Smart technology improves elder care

Beijing resident Wang Qianxiang, 84, decided to begin a new life with his wife in Qingdao, Shandong province, due to the coastal city's good air quality and comfortable environment.

Wang said their children need not worry, as they are living a smart lifestyle in a nursing home.

"The watch I'm wearing measures my heart rate and has a positioning function," he said. "If I feel uncomfortable, I can use it to make an emergency call and contact the medical center at my nursing home."

Zhang Yanqiong, head of Qingdao Zhongkang Support Nursing Home, where the couple now lives, said the watch is just one part of the smart elderly care system.

"The system is supported by an entire cloud platform on which we have integrated abundant resources, allowing remote medical consultation with doctors from top domestic hospitals," Zhang said.

If an emergency occurs, pressing a button on the watch calls the nursing home and family members simultaneously, and based on analysis of health data, the nursing home can make prognoses and offer advice in advance.

Dong Qikun, another resident of the nursing home, suffers from a serious cerebral disease. His children work outside Qingdao and are unable to look after him personally. Dong's room is equipped with infrared sensors, security cameras and a gas alarm, so his children can monitor his health condition at any time via internet.

Such smart technologies have been widely used in Qingdao to enhance healthcare, safety and convenience.

In the West Coast New Area alone, the local government has invested more than 1.6 million yuan ($230,400) to establish an information management system for elderly care, using apps, payment cards, security cameras and facial recognition facilities.

Nearly 1,000 local elderly people in need have been given wearable devices that offer online health consultations, smart monitoring and emergency call services.

Smart facilities and internet-based services are also available in many residential communities in Qingdao. The Shangliujiayuan community in Qingdao's eastern Licang district is one example.

A smart management platform was introduced in the community in 2015 to integrate administrative information release and security management. In 2018, the system added new functions such as garbage management.

To encourage trash sorting and recycling, automatic machines to distribute garbage bags have been installed in the community, allowing residents to acquire free bags by scanning QR codes so the system can trace each bag of garbage. When a garbage can is full, it sends a notification via the system to the property management workers.

The community-owned businesses have experienced fast growth since 2016, led by the development of the Qingdao International Academician Park in Licang district. The community has invested in the comprehensive service center for the industrial park and has built part of its infrastructure. The net income from the community's collective businesses is expected to reach 98 million yuan by the end of this year, up from 77 million yuan in 2018.

The Longquanhu new village in northeastern Qingdao's Laixi area is another example that uses technology-based solutions to improve residents' livelihoods.

Longquanhu was designed to take in people relocated from nine villages. An agricultural service center was established to offer services ranging from guidance on farming techniques and machinery operation to contract farming and harvesting, to allow former individual farmers to access modern agriculture.