Devices to help the elderly go on display
A woman tries out a mobility device at the exhibition.
A man interacts with a robot designed for elderly people with cognitive disorders.
Intelligent and innovative technologies, solutions and services of benefit to the elderly are featured at an exhibition that opened at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in the Pudong New Area on Wednesday.
The three-day International Exhibition of Senior Care, Rehabilitation Medicine and Healthcare, Shanghai 2020, also known as China Aid, has around 300 exhibitors from 12 countries and regions displaying their advanced products and services.
Covering 30,000 square meters, the exhibition features products and services in senior care, rehabilitation and health management.
For the first time, the exhibition, hosted by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai, includes display areas for epidemic prevention and control products and devices for rent.
Air disinfection equipment, quarantine solutions for senior homes, disinfection robots, and cleaning and disinfection solutions for specialized wards are featured in the pandemic control area.
Devices that can help elderly, disabled or sick people are available to rent in a trial in 70 subdistricts and towns across the city.
On the rental list are 45 types of device, including orthopedic equipment, nursing beds, walking aids, wheelchairs, oxygen generators and limb rehabilitation equipment.
Nursing beds for use in people's homes are available to rent.
A visitor tries out a rehabilitation device.
Visitors can try out the devices on show at the rehabilitative and assistive devices' industry pavilion during the exhibition and apply to rent them.
"There is a huge demand for such devices in China," said Sun Xiaohong, director of the disabled welfare department of Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
"There is a short supply of senior care beds in Shanghai and many seniors tend to stay at their homes rather than senior homes, calling on rehabilitation assistive devices," she said.
"The industry has huge potential amid an aging society," Sun said.
"As seniors' body functions decline, rehabilitation assistive devices can help with their self-care and relieve the pressure on nursing staff," she said.
Monitoring equipment to provide 24-hour care for senior citizens, and health big data and wireless positioning systems preventing the elderly from getting lost are also among the products on display.
Nursing beds for rent are on display.
A number of senior-friendly furniture renovation projects are also on display.
An artificial limb orthopedic rehabilitation device can relieve arthritis pain and improve patients' quality of life, while a hand function rehabilitation robot weighing just 380 grams provides finger motion training for people with hand function problems.
An intelligent monitoring and protection system can collect information on heart beat, breathing and movement, and send data to terminals to hospitals and senior homes and to remote nursing staff, organizers said.
A watch will send an alert if an elderly person haven’t moved for an unusually long time, and they can seek help with a simple click as the system can recognize where they are and alert nursing staff.
Another system provides tailored senior care services for the elderly at home based on their behavior via intelligent computing and big data analysis.
It can analyze and learn the behavior of users after three weeks of data collection.
If abnormal behavior is detected, it can inform friends and family.
Height adjustable kitchen tables and intelligent mattresses are also on display.
Shanghai's population of senior citizens grew 2.9 percent in 2019 from a year earlier, accounting for more than 35 percent of permanent residents.
It had 5.18 million residents aged 60 or over by the end of 2019, or 35.2 percent of its permanent residents.
