Given the nation's rapid demographic aging, the government will work with communities to implement policies to help elderly people pass the rest of their lives in familiar neighborhoods, Premier Mao Chi-kuo stated today while visiting the Ming Wah community at Dalin Township of Chiayi County.
Community development is an important facet of government administration, the premier said. The community is the most basic unit of a society and nation, and functions such as social welfare, medical health care, disaster relief and prevention, crime prevention and environmental protection must all begin and develop from the community.
The premier pointed out that Ming Wah—which has frequently won awards for ecological and environmental achievements—started out by focusing on reducing carbon emissions and conserving energy to engender a unique community lifestyle. Mao hopes that in the future, Ming Wah will go further to encourage youths to return to their hometown and get involved in the community's growth. He would also like to see it cultivate resident-operated specialty industries in order to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency and sustainable development.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that in recent years the government has been promoting the development and establishment of care stations where elderly people can be looked after and cared for within their own communities. It has also been promoting the "flagship project for welfare-based communities," with exemplary communities leading the way for others just like a "mother hen leading its chicks." As of the end of 2014, a total of 6,761 communities had provided welfare services 5.34 million times and other services 2.19 million times altogether.
Chiang Chih-hung, a board member of the Ming Wah community development association, stated that Ming Wah is a small traditional village community of 312 hectares and some 1,400 residents. Its development has chiefly focused on reducing carbon and conserving energy by providing free solar-energy charging stations, setting up rainwater and resources recycling stations, and using electric vehicles for transport. The community uses its wetlands ecological park to collect sewage from households through natural purification and cleaning processes.