Songpa-gu Dolbom SOS Center Provides 265 Services in 1 Month... High Resident Response

Anyone Aged 50 and Over Needing Care Due to Injury or Discharge Can Use... 265 Care Services Provided in One Month Since Implementation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] # Kim OO (60, female), who lives in Garak-dong, recently received great help through the ‘Songpa-gu Care SOS Center.’ She had surgery at a large hospital after fracturing both hips, but as a middle-aged single-person household with no family to care for her, she felt lost about daily life after discharge. Then, she found the ‘Songpa-gu Care SOS Center’ on the internet and, with a half-doubtful heart wondering, “Can I really get help too?” she reached out. On the day of her discharge, a professional caregiver from a home welfare center partnered with Songpa-gu visited the hospital to assist with her discharge, and now the caregiver visits her home three times a week to provide hospital accompaniment and housekeeping support.

Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) announced that the ‘Care SOS Center,’ which began operations on August 3, has received great responses by providing 265 care services to 122 residents within one month of service implementation.

The ‘Care SOS Center’ is a project that quickly provides care services to those who had difficulty receiving care under the existing welfare system. It offers services regardless of income not only to the elderly, disabled, and low-income groups but also to middle-aged households (50 years and older) in need of care. It supports temporary home care, meal support, and other services in connection with specialized service providers.

The district provides rapid services within an average of three days after application through the ‘Songpa-gu Care SOS Center,’ striving to ensure that residents who urgently need care do not miss critical periods. The average completion time from care manager visits to service linkage is within three days, receiving positive responses from residents who unexpectedly require care due to injury or discharge or who must wait months for long-term care service assessments.

It also plays an important role in filling gaps in welfare blind spots amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. For residents who have difficulty accessing free lunch services previously provided by welfare centers, senior centers, and religious organizations, it helps prevent meal shortages through lunchbox delivery services.

Additionally, for residents experiencing care gaps due to delays in applying for and reviewing existing care systems, temporary home care services are immediately linked to support housekeeping and nursing care.

Currently, the Care SOS Center service fully supports costs for low-income (beneficiaries, near-poverty) and those below 85% of the median income. Furthermore, due to COVID-19, the support target has been temporarily expanded to those below 100% of the median income through the ‘Seoul-type Emergency Welfare.’ Other residents can also use the service with self-payment.

Kim Min-kyung, Head of the Care Support Team at Songpa District Office, is visiting families who applied for care and providing free lunchbox support.

The district reported that unlike existing care systems focused on vulnerable groups, the significant relaxation of user conditions, such as for middle-aged households, is showing high satisfaction among residents.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, “The Care SOS Center plays an important role in addressing welfare gaps caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and blind spots in existing care services,” adding, “We will do our best to ensure that the Care SOS Center is well established in Songpa-gu, carefully attending to residents’ daily difficulties so that Songpa becomes a good place to live where no one is left out.”

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