Exploring Senior Care in China – Part II
Joseph Cuticelli
Partner and COO of Phoenix 3 Holdings, LLC CEO and Co-Founder of Restaura
The needs of people don’t vary greatly from one side of our planet to the other. To help Sodexo and our clients better understand the Chinese marketplace, we recently visited Shanghai. From government leaders, caregivers and seniors, we learned about people’s needs that could be true in any country.
These are some very general, but also common, observations we heard from our hosts:
- Seniors typically prefer to stay home as they age. They want to continue in a familiar environment and when possible have their children provide support when needed.
- Often, children have moved away and are unable to provide daily support. China’s previous one child policy means there is a steep drop in the number of children to care for parents and grandparents.
- Seniors are concerned about their security and can feel physically and emotionally vulnerable, particularly at night.
- Many grew up in during a time when the economy was under-developed. As a result, they have become used to a careful and frugal lifestyle.
- Often, they’ve focused everything on their children. Finding new ways to enjoy life and feel fulfilled isn’t always clear. Even if they have accumulated savings, some hesitate to spend money on themselves.
- Familiarity with technology varies. Those who use it want it to connect them to family, friends and information.
Doesn’t this sound familiar? As I listened and learned I was struck by the similarities shared around the world. A sense of safety and security, connection to friends and love ones, a purposed that gives life meaning – these are important no matter where you live.
These insights make the world feel a bit closer. Safety, security, love and personal fulfillment are at the core of human vulnerability and strength. I’m proud to help bring Sodexo’s quality of life promise to our friends in China and others around the world.
An Inclusive Product Leader with a Passion for Customer Obsession
7 年Thanks for sharing all these great information. Something I would like to add more is about how the current young generation feeling about the quality life style of the older generation. "Filial piety" is Chinese nation's fine traditional virtues. As children of a Chinese families, we received a lot of cares from parents. Most of children will treat the parents in the same way with the best quality senior care that he/she can afford. We understand maybe it is not the best way, due to sometimes, parents may just need to have more company. However, as the only child of the family, we usually does not have much time for that. So quality senior care may use more technology ways to make senior people and their children closer. I believe the key point is to find out how to provide a service that can link family together and at the same time to provide world class senior care service to let the children satisfy.
Co-Founder and CEO at Senior Source Consulting Group
7 年Interesting. Thank you for sharing.