New technology helps with old age problem
Print Edition
GROWING old brings its challenges, including the memory not being quite what it was. To help with this, some communities are offering elderly people QR — Quick Response — codes containing useful information in case they get lost and can’t remember where they live.
This week, Dingxiang Community in Hefei City, Anhui Province, issued QR code badges to eight elderly people who volunteered for a pilot project. If successful, the scheme is set to be expanded to cover 1,400 over-60s in the community.
The words “Please scan this and help me back home” are printed on the badge, which is the size of a postage stamp.
Scanning the matrix barcode with a smartphone, a Good Samaritan can learn the elderly person’s name and family contact information, plus details on the community office.
“I’ll wear it every time I go out,” said 84-year-old Qiao Zonglian.
“A big concern for us old people is that we may just wander off,” she added.
Due to health problems, an elderly person may become lost or suffer a sudden health episode when away from home, said Ling Rui, a community worker. “In these situations, it’s very important for strangers who come to their aid to immediately identify the person.”
Concerns over people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia were in the spotlight recently when Li Xihui, an academic, got lost on his way home in Beijing three weeks ago. He was found five days later dozens of kilometers from his home.
More than 1,000 people from Beijing Normal University, where Li works, searched for the 57-year-old law professor, who possibly suffers from a mild case of Alzheimer’s, according to his family. Over 20,000 posters and numerous messages on social networking websites and apps were also distributed.
China’s rapidly aging population includes more than 6 million Alzheimer’s patients, but only 15 percent receive treatment.
Zhang Qiyuan, a worker of Dingxiang Community who designed the QR code badge, said the device is easy to use since “almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays.”
The China Internet Network Information Center said the number of mobile Internet users in the country totaled 527 million by the end of June.
Dianyuan Community in Changsha City, Hunan Province, launched a similar pilot QR code program last month.
Ye Yunxia, 75, said she wished the QR codes had been available earlier as one night not long ago her husband wandered off. Their children searched for him all night and found him the next morning.
“My husband was wet from the rain and had a fever. He’s still recovering. I believe the code could be really useful to the elderly,” Ye said.
In June, a property management company in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, also started to offer QR codes to older residents in 10 communities in case they get lost.
Official figures show China had 194 million people aged above 60, or nearly 15 percent of its population, at the end of 2012. The number is expected to hit 243 million in 2020.
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