Sharjah 24: Following the success of the first experiment, which included equipping a small number of smart rooms, Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD) is launching new smart rooms for senior citizens residing in SSSD Elderly Care Home, transforming all 22 group and individual rooms into smart rooms.

Mariam Al Qatari, Director of the Elderly Care Home, says that our goal is to provide an attractive environment for senior citizens, in all social, health, recreational and other initiatives that provide physical and psychological comfort for the elderly, as well as harnessing technology to serve senior citizens.

Mariam Al Qatari added that the smart room provides 6 services, including turning on and off the air conditioning, turning on and off the lighting, opening and closing the curtains, opening and closing the door, turning on and off the TV, in addition to keeping the air conditioning open during sleep or relaxation.  Services are provided by using a tablet device (iPad) and pressing the specific buttons shown in the pictures. 

Al Qatari confirmed that the elderly did not face difficulty in using technology because most of them have iPads for other services.

Al Qatari explained that the Elderly Home began more than a year ago to work on turning some of its services and programmes into smart programmes and services, especially during the Corona pandemic, where   regular meetings with friends and relatives were replaced by remote meetings, and the smart “Jaber” service was launched through the application, which enables communicating with the elderly using voice and image through a large screen. 

Jaber service capacity is 4-5 calls at the same time, during which each of them uses headphones. It also provides a sports programme with a coach for an hour for the elderly, as well as an hour for the employees.