Gwangju City Expands 'Mobile Safety Care Service' to 5 Districts

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 9th that it will provide an ICT-based ‘Mobile Safety Care Service’ in five autonomous districts to prevent solitary deaths and social isolation among the increasing number of single-person households.

The ‘Mobile Safety Care Service’ targets high-risk single-person households such as basic livelihood security recipients, middle-aged and older single-person households, and elderly living alone aged 65 or older. It automatically monitors incoming and outgoing call records of wired and wireless phones, and if there are no communication records for a specific period (1 to 3 days), it confirms the safety of the household through home visits.

Since July last year, including Seo-gu and Buk-gu where the service was already in operation, a total of about 7,400 applicants will be recruited this year and registered as service recipients.

To this end, from this month, computer systems will be established in Dong-gu, Nam-gu, and Gwangsan-gu over two months, and for two months starting next month, service recipients will be intensively recruited through the Dong Administrative Welfare Centers. The service is scheduled to be fully launched from September. Seo-gu and Buk-gu plan to expand the number of recipients starting next month.

When applicants register for the service at each Dong Administrative Welfare Center, the system receives call information and phone ON/OFF status from mobile carriers. It checks if there are no call records for a certain period or if the phone has been off for a long time, then sends an automatic safety check call. If there is no response to the automatic safety call, the system notifies the Dong Administrative Welfare Center staff that a safety check is needed.

The Dong Administrative Welfare Center immediately confirms the safety of the notified individuals through phone contact or home visits and takes necessary measures.

The ‘Mobile Safety Care Service’ can frequently check on recipients without installing separate equipment by using wired and wireless phones, allowing for early detection and prevention of crisis situations such as solitary deaths without causing discomfort to the recipients.

Ryu Mi-su, Director of the Social Welfare Division of the city, said, “The Mobile Safety Care Service, by integrating ICT technology, can efficiently monitor vulnerable groups such as high-risk single-person households, playing an innovative role in resolving welfare blind spots. In particular, it will focus on managing high-risk groups who refuse regular visits, such as middle-aged single-person households and reclusive individuals, and is expected to create synergy by linking with the existing human safety network crisis household detection team.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.