English 
正體中文 
In response to the growing care needs of an aging society, the School of Nursing at Yuan Ze University recently partnered with Bade No. 1 Social Housing to promote a community care initiative. The program was led by Village Chief Yi-Cheng Lu, with the village office coordinating administrative support and supplies.
The effort connected the professional care team “Ji-Hong Care House” with faculty and students from the School of Nursing, who jointly entered the community to implement a needs-oriented model of senior health support.
This initiative demonstrated the critical role of grassroots governance in social housing communities. By introducing health services into familiar and trusted living environments, the program effectively increased older residents’ participation and practical benefits. On-site, faculty and students from the School of Nursing conducted basic physiological and functional assessments and applied multiple evidence-based evaluation tools commonly used in geriatric care, establishing a comprehensive and in-depth health assessment framework.
In the areas of nutrition and physical function, the team used the MNA nutritional assessment questionnaire, ICOPE functional assessment for older adults, and bladder symptom surveys. For mental health and well-being, they applied the BSRS-5 mental health scale, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the WHOQOL quality of life scale, enabling a holistic understanding of participants’ physical, psychological, and life conditions. Yuan Ze University stated that the key objective of the initiative was not only to conduct health assessments, but also to transform structured data into an important basis for follow-up governance and resource allocation, avoiding uniform resource distribution and improving the precision and effectiveness of local senior support.
Second-year nursing student Hsuan-Tzu Yang shared that after personally entering the community and interacting with older adults, she realized she was not merely “running an event,” but truly stepping into their daily lives. Through measuring blood pressure, calf circumference, grip strength, and conducting interviews and questionnaires, she observed that many seniors living alone faced multiple challenges, including chronic illness, malnutrition, and social isolation. She said the experience helped her understand that nursing involved not only treatment, but also listening and companionship.
First-year nursing student Cheng-Han Lee noted that the community initiative allowed him to witness how elder care had shifted from one-way service delivery to a needs-oriented support model. Through systematic assessment tools, health data became more than records and could be translated into a practical foundation for follow-up care and resource allocation, demonstrating the integration of academic expertise and local governance in practice.
Village Chief Yi-Cheng Lu stated that combining university expertise with local resources not only provided tangible care to older residents but also enabled social housing to function as a living environment that proactively responded to residents’ needs. He said this collaborative model helped strengthen community self-care and mutual support capacity and provided a replicable, practical model for introducing health support services into social housing.
Yuan Ze University emphasized that it would continue to collaborate with local governance systems, social housing communities, and interdisciplinary professional partners to develop evidence-based and needs-oriented senior support models. Through the integration of education, research, and community practice, the university aimed to help build more resilient and inclusive age-friendly communities and to demonstrate the active role of universities in public governance.
