Accompanying you to the end

Living in Tainan’s Nanhua Disrtict, Miss Li has worked as a homecare worker for the last four and a half years. With rich experience in caring for elderly people, she visits Yujing and Nanhua several times a day. Two of Miss Li’s clients are 80-year-old Mr and Mrs Zeng, whose family members work in the city and are unable to regularly take care of the elderly couple. Mrs Zeng’s poor mobility means she is unable to single-handedly look after her husband who suffers from dementia, and she relies greatly on Miss Li’s regular mountain visits. 

Working from morning until night, with a schedule that includes washing, cooking, rehabilitation, cleaning and dispensing medicine, Miss Li only takes one day vacation per week. Miss Li treats her elderly patients just like her own parents, and never complains that the work is too exhausting. However, Miss Li and other homecare workers in the outlying districts have faced staff shortages for over 10 years, and elderly people in need of care are on the increase. Ensuring that ‘the elderly are provided for until their death’ is a pressing issue that Taiwanese society must pay attention to.  

Accompanying you to the end

URL:http://www.peopo.org/news/252277

(以下為中文對照)

陪你到最後

照片

家住台南南化的李大姊從事居家照顧服務已經有四年半，經驗非常豐富，她一天多次來回玉井與南化，照顧高齡長者。例如80多歲的鄭爺爺與鄭奶奶，他們的家人平時在城市工作，無法長時間照顧兩位老人家，行動不便的鄭奶奶無法獨力照顧失智的鄭爺爺，就必須仰賴李大姊上山探視。

李大姊每周只休假一天，其他日子每天都必須從早工作到晚，工作內容包括擦澡、煮飯、復建、打掃、餵藥等，她把老人家當成自己的父母親在照顧，並不覺得辛苦。像李大姊一樣的偏鄉居家服務員，十多年來一直處於人員短缺的狀態，而需要照顧的老人家卻逐年增加。如何達到「老有所終」已是台灣社會必須重視的的一項迫切課題。