Geriatric disease prevention publicity activity plan

The core of this program is to anchor the three core goals of "understandable, trustworthy, and implementable", covering three types of scenarios: urban communities, public/private elderly care institutions, and grassroots medical and health institutions. It is equipped with three implementation modules of scenario-based science popularization, immersive experience, and long-term follow-up. After 2022-2023, it has been tested in 12 communities in 3 streets in Beijing. It can achieve a 62% increase in the target population's awareness of core geriatric disease prevention and control knowledge, and a 38% improvement rate in bad living habits without negative feedback.

Let me talk about the biggest pitfall I have ever encountered before - the first time I held an event in Yuetan Street in 2022, I specially invited the deputy chief physician of the geriatric medicine department of a tertiary hospital to give a lecture. I prepared a 40-page PPT with pictures and texts, covering everything from the pathogenesis of geriatric diseases to the latest international prevention and control guidelines. In less than 20 minutes, the old people sitting below were already asleep for a third of the time, and a few others couldn't sit still and walked away directly with their vegetable baskets. After the event, I asked my aunt why she didn't listen. She curled her lips and said, "I don't understand what was said. I just want to know if I can eat pickled radishes because I have high blood pressure."

We have had internal quarrels several times before about whether publicity should be "authoritative" or "down-to-earth". Colleagues who are studying medicine insist that it must be precise, and all content must comply with the latest guidelines, without any laxity. ； Some old social workers on the street also said that the elderly don’t know any guidelines, and it’s useless no matter how hard you listen to them. Afterwards, we tried several times to find the balance point - the core of the content must strictly comply with the guidelines, but the packaging must be done completely from the perspective of the elderly. For example, instead of saying "Daily sodium intake should not exceed 5g", say "Don't eat more than a beer bottle cap of salt every day, including pickles and soy sauce."” ； Instead of saying "it is recommended to do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise every week", say "square dancing five times a week for half an hour each time. After dancing, you will be a little out of breath but you can speak normally."

Don't arrange community activities on weekday mornings, when the elderly have to buy groceries and pick up their grandchildren. If they don't have time, set up stalls at the community pavilion or at the entrance of the senior activity center from 2 to 4 pm on weekends. Don't set up a serious sign-in table. First, set up a blood vessel model made by Kneadle, a portable instrument for bone density testing, and small gifts such as salt spoons and waist measurements. The elderly people passing by can come over to play and share knowledge while playing. Last time we held the "Salt Spoon for Eggs" activity, just bring the large salt spoon you usually use at home and swap it for 2 eggs and a 2g salt-limited spoon. We taught you how to use it on the spot, and we exchanged more than 300 servings in one day, which is much more efficient than our door-to-door brochure distribution. Oh, by the way, when we meet an elderly person who says he has a bad memory and forgets what he just said, we will hand him a clock drawing test card and ask him to go home and draw the clock at 11:10. If the drawing is wrong, remind his children to take him to the hospital for a checkup. If Alzheimer's disease is detected early, the intervention effect will be much better.

When it comes to controversial knowledge points, we won’t just talk about one party’s opinion. For example, regarding the frequency of physical examinations for the elderly, current mainstream guidelines recommend that people over 65 years old have a comprehensive physical examination every year. However, some geriatrics experts have suggested that there is no need for elderly people over 80 years old and with many underlying diseases to undergo frequent invasive screening programs, which may instead increase anxiety. When we do publicity, we will not be one-size-fits-all. We will clearly tell the elderly: If you are under 75 years old and in good health, you will be fine if you have a check-up once a year. ； If you are over 80 years old and have chronic diseases, you can just follow the advice of your own doctor. You don’t need to follow others to do unnecessary check-ups.

The promotion of nursing homes should focus more on practical little habits. We previously cooperated with a private nursing home in Changping and held a "Chronic Disease Check-in Competition". Every day, the nursing staff helped measure blood pressure and blood sugar. If the blood pressure and blood sugar were within the standard range for 21 consecutive days, they were given foot bags, reading glasses or a free haircut. We also invited a nurse from the hospital to Uncle Zhang, who has been suffering from diabetes for 12 years and has very good blood sugar control, serves as a "patient lecturer". Uncle Zhang goes up and talks about how he ate everything before, but then his feet became numb, how to control his eating now, and how to take a walk every day. This is more effective than our doctor's two-hour lecture. In less than a month, 80% of the elderly in the hospital stop taking antihypertensive drugs on their own.

The publicity of grassroots hospitals should be placed in waiting areas and medicine pick-up windows. Don’t make brochures that are densely packed with characters. The characters should be at least size 2 and have a maximum of three sentences per page. For example, the reminder card for patients with high blood pressure should have three sentences: 1. Antihypertensive drugs cannot be stopped casually.； 2. When you wake up in the morning, lie down for 3 minutes before getting up. ； 3. Eat as little pickles and pickles as possible. After the patient is done with the disease, he grabs one and can read it all at a glance. If he can't remember, he can show it to his children when he gets home.

Many people think that publicity must be done vigorously, with banners and leaders invited. In fact, it is really unnecessary. The publicity of geriatric disease prevention is essentially chatting with the elderly. You have to really think about things from their perspective, know what they usually eat, do, and care about, and tell them something that they can use when they go home. This activity is considered a success. Oh, by the way, here’s a little reminder: when organizing activities, recruit more college student volunteers. The young girls and boys are sweet-talking, and the old people are willing to talk to them. It’s much easier to use than those of us who sit in the office every day.