To further the "Three Grasp and Three Promote" initiative, the Lanzhou Civil Affairs Bureau has anchored itself in its core responsibilities, targeting high-quality development of elderly care services. The bureau has focused on improving work conduct, enhancing capabilities, ensuring implementation, and optimizing services. It has pursued dual-track efforts of guaranteeing basic elderly care and expanding the elderly care industry, driving continuous improvements to the city's elderly care service system with practical results, and painting a happy picture of "care, joy, and security in old age" across the Golden City.

Policy Foundation: Weaving a Unified Network for Elderly Care Services

"In the past, finding a nearby place to eat or get a haircut was difficult. Now the street elderly care service center is right downstairs, making everything convenient!" exclaimed Grandpa Wang from Tiedongcun Street in Chengguan District. The tangible sense of gain experienced by elderly residents stems from the city's continuously strengthened and refined elderly care policy system. Policies only bring real happiness when they are implemented. Facing the pressure of an aging population, the city has adopted a clear approach of "government leadership, social participation, and market operation," incorporating elderly care services into the city's overall spatial planning and accelerating the construction of elderly care facilities. Policy documents such as the "Lanzhou City 14th Five-Year Plan for Elderly Care Service System Development" and the "Lanzhou City Elderly Care Service Regulations" have been introduced successively, weaving an increasingly dense elderly care service network. Since being selected as a national pilot city for home and community elderly care service reform in 2021, the city has invested nearly 200 million yuan to address shortcomings in elderly care facilities. Through a "reward instead of subsidy" approach linked to operational assessments, over 45 million yuan in subsidies have been distributed, greatly reducing the construction costs and operational pressure of private elderly care institutions. Today, the city has built 23 elderly care institutions and 65 township (street) comprehensive elderly care service centers, achieving full coverage of street-level comprehensive elderly care service centers, with a diversified elderly care service supply pattern gradually taking shape.

Service Enhancement: Happiness Canteens Serve Up "Taste of Joy"

At 7 AM, the "Beautiful Lanzhou · Happiness Canteen" on Xigucheng Street in Xigu District is already filled with tempting aromas. More than 10 elderly people are queuing in an orderly manner to pick up their meals, while AI-powered cooking robots busily prepare dishes and intelligent serving systems help seniors with nutritional combinations. The diverse menu allows elderly diners to eat with peace of mind, confidence, and comfort. Such scenes of "livelihood renewal" are a daily reflection of Lanzhou's efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of elderly care services. To effectively address the dining difficulties faced by elderly residents, Lanzhou has actively promoted community meal assistance services for seniors since 2024. Starting from supervising the implementation of tax and fee preferential policies, providing "reward instead of subsidy" incentives, and strengthening support across multiple types of resources, the city has expanded diversified elderly meal assistance service models, planned and built "Beautiful Lanzhou · Happiness Canteens," and explored diverse service models such as "elderly care institution + meal assistance," "property management + meal assistance," "central kitchen + meal assistance," and "social catering + meal assistance." To date, 144 Happiness Canteens have been built across the city. Meanwhile, Lanzhou actively promotes all-age canteen services. Beyond offering discounted meals for seniors, these canteens also open to all residents at affordable prices, further extending the reach of elderly care services. The city provides over 380,000 meal assistance services per month on average, and the "Beautiful Lanzhou · Happiness Canteen" brand continues to shine.

Insurance Safeguard: Firmly Supporting a "Peaceful Home"

Sustainable warmth is true warmth. Grandpa Zhu accidentally cut his finger while working and faced difficulty when he was taken to the hospital emergency room due to the 4,080 yuan treatment cost. During treatment, he learned about the elderly accidental injury insurance policy. After discharge, he submitted his ID card, household registration booklet, medical records, invoices, and other materials as required, and after communication, successfully received over 2,300 yuan in compensation. Since Lanzhou became the first in Gansu Province to establish an elderly accidental injury insurance system in 2017, this "insurance + elderly care" benefit policy has been running for 10 consecutive years, covering all registered elderly residents aged 60 and above in the city, with premiums uniformly funded by the government. During the insurance period, accidental death, disability, outpatient, and inpatient medical expenses can all be compensated by the underwriting company according to regulations. Over the years, this benefit insurance has continued to play a risk protection role, completing 21,462 claims with a total payout of 83.7465 million yuan, effectively helping elderly groups guard against accidental risks and reducing the burden of medical expenses. In addition, Lanzhou has carried out home-based age-friendly renovations for 3 consecutive years, investing 133 million yuan in renovation funds, leveraging nearly 300 million yuan in the elderly care consumption market, and giving 17,400 elderly households a "new look." Over 40,000 elderly care service consumption vouchers have been issued to moderately and severely disabled elderly individuals, with over 20 million yuan redeemed. These pragmatic measures firmly support elderly residents, allowing them to enjoy a happy old age.

Integration of Medical and Elderly Care: Unleashing New Vitality in the Silver Economy

In the afternoon, in the activity area on the second floor of the Wquan Railway Xicun Street Community Health Service Center in Chengguan District, Lanzhou, elderly people gather together, chatting or playing cards and chess. On the third floor in the traditional Chinese medicine treatment area, elderly residents in need enjoy acupuncture, massage, moxibustion, and other services provided by TCM therapists. The integration of medical and elderly care is becoming an important engine driving the high-quality development of Lanzhou's elderly care industry. In March 2024, Lanzhou issued the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of Community Medical-Elderly Care Integration Service Facilities in Lanzhou," specifying that 30 community health service centers (township health centers) across the city should establish medical-elderly care integration service centers by the end of December 2024. To date, all 30 community health service centers (township health centers) have established medical-elderly care integration service centers, focusing on the elderly population aged 60 and above who have long-term residence within their jurisdictions. They provide embedded comprehensive services including institutional care, rehabilitation nursing, health management, and community care for community and home-based elderly individuals, and offer comprehensive, continuous, and targeted medical-elderly care integration services for elderly individuals facing difficulties. Today, many elderly people can enjoy various medical-elderly care integration services at their doorsteps, meeting both basic health needs and daily life service needs, gradually resolving the "three difficulties" of nursing homes being unable to provide medical care, hospitals being unable to provide elderly care, and families being unable to provide nursing. At the same time, residential tourism elderly care has made "Yellow River charm" a distinctive feature of Lanzhou's elderly care. Leveraging the climate advantage of "no severe cold in winter, no extreme heat in summer," the cultural advantage of the intersection of Silk Road culture and Yellow River culture, and the geographical advantage of connecting east to west and linking the northwest, Lanzhou actively promotes residential tourism elderly care, integrates various tourism resources, supports elderly care institutions and enterprises in developing "tourism + elderly care" service models, and relies on the Gansu "Ruyi Health Care" residential tourism elderly care platform and the "Gansu Province Residential Tourism Elderly Care Map" to build the residential tourism elderly care service brand of "Charming Lanzhou, the Yellow River Shore is Also Beautiful," achieving mutual empowerment of "elderly care" and "cultural tourism." The Lanzhou Civil Affairs Bureau is advancing the "Three Grasp and Three Promote" initiative in depth, persisting in accumulating strength through learning, exerting effort in execution, and concentrating energy on efficiency. It writes the answer sheet of elderly care livelihood on the banks of the Yellow River, keeping the warmth of Happiness Canteens alive, making medical-elderly care services within reach, and bringing age-friendly renovations into thousands of households. On the shores of the Yellow River, it paints a beautiful picture of "care in old age," contributing to the high-quality development of the city's livelihood undertakings through the commitment of civil affairs work.