Dongan Rd. – Building a new world for senior citizens

Dongan Rd. is a small neighborhood located north of Changrong Rd. in Tainan. In the early days, it was here that many companies chose to base their factories, including the famous Yong-Shun Match Factory (永順火材工廠). The majority of Dongan residents have worked and lived all their lives in the neighborhood, stretching back forty or fifty years. Although the factory relocated after the development of an industrial zone, the majority of residents chose to remain living in Dongan Rd. In addition, due to a heavy outflow of young people from the area, old people now account for eighty to ninety percent of the population, one-third of which live alone.  

After personally witnessing the sudden death of three elderly people living alone, neighborhood chief Shi Jin-xian (施進賢) became determined to guard each and every one of the elderly residents in his neighborhood. This prompted the establishment of volunteer training camps for local residents, emphasizing care activities with the hope of improving the quality of life for elderly residents living alone. The camps created a model that took the initiative through making visits to the homes of these elderly people, encouraging them to get out of the house and for neighbors to begin taking mutual care of each other. The hope is to bring some color to the lives of senior citizens in the community and reduce the incidence of depression. The initiative has tightened the safety net for this vulnerable sector through bringing cohesion to the community, prompting residents to actively care for each other. This year Dongan Rd. was honored with first place in the TOP 100 Taiwan Community Building (台灣百大社區) list.

PeoPo 公民新聞

Dongan Rd. – Building a new world for senior citizens (by CJ smartnews)
http://www.peopo.org/news/102402

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東安里-打造銀髮族新天地 ( 南台資傳新聞網 )

東安里是位於台南市長榮路上的一個小社區，早期有許多工廠在這裡發跡，包含著名的「永順火材工廠」，在這裡的居民多數從昔日的年輕工人居住到現在，一住就是四、五十年，雖然後來因為工業區的開發，使得工廠外移，但多數居民依舊駐守在東安里；加上年輕人外流的情況下產生了許多獨居老人，目前社區裡高達八、九成的老人，光是獨居老人就占了三分之一。

(以下是中文對照)里長施進賢因為親身經歷三次獨居老人猝死於家裡的事件後，下定決心要守護社區的每一位老人，因此成立里民志工培訓營、據點關懷活動，希望改善獨居老人的生活品質，並以身作則主動到獨居老人的家做訪視，以關懷來鼓勵老人踏出家門，以老人牽著老人做號召，鄰與鄰相互關懷，希望能藉此使社區內的銀髮族活得精彩，期盼能降低銀髮族的苦悶，並提升里民間的活絡，社區凝聚力也因此強大不少，也使得更多里民主動互相關懷，並且熱情參與社區的營造，也因此東安里榮獲「台灣百大社區」營造的第一名。

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