Geriatric disease prevention publicity activities

The core of a preventive publicity campaign that can truly implement and effectively reduce the risk of geriatric diseases has never been to complete the KPI of "holding events and covering the number of people", but to completely break away from the solidified logic of "the elderly will listen to whatever the professional side outputs", anchor the pain points of the real life scenarios of the elderly, take into account evidence-based medical standards and the acceptance of the elderly, and reject one-size-fits-all prevention programs. Only in this way can professional knowledge be truly transformed into the daily actions of the elderly.

There was a quarrel in the early stages of preparation for the event we held in Xicheng Garden Community last month. The content of what the Public Health Department said must be rigorous, all data must be sourced from guidelines, and nothing is wrong. ； The old social worker in the community poured cold water on him: You told the old man that his daily sodium intake should not exceed 2,000 milligrams, but he couldn’t even figure out what sodium was. After you told him last time, some people still asked him if he was not allowed to eat natto?

Don't tell me, both sides are right. In the end, we simply cut off the planned two-hour intensive lecture and split the event into four convenience stalls in a small square. There was no podium and no microphone to tell everyone to be quiet. Old people who passed by after shopping for groceries could come over and ask a few words.

One of them is assigned to two general practitioners from the community health service center. The computer can directly access the follow-up files of the elderly in the community over the years, and they will not use clichés. When he met Aunt Zhang, who had high blood pressure, the doctor smiled and asked directly: "The last time I measured your blood pressure, it was 150. Have you been secretly eating dried radishes pickled by your old man recently?" From now on, I will eat that food at most once a week, and one chopstick is enough each time. If I really want to eat something salty, add some mushrooms and dried shrimps to make it fresher, which is better than adding salt. ”After hearing this, Aunt Zhang was so happy that she slapped her thigh and said that she would use the doctor's words as a "sword of wisdom" to take care of her wife who loves pickles at home.

Oh, by the way, the current prevention standards for geriatric diseases have different academic tendencies: one school advocates unified standards for all age groups, and blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids should be as close as possible to the normal values ​​​​for young adults, which can reduce long-term cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks.； The other group advocates "adjustment for aging". For example, for elderly people over 80 years old with severe osteoporosis or sarcopenia, it is enough to control the systolic blood pressure at 140-150 mmHg. There is no need to increase the dosage to reduce it to 120, which may easily lead to orthostatic hypotension and falls. We did not avoid this controversy at the scene. When we met Lao Zhao, who had just retired at the age of 60 and could still run half marathons, we suggested that he strictly control his stress. ； When I met Grandpa Li, who was 92 years old and had to use crutches to walk, I told him that as long as his blood pressure was stable between 140 and 150, there was no need to panic and there was no need to constantly think about changing medicines and increasing dosage.

There is also a stall dedicated to "popular science". We have collected in advance a dozen problematic health products that elderly people in the community usually buy: energy stone necklaces that are said to be able to dissolve blood clots, probiotic powder that can cure diabetes, and magnetic therapy pants that can cure waist protrusions when worn, and give them to everyone one by one. When someone breaks it down, they don’t just label it as a “liar” and hold up the necklace to everyone: “You have a plastic block inside, not even a magnet. I’ll sell it to you for 299. Use this money to buy two boxes of pure milk and drink one box a day. It can prevent osteoporosis better than anything else.” ”That day, there was also an uncle Wang who took the initiative to bring over the anti-hypertensive tea he just bought for us to see. The herbalist looked through the ingredients and said that it contains chrysanthemum, lotus leaf, and hawthorn. It is okay to drink it to relieve heat, but it definitely cannot replace anti-hypertensive drugs. Did you forget that your blood pressure soared to 180 last time when you stopped taking the medicine? Uncle Wang rubbed his head and laughed, saying that he would never dare to stop taking prescription medicine casually again.

We have encountered many pitfalls before. Last year, we printed hundreds of color brochures for publicity, with many small words and pictures. Later, when we were cleaning them up, we found that most of them had been used by old people to cover the tables. Either the words were too small to see clearly, or they were illiterate and couldn't read. This year we simply did not print many manuals and produced a batch of single pages with large fonts, each of which talked about a knowledge point: "Don't rush to climb if you fall, pat your arms and legs first to see if it hurts." "Don't stop taking antihypertensive medicine casually. If you feel dizzy after taking it, ask a doctor for advice." We also recorded the audio and stored it in the community public account. Children can forward it to the elderly. If they don't know how to use smart phones, they can say a few words casually when the community building leader comes to chat.

Oh, yes, prizes are also very important. Don’t do anything fancy that requires you to scan the QR code to follow and answer the questions with perfect scores. Most old people can’t play with smartphones. We prepared dishwashing liquid, eggs, and extra-large reading glasses, which you can collect when you come. Those who are willing to stay an extra ten minutes to ask questions will be given two eggs. It is more effective than any other incentive. We originally expected 200 people to come that day, but nearly 400 came. Many elderly people from surrounding communities came for a walk after hearing that they had free blood pressure measurements and received eggs.

In fact, after doing so many geriatric disease prevention publicity campaigns, my biggest feeling is that you should not regard the elderly as "targets of education", you have to treat them as ordinary people like you. What they are afraid of is never the arrow on the test report. They are afraid of getting sick and being hospitalized, spending money and dragging down their children. They are afraid of body pain and being unable to walk downstairs to play chess with their old friend. If you link the prevention knowledge points to these real concerns, they will naturally be willing to listen and do it without having to make any big claims.