On December 8 and 9, ADvancing States hosted a delegation of nine professionals from Chengdu City, the capital of Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China. The delegation was interested in viewing successful models for senior care in the U.S., especially Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), in order to glean ideas for China’s quickly-developing commercial housing market for older adults. The nine delegates included leaders of investment companies, senior living communities, and architecture firms; senior living facility architects; investors; a government official; and a home care/adult day health division manager.
Delegates visited several residences for older adults in the Washington, DC area including Riderwood, a CCRC in Silver Spring, MD; the Green House Residences at Stadium Place, in Baltimore, MD; and Asbury Methodist Village, a CCRC in Gaithersburg, MD. After their visit to the DC area, the delegates attended the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Aging, where they were hosted by Director John K Holton, Ph. D, Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) and ADvancing States member. The delegation was joined in Chicago by Ms. Feng Xiaoli, Vice President and Secretary General of China Association of Social Welfare in Chicago. Ms. Feng co-presented with ADvancing States staff member, Mike Hall, in the opening conference session, and shared China's key aging issues and proposed solutions.
Delegates included Ms. Ming Liu, Ms. Chun Li, Ms. Yutong Liu, Mr. Wei Xu, Mr. Yangchun Li, Mr. Bangguo Cao, Mr. Tao Zhong, Mr. Jinan Cheng, Mr. Zhigang Zuo. Each of these professionals, and their coordinator, Lily Chen, are present in the photo.
Also pictured toward the center of the photo are ADvancing States members and staff:
Gloria Lawlah, Secretary of Maryland Department of Aging, and ADvancing States Board President
James Bulot, Director of Georgia Division for Aging Services, and ADvancing States’s Board Treasurer
Lance Robertson, Director of the Oklahoma Aging Services Division and immediate past board president;
Sara Tribe, ADvancing States staff
