‘Internet Plus’ Facilitates Senior Citizen Care

By Wang Fengjuan

‘Internet Plus’ Facilitates Senior Citizen Care

By Wang Fengjuan

On May 17, 2016, senior residents in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, interacted with a robot designed to take care of the elderly with functions like health indicator monitoring, video calling and remote medical care.

“This smart device means that my child doesn’t need to worry about me all the time,” said Mr. Han, 73. Mr. Han and his wife live in an apartment by themselves in Balizhuang in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. The device he uses is one of many innovations that have been applied to China’s senior citizen care system in the internet age. Among senior residents of three neighborhoods in Balizhuang, 90 percent have been given a wearable electronic device that monitors in real time their blood pressure, heartbeat, body temperature and other health indicators. The results are streamed in real time onto a data platform at the Balizhuang No.2 Healthcare Service Center.

Any abnormality will trigger an alarm at the platform, which then immediately locates the concerned person by GPS and dispatches paramedics. The elderly, whether at home or outside, will be reached as soon as possible and be given emergency aid.

Greater Ease and Convenience

At a government meeting on Oct. 11, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out the need to introduce reforms in areas of elderly care. He said that the elderly care sector of society concerns the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and also has huge growth potential. He urged

policymakers to lower the threshold for private capital to enter the industry, thus enabling the industry to better cater to the multi-leveled, diversified needs of senior citizens, and therefore provide them with improved services.

With aging populations now a concern for countries around the world, elderly care is no longer just a family issue. It has become an integral part of society as a whole. Thanks to the proliferation of the internet, some Chinese cities and communities are embracing innovative thinking and new technologies to provide better services to senior citizens.

Beijing’s Chaoyang District is working on a sensor network and an information platform that connects nursing homes with local communities. Senior citizens’ health is monitored through wearable tracking devices and smart medical apparatuses, offering them regular checkups and constant updates on their health. Through voice messages, text messages or phone calls, senior citizens can also access information on how to take a particular medication or even seek information ranging from weather forecasts, diet regimens and disease prevention.

Many empty nesters find it hard to run everyday errands due to poor health. To ease this burden, a group in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, is building an integrated senior citizen care network that pools together domestic help, property management, dining and logistics services. By calling the hotline 12349 or accessing the local government’s senior citizen care website, local senior citizens, who number more than 1.2 million in Nanjing, can find domestic help, health consultation and shopping agents. They can also make hospital reservations and pay utility bills.

Du Ping, chief of the Hongyi Home-Based Senior Citizen Care Service Center in Nanjing’s Qinhuai District, said that her staff charge a modest 25 yuan (US$3.70) per hour for such errands, but are not picky about money.

“In one case a staff member spent a whole morning at the hospital with a senior citizen, and collected only 50 yuan (US$7.40),” Du said. “This is because our first and foremost priority is to serve local senior citizens.”

Luoyang, a city in Henan Province, also runs a 12349 eldercare hotline and has recruited more than 500 providers of shopping agents, catering, entertainment and legal services. The goods purchased through it are 5-to-10 percent lower than the tag prices at supermarkets, and fees can be paid electronically by customers’ adult children living in other cities.

Care for the elderly is a huge industry encompassing domestic help, property management, dining and logistics. Such services can be integrated via “internet plus” and other relevant technologies to create an innovative model of care for the elderly, providing greater convenience to China’s growing population of senior citizens.

Humanitarian Warmth

Generally, Chinese senior citizens prefer home-based care over nursing facilities. However, most homes are not equipped with sufficient medical equipment, and most senior citizens do not get regular medical checkups. These factors keep them uninformed about their health. What’s more, today’s elderly population cannot always depend upon their adult children for care. Their children grapple with the hectic tempo of life and mounting work pressure, and often live far away from them.

For senior citizens, psychological care is just as important as physical care. “internet plus” technologies can do a lot in this regard, extending social engagement among senior citizens in addition to offering them convenient services. It therefore saves many empty nesters from feelings of loneliness.

“As the aging of the Chinese population accelerates, there are more and more empty nesters in this country who need to be taken care of,” said Miao Ruilan, deputy secretary-general of China Social Welfare Foundation.“I hope more elements of society will offer tangible help to them, solving the problems they face and showing them care and love.”

Wang Zhen is a tech entrepreneur in his 30s who in 2013 founded xf9.com, a website which offers home-based care services for senior citizens. Wang said that it is not just a business opportunity but a responsibility to care for senior citizens.

“The elderly are not a disadvantaged group,” Wang said. “Their bodies may be in decline, but not necessarily their mind and spirit. Their cultural and emotional demands deserve more attention from us. Senior care has great bearing on people’s livelihoods. It is our obligation to look after our elders.”

Li Xinxin, who works in Beijing but whose parents live in Jiangsu Province more than 1,000 kilometers away, said that being able to access internet-based care services has been a great help to her and her family.

“You accompany me through my younger years, and I accompany you through your later years. This is a common wish for us adult children, but a tall order for those who work full time,” Li said. “Home care services therefore give us great relief.”

As this system serves senior citizens, it must be developed with the needs of senior citizens in mind. Technologies have made much of our lives easier, but cannot be a substitute for humans in areas like face-to-face care. How to integrate technology into elderly care services while maintaining a human touch is an important question facing today’s policymakers and industry leaders.