Yongsan-gu, Care Support for Middle-aged and Elderly Aged 50 and Over

Introducing Four Major Services Including Temporary Home Care, Short-Term Facilities, Meal Support, and Information Counseling for Residents Aged 50 and Over or Persons with Disabilities

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis prolongs, so-called "care blind spots" are emerging everywhere, affecting the elderly, middle-aged, and disabled individuals.

Active response and attention from related organizations and facilities are required.

Yongsan-gu (District Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) will launch a pilot project for the "Care SOS Center" starting this month to resolve care blind spots.

The Care SOS Center serves as an integrated welfare and health service window, providing eight customized care services to residents aged 50 and above or disabled persons in the area, including temporary home care, short-term facility use, housing convenience, meal support, accompaniment support, health support, emotional check-ins, and information counseling.

As part of the pilot project, the district will first offer four major services: temporary home care, short-term facility use, meal support, and information counseling.

The temporary home care service involves visiting the recipient's home to provide assistance. The short-term facility service offers temporary admission to facilities, meal support delivers meals, and information counseling provides consultations related to care issues.

The service fees are as follows: temporary home care costs 37,780 KRW (based on 2 hours), short-term facility use costs 70,990 KRW (per day), meal support costs 7,800 KRW (per meal), and information counseling is free of charge.

Households with income below 85% of the median income can receive necessary services free of charge up to a limit of 1.56 million KRW per person. However, considering the COVID-19 situation, the district is temporarily providing the same free services to those with income below 100% of the median income.

Those exceeding 100% of the median income can also use the services on a self-pay basis if care is needed.

Applicants can apply through their local community service center. The district will visit the applicant's home, establish a customized care plan, and provide services suitable for the user. Self-pay users must prepay the service fees.

To ensure smooth project implementation, last month the district established a Care Support Task Force (TF) team within the Welfare Policy Division, assigning four public officials including the team leader (also the Welfare Planning Team Leader) and four contract workers.

The TF team's main tasks include building a public-private network for care service provision, identifying recipients, conducting field visits, linking services, monitoring, and satisfaction surveys.

On the 28th of last month, the district held a "Care SOS Center Service Provider Agreement Ceremony" in the district office's medium conference room (9th floor), pledging cooperation with 15 organizations including Yongsan Home Care Support Center, Yongsan Hyochang Daycare Center, and Huam-dong Local Enterprise Business Group.

The full-scale Care SOS Center project for all residents will begin on July 1st next year. Around that time, the district plans to reorganize, creating a Care Support Team within the Welfare Policy Division and transforming each community service center into an "integrated care service window."

Seong Jang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, stated, "Approximately 43% of all residents (100,000 people) are eligible for the Care SOS Center pilot project," adding, "When the full project starts next year, many more people will benefit."

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