Optimizing Services for Accessible and Happy Elderly Care
Entering the Nan Dian Village Happy Home in Chayouqian Banner, Ulanqab City, heartwarming scenes of elderly care services are everywhere. Volunteers in red vests from the village's elderly service station move about, patiently assisting elderly resident Fu Jianguo with his online subsistence allowance certification, guiding him on smart devices, while others meticulously clean his home, organize belongings, and tidy his living environment to create a comfortable and clean space for him.
Today, regular home visits, housekeeping, smart device tutorials, and heartfelt companionship are delivered precisely to the elderly in the area. For key groups such as left-behind and solitary seniors, a series of down-to-earth, warm, and comprehensive care services have been implemented, allowing the elderly to enjoy thorough elderly care without leaving their village, right at their doorstep.
Providing for the elderly is a fundamental aspect of people's livelihoods and a public aspiration. To continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness, and security among the region's elderly, the Department of Civil Affairs of Inner Mongolia has this year thoroughly implemented the autonomous region party committee's "1571" work deployment. Focusing on building a basic elderly care service system that is urban-rural integrated, fair and accessible, and high-quality and efficient, it is constantly enriching diversified elderly care service supply, strengthening the professional elderly care service talent team, and comprehensively driving the quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and empowerment of basic elderly care services. This ensures that the happy later years of people from all ethnic groups are visible, tangible, and within reach.
Coordinated Urban-Rural Efforts to Paint a Picture of Happy Golden Years
Urban elderly care emphasizes professionalism and convenience, while rural and pastoral area care focuses on warmth and heart. Inner Mongolia, based on the differentiated needs of urban and rural elderly, takes precise measures and targets its efforts, promoting the efficient allocation of high-quality urban elderly care resources and the warm implementation of mutual-aid elderly care in rural and pastoral areas. This forms a favorable pattern where urban and rural elderly care each have their own characteristics, complement each other, and develop in coordination.
At the Xilin Community Elderly Care Service Station on Xilin Gol North Road Street in Xincheng District, Hohhot, a "daytime daycare, evening homecoming" model for home-based community elderly care has become the norm for local seniors, making their lives freer and more comfortable.
Aunt Song, 67, is a regular at the service station, checking in daily: undergoing professional physiotherapy in the rehabilitation area in the morning, enjoying nutritious meals at the community canteen at noon, and gathering with neighbors to play cards, sing, and relax in the afternoon.
"I don't need to trouble my children or travel far. With comprehensive elderly care services at my doorstep, my later years are well-arranged and fulfilling," said Aunt Song.
Coordinatedly advancing the construction of district-, street-, and community-level elderly care service facilities to bridge the "last mile" of home-based community elderly care is a key measure for Inner Mongolia to deeply cultivate urban elderly care and benefit the elderly. Currently, street-level elderly care service centers have achieved full coverage across the region, with home-based community elderly care service coverage reaching 98.2%. The convenient, efficient, and inclusive "15-minute elderly care service circle" has transformed from a beautiful vision into a living reality, bringing convenience to the vast majority of seniors.
Rural elderly care exudes pastoral warmth and neighborhood kindness. The Huacun Mutual-Aid Elderly Care Happy Home in Chayouqian Banner, Ulanqab City, paints a picture of livable and heartwarming rural elderly care. It operates a model of "centralized living, separate households, and neighborhood mutual aid," balancing privacy and mutual support. Each courtyard has a reserved vegetable plot, and living quarters are equipped with complete facilities like bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and storage rooms, fully meeting the daily living and independent needs of the elderly.
"I can cook my own meals or eat at the collective canteen. In my free time, I go to the activity room to chat, play chess, and relax. Neighbors help each other and live in harmony. My days are stable and comfortable," said 78-year-old low-income elderly woman Hao Sufen with a smile.
