Elderly-care stations introduce facial recognition

By getting their faces scanned, senior citizens in a downtown aging community can enjoy a wide range of services.

The Jing’ansi Subdistrict in Jing’an District, where more than 40 percent of residents are over 60, has set up seven elderly-care service stations. Every station has a facial recognition machine which allows seniors to have their faces scanned to enjoy services related to health care, mental support, entertainment and legal aid, among others areas.

According to subdistrict officials, elders usually forget to carry ID cards and other valid documents, and some don’t know how to use smart phones. Now, they don’t need to take anything with them.

After having their faces scanned, they can directly make appointments for house cleaning, meal delivery or foot care. And the fees are automatically calculated.

Besides, the subdistrict has set up a team of 26 elderly-care consultants. The consultants are professionals from local elderly-care facilities and volunteers from grassroots elderly-care groups in the subdistrict. They will tell senior citizens about the latest policies related to pensions, new information on elderly-care facilities and elderly-care services provided by neighborhoods.