The Jing'an District Committee for Aging is trying to recruit administrators to provide information to more than 10,000 elderly people living in the area.
The administrators will be the city's first batch of professionals responsible for paying close attention to seniors whose children live elsewhere.
Each of them will take charge of one community, compiling a database of the elderly people who live there and helping ensure that they receive the services they need.
"They are not service providers. Instead, they are bridges, helping send all kinds of services to the aged," said Sun Pengbiao, vice director of the Shanghai Research Center on Aging. "Since most old people are slow information hunters, these administrators can serve as their eyes, ears and mouths."
He said they will also do regular assessments of services provided by volunteers, asking for necessary improvements to further better the lives of senior residents.
Preventing those who live alone from getting sick, lonely or even dying alone is another major responsibility.
Since last summer, more than 10 elderly people have died in the city without anyone realizing until much later, Sun said. No one realized one elderly man in Pudong had died until his body was discovered in his home a month later.
"It's an unavoidable problem that this group of people face fatal dangers all the time," he said.
He said the administrators should make regular calls to their senior customers and be able to handle emergencies.