Research On Day-care Facilities For The Elderly In Germany

Since 1980s,Germany has been an aging society.Currently,it is one of the most aging countries in the world.Taking its capital,Berlin,for example,the population aged 65 and over accounts 19.6%of the whole country,being in the deep aging state.It has established a rather comprehensive pension service system by multiple dimensions,including operation management,planning and layout,facility construction and detail processing.Especially in the facilit y construction for elderly day time nursing,Germany has the more advanced experience than the others.The author visited 99 day-care facilities for the elderly in Berlin and studied by questionnaires,interviews,data analysis and other research methods.Then,the following study results are summarized:Service orientation:The system of German day-care facilities is the supplement to pension institution and the support for home-based care.The facilities are mostly used for the elderly with mild disability or dementia of nursing level 2 or above;the facilities use chain operation mode l in the operation process;the charges of the facilities are mainly for the mid-range standard,that is,between 70-80 euros,so that with the subsidy of nursing insurance allowance,the economic pressure on the use of facilities for the elderly is alleviated;the types of services provided by the facilities are diverse,among these,catering,entertainment,and transportation are almost m andatory services for all facilities.Site selection:From the macro view of the city,the German day care facilities have achieved full coverage of the city,owing to the expansion radius of the shuttle service.From the medium perspective of the administrative division,the layout of the facilities is positively correlated with the number of elderly people in the area.From the micro level of the local area,the facilities are closely relevant to the residential area,and are often built together with oth er aged services such as elderly apartments and long-term care facilities.Building Condition:The German day-care facilities are mostly built by reconstruction and expansion.The facilities are mostly based on residential buildings.In terms of the scale,the area is about 300m~2,and the number of the service seats is about 20.Meanwhile,bed is not the core of the facility construction.On average,there are only 1.61 beds in each facility,deck chairs are the more common choice for facilities instead.Space Design:As for the space,the facilities are mostly large spaces with restaurants and activity rooms,and the space is transparent and flexible.On the basis of meeting the barrier-free demand,the facility realizes the sense of f amily through space layout,furniture selection and decoration arrangement.