Inclusion: The old, elderly women, and us
Updated on 2020-11-22: we were nominated for the Best Inclusivity prize.
Our project was developed to help the old and people of all ages should benefit. We used a previous unappreciated approach to facilitate education to the old and made different formats of materials. We test and confirmed our approach was effective. Throughout our project, all areas of experts were consult interviewed.
The old
For an extended period, the old, mostly female individuals of the older generation are a long-neglected social community whose health problems are ignored due to the lack of knowledge and traditional social roles. So, we emphasized the whole-life education of the old and paid attention to their feelings.
Not only does education helps the senior to gain a higher level of happiness, but also it helps stabilize the whole society. And thus, we developed a previously unexplored education approach that takes care of both the old’s emotional needs and physical health. We tried to inform the younger generation and to instruct them on educating their grandparents.
Figure 1. We instructed several high school students on informing their grandparents of the correct way to wash their hands.
Compared with traditional education strategies, our approach offers emotional support from the younger generation and is more comfortable for the old. In many Asian countries where the bond between grandparents and grandkids is incredibly tight, our approach is undoubtedly significant.
We also wrote a textbook for the young and explained how to impart the older generation knowledge. We hoped that we could make the world a better place for the unique, large, and essential social community through our hard work.
Figure 2. A screenshot of our textbook. We used underlined italics to instruct the readers on educating their grandparents.
Elderly women
Since post-menopausal women are more likely to suffer osteoporosis, we paid more attention to them. Chinese women favor traditional art crosstalk, so we combined interesting art with basic synthetic biology knowledge. When we went to the nursing house to visit the elderly, we performed it for them, and they all laughed and enjoyed our performance.
Another thing we did is to promote a traditional Chinese sport - Mu'lan'quan to them. Many older women liked the sport because it is both elegant and healthy.The movements of mu'lan'quan combine dancing and Kungfu and is preferred by many females. It is convenient to practice it-anybody can do it with a fan. We hoped that we could help the elderly women to strengthen their health and prevent osteoporosis.
Figure 3. We performed the crosstalk for the old.
Figure 4. One of our team member after Mu'lan'quan performance.
Us us us us us us
By collaborating with another charity club at Fudan University, we went to the nursing house and introduced osteoporosis and its symptom to these local elders. With simple and easy language, we taught them how to prevent osteoporosis during their daily lives and wish them good health. We hoped that we could listen to different communities' opinions to polish our project.
Figure 5. We collaborated with a charity club and popularized science related to their daily health for them. We also brought a concert for the old in the nursing house. The girl pointed out is our team member.
To polish our aging care program, we interviewed several doctors and professors to give us suggestions. One of them is Dr.Hong from Huadong Hospital. She informed us of the danger of osteoporosis and suggested that an effective and convenient scale is in need. Based on her experience, she advises that we could go to the nursing house and local hospitals in communities to popularize the symptom and sequence of osteoporosis. At last, she implied that currently, education for the patient of osteoporosis is far from enough and encourages us to focus on raising the old’s attention on osteoporosis.
Another women scientist we interviewed Professor Chen from the history major. She suggested that we paid attention to both women in cities and women in rural areas and the difference between daily diet in Eastern countries and Western countries. After our interview, we had a more in-depth insight into the importance of gender equality and full-scale aging care.
Figure 6. A screenshot of an E-mail replied by Professor Yan Chen.
We also interviewed two doctors in Zhongshan hospital. Weiyin Ren suggests that many old patients didn’t realize the severity of osteoporosis, and thus many didn’t reach for help in time, especially in rural areas where the old lack the source of information. He pointed out that currently, OSTA and FRAX (several scales used now) underestimate the fracture crisis in China and neglected several dangerous situations such as falling and special therapy that might raise the risk of osteoporosis. A scale for Chinese is still in need. Doctor Dongyin Qiu from Zhongshan hospital suggested that we pay attention to the income gap and difference information resources between rural areas and urban areas and set different methods to educate the old in different regions. He also reminded us that when we are popularizing science, we must pay attention to our expression and not be too absolute.
Your voice matters!
As a team paying attention to the emotional feeling and educationffor the old, we want to send a message to the whole world -- No matter who you are, your voice matters.
Signature: Yiyang