Gwangju City Supports Emergency Safety and Security Service for Elderly Living Alone

Distribution of 6,000 Home Devices by Next Year... Continuous Health Monitoring

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 25th that it will provide 6,000 units of next-generation in-home equipment for emergency safety and security services based on information and communication technology (ICT) to single elderly households and severely disabled households by next year.

The emergency safety and security service installs next-generation in-home equipment incorporating the latest ICT technologies such as emergency call devices, fire detectors, activity sensors (heart rate and respiration), illumination, humidity, and temperature sensors, and tablet PC-based communication terminal devices (gateways) to monitor emergency situations in real time.

Through this, even if elderly people living alone or severely disabled individuals find it difficult to make emergency calls themselves, various sensors in the equipment monitor the in-home activities, heart rate, respiration, and sleep time of the service recipients 24 hours a day, and automatically connect to 119 rescue services in emergencies such as fire or falls.

It is also possible for the individual to press the emergency button to call 119.

In case of an emergency, an alarm is simultaneously sent to workers (emergency managers and life support workers) at the local emergency safety and security service performing agency (local center), and the workers can perform continuous monitoring of the care recipient’s health status via mobile phones.

Gwangju plans to distribute a total of 6,000 units, installing 2,600 units from next month until the end of the year and an additional 3,400 units next year.

Single elderly or severely disabled individuals wishing to receive the emergency safety and security service, or their guardians, can apply at the eup/myeon/dong community service centers, performing agencies (emergency safety and security service local centers or senior customized care service performing agencies), or disability activity support agencies.

Eligibility for application includes elderly people aged 65 or older who actually live alone and fall under one of the following categories: basic livelihood security recipients or near-poverty groups with dementia or high risk of dementia; those recognized by the head of local government (city, county, district) as requiring constant protection considering living conditions and health status; those among senior customized care service recipients who require constant safety confirmation; and disability activity support recipients who are single, vulnerable households, or disabled individuals requiring constant protection due to family members’ work or school life.

Gwangju expects that through this service, social welfare workers such as life support workers will be able to provide non-face-to-face care using digital technology without visiting homes amid the spread of COVID-19.

Park Hyang, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau of the city, said, “Through the distribution of next-generation in-home emergency safety and security service equipment, an environment where single elderly and severely disabled individuals can live safely at home will be created,” and added, “We will continue to cooperate with related organizations such as the Fire Agency and autonomous districts to strengthen emergency safety for vulnerable groups.”

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