accessthese facilities due to high fees, from 6 to 9 million VND (260 to 391 USD) permonth.
Huong said that the Government should help tackle these problems.
Ta Quang Huy, Director of the Hanoi Population and Family Planning Department,said it is necessary to study elderly care by day, which many countries haveimplemented.
With this model, elderlypeople go to a nursing home in the day and go home for dinner with theirfamily. They still live with theirchildren, but at the same time, they do not feel lonely when their family’smembers go to work and school.
At the nursing home,they have friends to talk to and nurses to take care of them and can joinactivities good for their mental and physical health, according to Huy.
Vietnam’s populationofficially entered the aging phase since 2011 and now has more than 11 millionelderly people (about 11 percent of the total population).
It is estimated that the number of elderly people will account for 17 percentof the population by 2030 and a quarter by 2050, the newspaper reports.-VNS/VNA
She suffered a stroke a few years ago and can’t walk. To make matters worse,M’s husband is also sick, so she can’t take care of her mother.
M’s mother is one of an increasing number of retirees in Vietnam spending theirfinal years in nursing homes, but there are concerns the country doesn’t haveenough cheap nursing homes to meet demand.
"We can’t stay at home to look after her orrely on house workers to take care of her, so the nursing home is our bestchoice,” M told Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper.
Similarly, Nguyen Trung Van from Hoang Mai district, took his father to a localnursing home about two years ago.
He said, at first, many people in his family and neighbours opposed thedecision, but he was afraid of leaving his father home alone.
"I think taking a parent to a nursing home to get good care and joyfulnessis good. It does not mean I lack responsibility for my parent. People shouldnot be prejudiced against nursing homes and should be more open-minded,” Vansaid.
In Vietnam, the conceptof filial piety, or taking care of one’s parents, is taken very seriously. Manythink those who send their parents to nursing homes are selfish and haveforgotten those who loved and nurtured them as a child.
In many families, a married couple has to live with one partner’s parents.
Dien Hong, a nursing home in Ha Dong district takes care of about 70 elderlypeople.
Due to increasing demand, the centre opened another location in July, said HoangThi Thu Ngan, deputy director of the home.
According to Ngan, there are three old groups of old people who need nursinghomes.
The first is the elderly with children settled abroad or work away.
The second group includes people who still live with their family but want tolive in a home to spend time with people of the same age.
Finally, the elderly with chronic illness, weak health and in need of constantsupport also need nursing home care.
The demand for nursing homes or elderly care centres is increasing but it isnot easy to operate a centre effectively, according to Ngan.
In addition to the large investment, nursing homes face difficulties in humanresources.
Each elderly person usually has at least one or two chronic illnesses, so thework of a nurse is very hard and finding qualified candidates is a challenge.
Luu Thi Huong, head of the Elderly Care Department of the Vietnam CentralElderly Association, said that in modern society, the elderly could easily feellonely. "As a result, more and more people want to live in nursing homesto improve the quality of life in their later years."
There are more than 400 nursing homes across the country, half of which receivesupport from the Government, with the other half privately-owned.
There are three State-supported nursing homes in Hanoi but all lackrehabilitation equipment, proper infrastructure and human resources, with onecare worker per 10 elderly.
Private nursing homes can provide good services but not many people can accessthese facilities due to high fees, from 6 to 9 million VND (260 to 391 USD) permonth.
Huong said that the Government should help tackle these problems.
Ta Quang Huy, Director of the Hanoi Population and Family Planning Department,said it is necessary to study elderly care by day, which many countries haveimplemented.
With this model, elderlypeople go to a nursing home in the day and go home for dinner with theirfamily. They still live with theirchildren, but at the same time, they do not feel lonely when their family’smembers go to work and school.
At the nursing home,they have friends to talk to and nurses to take care of them and can joinactivities good for their mental and physical health, according to Huy.
Vietnam’s populationofficially entered the aging phase since 2011 and now has more than 11 millionelderly people (about 11 percent of the total population).
It is estimated that the number of elderly people will account for 17 percentof the population by 2030 and a quarter by 2050, the newspaper reports.-VNS/VNA
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