The indispensable hidden nursing aides

Shi Qiu-feng (施秋鳳), a nursing aide at Shoufeng Nursing Home for more that a decade, was awarded with a certificate of merit by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last year. Shi Qiu-feng started learning from scratch 10 years ago, moving step by step along the long road to becoming a professional care giver. Now a certified experienced nursing aide, Shi Qiu-feng happily shares her rich experience with new staff, providing them with essential guidance. Managers and colleagues alike see Shi Qiu-feng as a pillar of strength in the nursing home.

With a serious problem of population outflow and a higher percentage of elderly residents, the eastern part of Taiwan faces a serious shortage of long-term care labor. People who pursue a career in caring are mainly middle-aged in the 45-55 year-old bracket, and people of 40 years or under account for only about 10%. To make matters worse, when current carers are forced to leave the profession due to old age, there will be nobody to fill the ensuing vacuum, a situation that deserves our attention. The job of nursing aides is extremely tough, and they can be said to be the bedrock of our future long-term care system. Though such jobs do not attract a lot of manpower investment at this stage, at some point Taiwan must face the looming problem of aging. Perhaps the best solution to this ever-growing problem is promoting healthy aging that can reduce the burden on care resources.

The indispensable hidden nursing aides

URL：https://www.peopo.org/news/301967

(以下是中文對照)

隱身的照顧者，不能沒有你，一個也不能少

照片

已在花蓮壽豐護理之家擔任照顧服務員超過十年的施秋鳳，去年獲得衛福部績優照顧服務員的肯定。十多年來，施秋鳳從零開始學習，一步步走在照顧服務專業的路上。已經是資深人員照的秋鳳，很多新進人員都會經過他的指導，秋鳳也很樂於分享經驗，她可說是主管與同事的工作夥伴與精神支柱。

花東地區的人口外移嚴重，老人密度較大，照護人力長久處於短缺的狀態，尤其是40歲以下的照服員只占了10%左右，主要都集中在45-55歲的中壯年之間，而當這些照護主力老去之後，馬上就會形成人力的空洞與斷層，這是值得我們注意的。照服員的工作是非常辛苦的，但是他們可說是未來撐起長照體系的基礎橋樑，也許在現階段還無法吸引大量人力的投入，但年老將是台灣社會共同面對的問題，如何健康的老化，減輕照護資源的負擔，或許才是最好的解決方法。