In 2026, Inner Mongolia will continue to deepen the quality improvement and upgrade of the elderly care service system, focusing on improving the county-, township-, and village-level three-tier elderly care service structure. By strengthening county-level comprehensive elderly care service management platforms, optimizing the functions of township (street) regional elderly care service centers, and filling the gaps in village (community) elderly care service station facilities, it will comprehensively promote a three-dimensional service model of "fixed stations + mobile services," achieving full coverage, nearby access, and precise adaptation of elderly care services.
Relying on the "one county, one network" development concept, Inner Mongolia has selected 20 counties (cities, districts) to focus on advancing the quality construction of the three-tier elderly care service network. Based on the population size and financial support capacity of each region, it implements a differentiated financial subsidy policy of 30% to 70%, precisely leveraging grassroots elderly care service resources, connecting the urban and rural elderly care service supply chain, and promoting the sinking of high-quality elderly care resources to the grassroots for the benefit of the people.
Sha Rina, Director of the Elderly Care Services Division of the Department of Civil Affairs, introduced that currently, all 103 counties (cities, districts) in the region have built at least one county-level special hardship elderly care institution focused on caring for disabled seniors. The coverage rate of regional elderly care service centers at the township level has reached 83.7%, and the coverage rate of village-level elderly care service stations and rural pastoral area mutual-aid elderly care happy homes has reached 58%. A county-, township-, and village-level three-tier elderly care service network with complete functions, clear levels, and broad coverage has been basically formed.
From convenient and inclusive daytime care in urban communities to warm and mutually supportive happy homes in rural and pastoral areas, an elderly care service network covering urban and rural areas, providing high-quality services, and warming people's hearts is continuously expanding and improving across the vast land of Inner Mongolia, steadily safeguarding the happy later years of the elderly from all ethnic groups.
Enriching Product Supply to Stimulate Silver Economy Consumption
On June 27, a service vehicle marked "Tongliao Civil Affairs Elderly Care Caravan" entered the Lutian Community in Mingren Street, Horqin District, providing professional home-based rehabilitation physiotherapy for bedridden elderly patient Liu Zhitao.
Liu Zhitao has long suffered from limb strain due to stroke-related sequelae. Previously, professional rehabilitation services were too expensive and placed a heavy burden on his family. Now, thanks to the consumption subsidy policy for disabled elderly care, the elderly man only needs to pay half the cost, with the remaining amount directly deductible through elderly care consumption vouchers. After two physiotherapy sessions, his physical pain symptoms have significantly eased, allowing him to benefit from the policy.
Addressing the realities of scattered residences for pastoral elderly, large service radii, and high costs of home-based care, Tongliao City has innovatively explored a mobile elderly care service model, creating a distinctive "Elderly Care Caravan" service brand and forging a new path for inclusive elderly care adapted to pastoral area characteristics.
Based on the diverse and quality-oriented needs of the elderly, Inner Mongolia continuously enriches the supply model of elderly care services, innovates service scenarios, releases policy dividends, actively stimulates the consumption vitality of the elderly care service market, and promotes the leap of elderly care services from "basic security" to "quality improvement." This builds a new development pattern for elderly care services led by the government, participated in by the market, and coordinated by multiple parties.
While innovating socialized home-based elderly care services, Inner Mongolia continues to improve the quality and efficiency of institutional elderly care services, steadily advancing the upgrade of public elderly care institutions, and continuously strengthening the professional care capacity for disabled and semi-disabled seniors. Currently, there are 619 elderly care institutions in the region with 76,000 beds, regularly providing professional and refined care services to 42,000 elderly individuals. The bed occupancy rate is 55%, up 5 percentage points from the end of 2025, indicating a continuously strengthening service capacity of institutional elderly care.
To empower quality elderly care and reduce the burden on elderly families, starting January 1 this year, Inner Mongolia fully implemented a consumption subsidy policy for elderly care services for seniors with moderate to severe disabilities. Relying on the national "Jinmin Project" platform and the "Minzheng Tong" mobile app, the entire process—from capability assessment, qualification certification, to electronic voucher issuance and redemption—has been streamlined. This builds a full-chain filing and full-process traceability service system for "application, service, and payment," significantly shortening processing times and improving administrative service efficiency, making it easier for the public to access services.
