“Each elderly person has different physical conditions, so the focus of care varies. For seniors with cognitive impairments, special attention must be paid to preventing them from getting lost. We also need to remove ground debris, install protective pads, and use clear signs to distinguish functional areas…” At Taikang Home · Xiangyuan in Xiangjiang New Area, Changsha, Hunan, 36-year-old elderly care specialist Zhu Gan, as usual, led young frontline nursing staff on ward rounds.
With the acceleration of population aging, professional and specialized elderly care talents have become an important force in safeguarding a happy old age. Elderly care specialist is one of the 17 new occupations recently released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It refers to professional and technical personnel engaged in comprehensive needs assessment, plan formulation and implementation, care technology implementation and training guidance, quality evaluation and management, service consultation and referral, and practical application research for home-based, community-based, and institutional elderly care services. As a practitioner, Zhu Gan sighed: “The official recognition of our professional identity not only enhances my professional but also gives us a direction for continuous efforts.”
One-on-One Strategies: Customizing Personalized Care Plans for the Elderly
“Grandpa Li, good morning! You look in good shape today. After breakfast, you can take a proper walk!” Greeting the morning light, Zhu Gan checked the wards and instructed the care staff on precautions.
To help the elderly man, under the guidance of doctors, Zhu Gan led the team members to formulate an exclusive care plan for him: playing Russian light music for Grandpa Li, who knew Russian, every day to make him relax in familiar melodies; giving him hand massages and facial touches to increase his interaction with the outside world; doing home training to help Grandpa Li carry out muscle strength training and stretching exercises…
After more than 9 months of careful care, the old man’s mental state has taken on a new look. He can finally walk with the help of care staff. When greeting him, he can also get a smile in return.
“Seeing the elderly residents’ physical and mental states improve greatly under our service, my sense of professional achievement and value bursts instantly,” Zhu Gan sighed.
Waking the elderly up in the morning, helping them go to the toilet, get dressed, and eat breakfast, accompanying them to participate in activities during the day, helping them take a hundred steps and do oral exercises before meals, and helping them wash up before going to bed at night… This is a typical day for many elderly care specialists. As a bridge between the elderly and medical staff, they play the roles of companions, observers, and immediate responders, covering various aspects such as daily care, physical sign observation, psychological companionship, and activity organization. Elderly care specialists not only need to master basic nursing knowledge and comprehensive assessment capabilities but also knowledge in multiple fields such as medicine, rehabilitation, psychology, and nutrition, as well as skills in personal care, condition observation, psychological counseling, and communication.
Refined Services: Ensuring Both Living Needs and Spiritual Well-being
Before entering the Elderly Care Service and Management major at Changsha Social Work College, Zhu Gan knew little about elderly care specialists. Through systematic study, she mastered various professional knowledge such as professional nursing, human meridians, pharmacology, and rehabilitation medicine. After graduating for many years, Zhu Gan has been engaged in elderly care-related work and has witnessed the transformation of this industry.
For a long time, people’s understanding of elderly care was insufficient, leading to low social recognition of this work. “When we graduated, less than 10 students from two classes really entered the elderly care industry. After two or three years, even fewer people were willing to continue in this field,” Zhu Gan said. In recent years, the situation has changed, and the public has a better understanding of elderly care services. At the same time, the emergence of many high-end elderly care institutions in the market has gradually standardized and improved the industry as a whole.
Taikang Home · Xiangyuan is a professional elderly care community located in Xiangjiang New Area, Hunan. After joining Taikang Home · Xiangyuan in 2021, Zhu Gan, as a team manager, is responsible for daily ward rounds potential safety hazards, carrying out emergency rescues, participating in planning innovative characteristic projects, and training and managing frontline staff. The team members are mainly young employees, most of whom are college graduates, and there are also experienced middle-aged practitioners.
If the traditional impression of elderly care services was more about ensuring the basic survival and living needs of the elderly, with only some simple cultural activities, then today’s more refined and high-end elderly care services aim to meet all-round needs from physical conditions to personal preferences, paying more attention to humanistic care and psychological support.
“Over the years, the elderly care service industry has gone through a development process from extensive to refined,” Zhu Gan sighed. In the past, people’s concept of elderly care services was only the care of “taking care of food, drink, and daily needs”. Now, elderly care services have been further developed, focusing more on meeting the spiritual needs of the elderly. The silver-haired group has shifted from “supporting the elderly” to “enjoying old age”, with health and self-pleasure becoming the key words of old age.
Vast Market: Promising Prospects for the Elderly Care Service Industry
At present, the market scale of China’s elderly care service industry is constantly expanding. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that by the end of 2024, the national population aged 60 and above reached 310.31 million, exceeding 300 million for the first time. The latest data from the State Taxation Administration shows that in the first half of 2025, the sales revenue of community elderly care services, institutional elderly care services, and home-based elderly care services increased by 30.4%, 22.6%, and 18% year-on-year respectively. The silver economy has a huge market scale, and the demand for elderly care workers is also increasing day by day.
Everyone will grow old, and the aging process is irreversible. As an elderly care specialist, Zhu Gan often thinks: when she grows old, who will provide services? What kind of care does she hope to receive? These questions make her think constantly and strengthen her determination to contribute to the development of the elderly care industry.
Industry insiders generally believe that in the face of the “blue ocean” of the silver economy with growing scale, upgraded demand, and booming investment, elderly care specialists will play a key role in the future, becoming professionals who can accurately meet the needs of the elderly and integrate various elderly care resources.
Zhu Gan introduced that it is imperative for elderly care specialists to work with doctors, nurses, nutritionists, rehabilitation therapists, cultural and entertainment activity instructors, music therapists, and other professionals to build a team of highly professional and vocational elderly care service talents. At present, the social demand for elderly care specialists is high, but there is still a large gap in supply, and those with professional qualifications are highly sought after.
Nowadays, there are more and more practitioners in the elderly care industry, and the team is getting younger. In Taikang Home · Xiangyuan, more than 70% of the frontline care staff are young people. They provide intimate care services for the elderly in a team-based manner. “These young people are also designers of the elderly’s life. Their outlook on life and values, their attitude towards the elderly, and their professional quality shown in work make me see the prospects and hope of this industry,” Zhu Gan said.
Related topics:
UCLA Scientists Breakthrough: Stem Cells for Sustained Anti-Cancer T Cells
Novo Nordisk’s Semaglutide Shows Promise for Obesity, Heart Health
Ribosome Hiccups in Aging Fish Brains May Hold Key to Cellular…
