To implement the national strategy for actively responding to population aging, Chiping District in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, has focused on meeting the diverse and multi-level needs of its elderly population in recent years. By coordinating efforts to upgrade facilities, improve service quality, and enhance safeguards, the district is building a new elderly care ecosystem characterized by full network coverage, precise and accessible service supply, and a solid guarantee system, aiming to continuously improve the quality of life for seniors.
Upgrading Facilities to Build a Strong Foundation for Elderly Care
Chiping District has continuously optimized its elderly care facility layout by incorporating the elderly care service system into the district's "15th Five-Year Plan" and key annual livelihood projects. A joint meeting system for elderly care services has been established to tackle industry development bottlenecks. The district is advancing the high-standard People's Hospital Houde Medical Care Project, which will provide over 300 beds, creating a deeply integrated medical and nursing service model. The Runjing Yanglao Shui'an Heyuan Project is also under accelerated construction, featuring over 2,000 beds and offering one-stop services including professional care, traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy, rehabilitation training, senior learning, and seasonal tourism. To date, the district operates 10 elderly care institutions, 26 community day care centers, and 7 rural happiness homes, with a total of 3,338 beds, 77% of which are nursing beds, continuously optimizing the supply structure.
To make it convenient for seniors to access services, Chiping has built a three-tier county-level network for elderly care, with a district-level platform for overall guidance, township (street) centers for coordination, and village (community) stations for nearby services. The district-level smart elderly care platform integrates all resources, enabling one-click service requests, unified management of supply resources, and full-process quality supervision. The 14 township (street) comprehensive elderly care centers provide day care, short-term respite, rehabilitation nursing, and cultural leisure services, using a "center with stations" model to extend professional resources downward. Additionally, 21 embedded community service stations, built through new community allocations, old community renovations, and repurposing existing resources, offer health consultation rooms, psychological counseling rooms, and smart medical areas equipped with intelligent health monitoring devices and massage chairs, providing regular services like day rest, recreation, and health management.
Furthermore, the district enhances technological empowerment by introducing professional elderly care service companies to standardize operations at allocated facilities, providing home-based services such as in-home care and rental of rehabilitation aids. It promotes smart age-appropriate devices like millimeter-wave radar for vital sign monitoring, smart positioning bracelets, and fall prevention alerts, enabling real-time risk alerts and quick service response. By activating social forces through four models—institution expansion, restaurant partnerships, party-mass base collaborations, and grassroots party organization leadership—the district has established 19 "happiness canteens," 21 embedded elderly care complexes, and one convenience store, effectively addressing daily needs like meals and shopping for seniors.
Improving Service Quality to Optimize the Supply Structure
Chiping District precisely targets basic elderly care needs by using community service platforms as hubs to extend professional services to families, meeting diverse requirements for day activities, short-term respite, and home-based care. It pushes primary healthcare resources downward, providing chronic disease management and medication consultation for people over 65. Regular cultural activities like calligraphy, painting, vocal music, and opera are held at community service stations and new-era civilization practice centers to enrich spiritual life. The district strengthens the elderly care workforce by integrating professional organizations and social workers to customize services for high-risk groups like the elderly, those living alone, and the disabled. It has trained 45 community care advisors to offer policy advice, resource connections, and service guidance, and 260 senior social workers who have served over 30,000 elderly people. Village and community elderly associations, now established in 90% of areas, play a key role in grassroots governance and protecting rights. The "Warm Heart to Home" project for visiting and caring for seniors in difficulty has served over 800 people.
The district also emphasizes empowering seniors by opening community senior universities at care institutions and stations, matching health maintenance and social interaction needs. Silver-age volunteer teams are fostered to regularly conduct intergenerational integration, civilization promotion, and conflict mediation, allowing elderly strength to shine in grassroots governance. Age-friendly products are included in the home appliance trade-in policy, with differentiated subsidies improving living conditions. Since 2025, the district has sold 441,600 yuan worth of age-friendly renovation products and disbursed 123,800 yuan in subsidies.
Enhancing Safeguards to Strengthen Supervision Systems
Chiping District has established a comprehensive supervision system for elderly care services, issuing a basic service list that clarifies departmental responsibilities, staff conduct codes, quality safety standards, and operational order requirements. It innovatively implements collaborative and credit-based supervision, promoting interconnectivity of violation clues, standardization of regulatory criteria, and mutual recognition of enforcement results among departments. The district's Civil Affairs Bureau leads annual "double random, one open" inspections of care institutions, collaborating with housing, health, fire, and market supervision departments. Through comprehensive inspections covering multiple items in a single visit, it maintains a strict stance on illegal activities, fostering a well-ordered market environment for elderly care services.
Elderly care is a livelihood project and a project for the people's hearts. Through the deep integration and coordinated effort of facility provision and service delivery, Chiping District continuously elevates the standard of elderly care, ensuring services possess both tangible quality and heartfelt warmth.