Communities for seniors playing their part

Zhang Yu, who manages the home, said three vans are being used to enable caregivers to get to work－instead of having to take public transportation－to minimize the risk of infection.

Many communities for the elderly said that due to the outbreak they have not been able to organize outings, shopping trips and visits to museums as usual, but are moving various activities online to keep community life enjoyable.

One community in Tieshan Temple Forest Park, Jiangsu province, said it is offering online classes, including those on health science, singing, calligraphy and board games.

Hua Yan, assistant to the general manager at Nanjing Jinling Group Holdings, the main investor in the project, which is home to about 600 seniors, said, "In the singing class, several seniors jointly wrote a song to encourage people in Wuhan and those sent to the city from across the country to provide support."

Starcastle said each online activity, including a sign language class, karaoke competition and calligraphy-writing contest attracted dozens of seniors.

In February, a Starcastle community in Shanghai also organized an online auction, where some 20 pieces of art, handicraft and calligraphy donated by the seniors were bought by netizens. The auction raised 91,800 yuan ($13,200) to buy medical supplies for Wuhan.

An 80-year-old former doctor, surnamed Zhu, donated a work of calligraphy for the auction. "I am thankful that I could make a tiny contribution to support the medical teams dispatched from around the country to support the epicenter (in China). Those doctors and nurses are extraordinary heroes," she said.

Dong Yan, chairman and CEO of Fosun Integrated Care Group, said: "Seniors have been adapting well to the internet. The elderly-care industry has to embrace this new trend."

Wang Xiaohui, the Starcastle vice-president, said seniors living at its facilities are being encouraged to dine at canteens, instead of having meals delivered to their rooms.

"We have extended the dining hours, rearranged the canteens and limited the number of people who can eat at the same time, to ensure the seniors keep a safe distance from each other," she said.

Starcastle has also organized movies, and some sports－including jogging and table tennis－for seniors at its communities, which have had no infections.

It has also summarized its experience of curbing the spread of the virus and sent related documents to the four largest elderly-care community chains in the United States, in return for the knowledge they offered on building such care facilities in China eight years ago.