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Digital Old Age Home in Japan
The Jan. 7-Feb. 1 issue of Dime, the ``trend magazine for business people,”reports high-tech advances have been incorporated into the nation's first digital old age home. Matsushita Electric has opened, and totally self-financed, a facility for the aged in Osaka's Neyagawa City that is a showplace for the company's latest digital technology. Sanseru Korien is a private care facility and a major pillar of the company's new health and health care sector projects, but all that high tech gadgetry does not come cheap. It costs 18 million yen to enter the home, which opened on Dec. 15 last year, plus monthly fees starting at 250,000 yen. The digital nursing home concept is designed to help lighten the load of nurses and helpers while carefully monitoring the health of residents who are given a personal call button to carry with them which allows them to communicate simultaneously with the nursing and office staff. Sensors under the beds allow caretakers to be immediately informed if the patient should fall out of bed during the night or go missing. All rooms have a computer terminal and Internet access so residents can enjoy quick e-mail communication with family and friends. High-tech sit-down showers and digital health monitoring machines that allow communication with doctors also have been installed. The company is considering selling the technology or opening more such facilities in future. The main issue for Matsushita, says Dime, will be how to educate and provide technical support to the old folks so they can learn to live comfortably with their computers and digital equipment.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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