‘Unite as One in Response to the Pandemic and Join Hands to March forward’—the Special Cloud

On the afternoon of May 16th, 2022, China Association of Social Welfare and Senior Service (hereinafter referred to as CASWSS) successfully convened a special cloud meeting themed by 'Unite as One in Response to the Pandemic and Join Hands to March forward—to Help Boost Development of and Tackle Challenges Faced by Senior Care Organizations ' to give voice to the members. Feng Xiaoli, President of CASWSS presented at the meeting and delivered both the opening and concluding speeches. Secretary-General Han Hua, Executive Secretary-General Chen Dongsheng and other middle and senior leaders attended the meeting in person. More than 30 heads of nationwide brand senior care organizations and enterprises participated.

Feng Xiaoli, President of CASWSS attended the meeting and delivered the opening and concluding speeches.

In the opening speech, President Feng Xiaoli firstly extended her sincere welcome to the frontline colleagues in the field of elderly services who joined the meeting. She said that CASWSS is like the mother home for senior care organizations. We had always been caring for our family members and grateful for the magnificent performances of elderly service colleagues in guarding the elderly people on the frontline of Covid-19 response. Due to the pandemic control requirements, we could only meet on the cloud. This special meeting is held for exchanges of our good methods to fight against the virus, the difficulties we are faced with, the major issues to address and the multiple service needs. She encouraged all the colleagues to express their concerns freely.

Heads and Directors of senior care organizations and enterprises delivered speeches. Bian Jing, Head of training department of CASWSS hosted the meeting.

At the meeting, Liu Hongshan, Director of Beijing SDIC Health Apartment for the Elderly, Shi Fugang, Director of Shanghai Zhongfuhui Nursing Home, Liu Kun, Director of Yile Rehabilitation Center in Jilin Province, Yuan Zhi, Chairman of Hunan Healthy and Happy Aging Elderly Service Group Co.Ltd. and other 17 representatives shared their views, presenting their work results of standing on the forefront in the fight against the pandemic, strictly implementing government's Covid prevention and control requirements for the senior care organizations, tackling hardship and difficulties and providing humanistic and professional care to the elderly in their institutions. From multiple perspectives, they pointed out that under long-term closed-off management, the institutions are faced with the challenges of emotional instability of the service objects and the work teams, high costs of management, a high loss rate of personnel, shortages of professional nurses and lack of special government funds, etc. As part of the frontline servers fighting for elderly services, the participating leaders called on the government to offer special subsidies for frontline elderly service job positions to enable stability of the work team. They suggested that the association organize various online exchange meetings with different subjects for the members, to encourage them to work hard through mutual help and learning, thus strengthening cohesion. They also expressed their hope for the association to organize and develop online vocational training and recruit personnel for urgently-needed positions, thus making full use of the period when the staff are staying in institutions. All of them were fully expecting the government department of policy would establish supporting policies for the service industry to address the challenges and implement such policies to the primary level, thus promptly releasing the pressure on senior care organizations under long-term closed management.

Tan Gang, Vice Secretary-General of CASWSS interpreted relevant policies.

At the meeting, Vice Secretary-General Tan Gang interpreted relevant supportive policies established by national ministries and commissions and government departments of provinces and cities to help senior care organizations in addressing difficulties, stabilizing employment and exempting related fees, so as to help members have a timely knowledge of the government's supportive measures and policies during the pandemic.
The meeting lasted for nearly 4 hours. President Feng Xiaoli pointed out in her concluding speech that today's special cloud meeting themed by 'Unite as One in Response to the Pandemic and Join Hands to March forward—to Help Boost Development of and Tackle Challenges Faced by Senior Care Organizations ' though being short, has achieved great success. The association and all the participating parties gathered as a family, and through the speeches, we supported each other with understanding, empathy, warmth and encouragement.
She concluded the main contents of the speeches and put forward implementing methods from the following perspectives:
Ⅰ. On the basis of this themed meeting, CASWSS will convene online conferences of provincial- and city-level elderly service associations to boost their development through mutual exchanges;
Ⅱ. CASWSS will earnestly reflect on the speeches delivered at this meeting and make a special a special survey report to the competent government departments;
Ⅲ. On the basis of the urgent needs of senior care organizations, CASWSS will develop non-profit training courses on mental health that are faced towards the elderly and the service team of senior care organizations, so as to defuse pressure and promote advanced experiences of humanistic care services;
Ⅳ. On the basis of the urgent need for professional talents of senior care organizations, CASWSS will upgrade the current curriculum for senior managers, middle managers and core technical staff of senior care organizations, and organize relevant non-profit training in the middle of June;
Ⅴ. CASWSS will fully display the advantage of its media matrix including WELFARE CHINA in promptly presenting the voices of members, promoting and reporting the touching stories of managers and servers in senior care organizations on the frontline against the pandemic, with a view to strengthening the society's consciousness of the elderly service industry's spirit of boundless love and selfless dedication, and attracting more care and support from philanthropic organizations to senior care organizations.
All the participating people at this meeting shared their opinions and meaningful suggestions with full preparation, enthusiasm and sincerity. They expressed their gratitude to the leadership and guidance of CASWSS since its founding to help the elderly institutions in their cultivation and growth. They pointed out that the opinions shared and exchanged between the colleagues at today’s meeting provided them significant spiritual support, reminding them that they are not fighting alone and strengthening their confidence and resolve to keep pushing forward, surmount challenges and live up to the expectations of CASWSS’s leadership and the elderly service industry, thus contributing their efforts to the health and happiness of the elderly in the institutions.