Nanshan nursing homes’ anti-virus effort hailed as example for global peers

Measures taken by the nursing homes in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, South China’s Guangdong province have been translated into several foreign languages and followed by about 300 nursing institutions in Europe.

Thanks to their efforts, no infection case has been reported in nursing homes in Nanshan.

The nursing homes’ practices helped increase the awareness of their global peers about COVID-19 and better prepare staff to mitigate risk and lessen the impact of the virus. Consequently they have received great attention and widespread praise from the international community.

A staff worker checks the temperature of an elderly resident in a nursing home in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district. [Photo/Shenzhen TV]

Besides receiving three regular temperature checks every day, residents can also turn to medical workers for help through the internet.

Their families were not allowed to visit them over the past five months due to the pandemic, but were not worried about them as they could meet through video calls.

However, the nursing home’s anti-virus measures, such as a ban on outings and gatherings, affected the residents’ mood to some extent.

The institution helped remove the negative effect on their mood through enriching their diets, personalized rehabilitation training and daily interactive video games.

A woman surnamed Guo whose parents reside in the institution appreciates the anti-virus work of the nursing home and the municipal government, saying that she feels that it’s quite safe to live there.

A 91-year-old resident surnamed Yuan canceled her plan to spend Spring Festival with her daughter and chose to stay in a nursing home as soon as she learned about the epidemic.

“Fewer visits reduces the risk of getting the infection and lowers the pressure of epidemic prevention and control,” she explained.

Staff workers in a nursing home in Nanshan cheer up their peers abroad with hand written messages.

The great efforts of the frontline medical workers and nursing homes contributed a lot to the zero-infection achievement in Nanshan’s elder-care institutions. All the workers, ranging from care givers to cleaners, lived in the vacant rooms in the homes and did not go out to lower risk.

The nursing homes increased their subsidies and offered a more nutritious diet, and also eased their tiredness and pressure through psychological consultation and recreational activities.

The emergency response mechanism of the district also contributed to the achievement. According to Lin Weijun, deputy head of the district’s civil affairs bureau, Nanshan began to purchase necessities on Jan 22 and locked down all nursing institutions to contribute to the fight against the virus.

In the early stages of the epidemic all the elderly and employees in the nursing homes were screened. In addition, nucleic acid testing and centralized isolation were put in place for the elderly residents and employees who needed to return to the institutions.

The local government coordinated medical supplies and designated elder-care institutions, providing them with a green channel for medical treatment to reduce exposure and risk of infection.