Lanxuan Home, a new force in the elderly care market

By Eco Zhang Xiaomei Ji，Jointing.Media，in Beijing，2011-04-28

The path of a market pioneer is not a smooth one. Lanxuan House has chosen to try a new field and be a “pioneer” in the elderly care market. This choice is a growth experience for individuals and organisations, and a driving force for the development of the industry.

In 2010, Chen Yanqiong’s team participated in the Tencent Social Entrepreneurship Business Competition (SEBC) with the Lanxuan Care Plan and won the second prize. After the competition, they founded Beijing Lanxuan House Elderly Care Service Co., Ltd (Lanxuan House), which mainly focuses on elderly care, elderly personnel services and home care services.

Chen Yanqiong is one of the few people who have continued her project and stuck to it. She believes that there are many opportunities in the elderly care market, and that improving service quality and cultivating talent in the industry are the current problems facing the industry. Lanxuan Home hopes to improve the overall service quality of the industry by improving the professional status and treatment of caregivers.

Encounters with philanthropy

Chen Yanqiong came to Tsinghua University in 2008 to study for her MBA, but before that she had sponsored some students, but it was after she joined the Sunshine Charity Club of Tsinghua University that she focused on charity work. After the 5-12″ earthquake, she and her fellow members went to Mianzhu, Sichuan Province, to provide psychological counselling to senior high school students before their exams, and donated a library to Mianzhu Middle School. …… For her positive contribution to public welfare activities, Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management awarded her the title of ‘Pioneer of Public Welfare’ in 2011. At that time, she was very concerned about China’s elderly care market.

She was very concerned about China’s elderly care market at the time and often discussed it with her friends. During the Spring Festival in 2010, Chen Yanqiong and her classmates produced a DV film about the daily lives of the elderly and their caregivers in nursing homes, using the song “Beijing Welcomes You” as background music. They finished the film on the first day of the Chinese New Year and sent it to the nursing home as a special gift. On that day, the family members were very happy to see the daily life of their elderly relatives and caregivers reflected in the video. Chen Yanqiong said that seeing them so happy made her happy, even though it was hard work.

In the same year, Chen Yanqiong heard about SEBC and signed up for the first competition with like-minded people under the Lanxuan Care Programme. For Chen Yanqiong’s team members, participating in SEBC was not only a team exercise, but also a catalyst for the project to take shape. They seized the opportunity to participate in the competition to systematically organize the project. Talking about the benefits of participating in the competition, Chen Yanqiong recalls the joy of growth.

The elderly have a special temperament

It is often said that ‘there is no filial son before a sick bed’. Even when caring for a parent who is semi-nursing or has lost the ability to care for himself, it is difficult for a child to maintain patience for a long time, let alone care for someone else’s parent who needs more love, patience and responsibility.

People who care for the elderly have a special temperament. Chen Yanqiong said that their special temperament is not only reflected in their professional attitude, but also in their dedication and affection. Managers of elderly care organisations work long hours, which makes it difficult for them to be with their families. No matter how tired they are themselves, they have to keep a smile on their faces and a neat appearance in order to serve each elderly person with a full spirit.

It is very hard work to look after the elderly. Chen Yanqiong feels this very deeply. 2010 Spring Festival, Chen Yanqiong has been working as a volunteer at Qianhe Residential Home for the Elderly for more than half a year. During the Spring Festival, there is a “shortage of nannies”. The director wakes up at six o’clock every day to look after the elderly who cannot look after themselves.

According to the data, China’s ageing trend will intensify in the next ten years, and the pressure on young people to support their parents will increase. Although the elderly market is huge, it is still in the cultivation stage and needs to integrate resources from all sides. Chen Yanqiong believes that only with strong support from the government and private investment from the community can the elderly care sector provide diversified and high-quality services.

Making elderly care a respected profession

Grassroots caregivers and nannies in the elderly care sector belong to the vulnerable group. They belong to the ‘three lows’: low professional status, low treatment and low skills. Only by improving the professional status of caregivers and creating favourable working conditions and treatment for caregivers can we attract more high-quality talents, including young people, to work in the elderly care industry. Chen Yanqiong believes that if the hardware (working environment) and software (system and culture) are good, staff will naturally want to stay. In her words, ‘this is the engine for the development of the elderly care industry’.

For the elderly to receive better services, it is necessary to improve the quality and status of caregivers. Everyone grows old slowly, and “we should take care of our own elderly as well as those of others”. Elderly care workers are doing their filial duty to their children, and this is a profession that deserves the respect of society as a whole. Chen Yanqiong believes that as the population ages, not only will “respecting and loving the elderly” become a trend, but the culture of respecting and caring for caregivers will also gradually take shape. It is an inevitable trend that the value of human capital will be upgraded with social and economic development, and the treatment of elderly caregivers will also be gradually upgraded.

For more than a year, Lanxuan House has gone from providing human resources services (recruiting, training and dispatching personnel) for nursing institutions to exploring the establishment of a long-term training base. On the basis of human resources training, Lanxuan Home provides professional nursing services and home services for suitable groups; it combines modern technological means with traditional nursing care and seeks breakthroughs in the content and management of nursing services; it trains nursing staff and improves the quality of services so that the elderly can receive better services. This is the social value of Lanxuan Home.

At present, Lanxuan Home is establishing a wide range of cooperation with the elderly service vocational school, nursing school, health school, etc., cooperating with the relatively poor area, establishing the personnel transfer channel, paying attention to humanistic care, improving the treatment of staff in the process, and building the Lanxuan brand with great care. Only the staff who feel comfortable working here will stay, slowly forming a stable service team. Chen Yanqiong said.

Social enterprise is also a way to meet social needs

Chen Yanqiong understands the concept of “social enterprise” as “achieving the goal of social value through the idea and method of business operation”. In her view, there are different levels and types of needs among the elderly. Diversified needs should be met by marketable products and services. As an entrepreneurial company, Lanxuan Home has innovative advantages in business model and team.

At present, LanXuanHome has summed up a series of business model after continuous adjustment: expanding middle and high-end customers, providing cost-effective services, and continuously cultivating and reserving talents. Although LanXuanHome has not yet reached the balance of income and expenses, Chen Yanqiong is still firmly optimistic about this direction. She said optimistically, “Everything is from small to big. The retirement industry is a sunrise industry. The business model of any sunrise industry must be constantly explored, repeatedly changed in practice, and timely adjusted to the market.

She believes that entrepreneurship requires a strong will and attitude. When faced with difficulties at work, it is not difficult to get encouragement from colleagues and friends. When people face difficulties, they have to keep going. If you give up, you will only fail. If you do not give up, you will have the possibility of success, you will have more opportunities.

The path of a market pioneer cannot be smooth. Lanxuan Home chose to try a new field, chose to be the “pioneer” of the retirement market. This kind of choice is a growth experience for individuals and organisations, and it is also a driving force for the development of the industry.

Translated by DeepL

Edited by Jas