A Reliable Support for Residents in Need of Care... Jongno-gu Operates Care SOS Center

Free service use up to 1.56 million KRW per year per person for elderly, seniors, disabled, and middle-aged residents aged 50+ who are beneficiaries, near-poverty, or with median income below 85% (temporarily 100%)

Jongno-gu provides meal support (care lunchbox) services through the Care SOS Center project.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (District Mayor Kim Young-jong) is promoting the 'Care SOS Center' project, which provides customized services by visiting residents directly starting this August, in response to the increased demand for care in the COVID-19 era and to eliminate care blind spots within the local community.

The target group includes elderly, seniors, disabled persons, and middle-aged residents aged 50 and above who require care.

The selection criteria include cases where individuals have difficulty moving alone or performing independent daily activities, absence of family members who can provide care or inability of family to provide care, or exclusion from public care services.

Through the Care SOS Center, Jongno-gu provides six customized care services: ▲temporary home care ▲short-term facility care ▲meal support ▲information counseling ▲accompaniment support ▲housing convenience.

'Temporary home care' involves service providers such as the Social Service Comprehensive Home Care Center and long-term care institutions visiting users' homes to provide direct care services.

'Short-term facility care' offers admission to long-term care institutions or short-term facilities for a certain period, while 'meal support' delivers lunch boxes and side dishes to ensure basic dietary stability. 'Information counseling' provides consultation on residents' care-related issues and supports customized information related to these concerns.

'Accompaniment support' assists with essential outings, and 'housing convenience' offers simple facility repairs, cleaning, and COVID-19 disinfection services.

Recipients of benefits, low-income households, and residents with middle-income at or below 85% (temporarily up to 100%) can use the services free of charge up to 1.56 million KRW per person annually, while other residents can use the services with personal payment.

To identify care recipients and connect related services, Jongno-gu conducted a full survey of about 5,800 legally low-income households over four weeks from the 16th of last month to the 18th of this month.

Through this, it was found that most care recipients suffer from hoarding or unsanitary issues, leading to the expansion of the existing four care services to include 'housing support' and 'accompaniment support.'

In 2021, Jongno-gu will also implement additional specialized care projects to carefully support residents in need of care. First, it will promote 'health customized meal support' for vulnerable groups, providing tailored diets such as liquid diets and hospital meals according to the health status of recipients, along with welfare check-in services.

The 'visiting laundry support service' is also noteworthy. In cooperation with the Jongno Regional Self-Support Center's self-support team, it will provide bedding laundry and laundry agency services to actively help recipients enjoy a cleaner living environment.

District Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “As aging and changes in family structure increase care demands while family care functions weaken, we will promptly respond to residents' care needs through Jongno-gu’s solid specialized care projects and create a Jongno without welfare blind spots.”

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