Simultaneously, the region is conducting a "Four Entries" campaign to publicize elderly care subsidy policies, enhancing policy awareness comprehensively and widely, and actively guiding eligible elderly groups and elderly care service market entities to participate voluntarily. As of June 23, 1,377 elderly care, housekeeping, and property management enterprises have been included in the subsidy service system. A total of 93.88 million yuan in subsidy funds has been redeemed, benefiting 240,000 elderly individuals and driving 270 million yuan in elderly care service consumption. The vitality of the elderly care service market continues to burst forth.
At the same time, the integration of medical and elderly care services is being deeply promoted, with diversified development models such as "elderly care institutions offering medical services," "medical institutions offering elderly care," and "medical-elderly care cooperation agreements" being widely implemented. This promotes resource connectivity, site co-construction, and service sharing between elderly care institutions and medical facilities. Currently, there are 210 integrated medical-elderly care institutions in the region, including 64 offering medical services within elderly care, 64 offering elderly care within medical settings, and 82 with signed cooperation agreements, comprehensively building a health and elderly care protection line for the elderly and achieving seamless connection between elderly care and health services.
Strengthening Talent Systems to Empower Heartwarming Elderly Care Services
Wang, an 82-year-old hemiplegic elderly man in Baotou City, booked professional home-based bathing services through a mini-program. Staff arrived with a full set of professional equipment, ensuring safety and comfort throughout the process. The meticulous and thoughtful service received high praise from the elderly man and his family. In 2026, Baotou City, based on local elderly care service needs, is creating dual benchmark cases for regional elderly care talent cultivation and smart elderly care construction, providing a high-quality template for building the elderly care service talent team in the region.
Talent is the solid foundation for high-quality development of elderly care services. The region adheres to a three-pronged approach, using talent cultivation as the foundation, digital empowerment as the starting point, and safety governance as the baseline. It continuously strengthens the professional elderly care service talent team, upgrades the smart elderly care service system, and solidifies the industry's safety development baseline, comprehensively driving the quality, efficiency, and upgrading of elderly care services.
Furthermore, the region continues to deeply cultivate the construction of the elderly care service talent team, regularly conducting re-evaluation and selection work for regional elderly care service talent training bases and caregiver training bases to consolidate talent cultivation positions. The regional government has held five specialized elderly care service training courses, focusing on cultivating professional elderly care nursing talents and key family caregivers for disabled and cognitively impaired seniors. A total of 6,610 people have been trained across the region, with the certification rate of nursing staff in elderly care institutions rising to 77.4%. Fifteen high-quality and professional elderly care service backbone personnel have been selected and included in the regional elderly care service teaching resource pool, building a clear-tier and professionally capable elderly care talent echelon.
The Department of Civil Affairs of Inner Mongolia has accurately built a talent supply-demand matching platform, successfully holding a special recruitment event for elderly care services under the themes "Nourishing Northern Xinjiang, Talents Escort" and "Beijing-Inner Mongolia Cooperation, Talents Lead." This matches the job needs of elderly care institutions with professional talent resources, addressing the issues of talent shortage and supply-demand imbalance in the elderly care industry. Additionally, in collaboration with financial departments, it has implemented a special incentive policy for elderly care nursing staff, fully disbursing one-time entry subsidies and vocational skill incentive subsidies to improve the salary, benefits, and professional belonging of elderly care practitioners, thereby stabilizing the elderly care service talent team.
From cities to rural and pastoral areas, from coordinated urban-rural development and empowering high-quality services to deeply cultivating the elderly care talent team, a multi-layered and heartwarming picture of happy elderly care is unfolding across the land of Inner Mongolia.