Japan Tags Dementia Sufferers with Barcodes

A Japanese city has introduced a novel way to keep track of senior citizens with dementia who are prone to getting lost — tagging their fingers and toes with scan-able barcodes.
A company in Iruma, north of Tokyo, developed tiny nail stickers, each of which carries a unique identity number to help concerned families find missing loved ones, according to the city’s social welfare office.

The adhesive QR-coded seals for nails — part of a free service launched this month and a first in Japan — measure just one centimetre (0.4 inches) in size.

“Being able to attach the seals on nails is a great advantage,” a city worker told AFP.

“There are already ID stickers for clothes or shoes but dementia patients are not always wearing those items.”

 

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