Shanghai trials "Time Bank" to promote voluntary care for seniors

Some healthy retirees in Shanghai can now volunteer to spend time caring for the elderly, and in exchange they can ask for help when they need it in the future.

Elderly residents in Shanghai. [File Photo: VCG]

Dubbed the "Time Bank," the initiative being trailed in Shanghai is the city's latest effort to better look after its considerable number of elderly residents.

Volunteers receive requests for help through WeChat. This help includes tasks like accompanying a cancer patient to the hospital for a chemotherapy appointment. The volunteer then makes arrangements to complete the request.

The time they spend volunteering is recorded, and those hours can be exchanged for services that they need later in life.

The project aims to attract more volunteers to provide elderly care services.