HEALTH AND WELFARE DATA ON OPTICAL MEMORY CARDS IN ISEHARA CITY

An off-line network system of health and welfare for elderly people us ing optical memory cards has been established in Isehara city (Japan) since 1991. 2775 citizens have the cards and 24 offices have the termi nals. It covers almost one third of people aged over 65 in Isehara cit y and almost all of the offices concerned with their health and welfar e. About a half of holders use optical memory cards every time they vi sit these offices. The optical memory card holds data including basic data for health and welfare, health check data over 5 years, medical i mages with scripts and history of welfare services. All the data are u seful for medical care, health consultation and management of health a nd welfare services. A card can hold health and welfare data for a lif etime, and it is easy to expand the system. It has been a good experie nce for us, because the optical memory card system needs co-operation among citizens, medical association and local government, and the expe rience will help us to expand the system in the future.