Geochang-gun Health Clinic Takes Initiative to Directly Operate Dementia Prevention Program

Preliminary Survey of 860 Program Participants in 58 Villages Starting from the 11th

Geochang-gun Health Clinic Exterior (Photo by Geochang-gun)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam announced on the 6th that it will operate dementia prevention programs directly at all 18 health clinics for the first time nationwide in 2021.

The county is investing a total of 180 million KRW to operate dementia prevention programs directly at the Geochang-gun Dementia Safety Center and health clinics working on the front lines in remote areas with low accessibility, to promote systematic and more proactive projects for dementia prevention.

After a meeting with the Dementia Safety Center and the heads of the 18 health clinics involved in the project, the project direction was set to select specific participating villages based on criteria such as ▲ villages with high dementia prevalence ▲ villages where continuous program participation is possible ▲ villages meeting program operation conditions. An average of 3 villages per clinic, totaling 58 villages and 860 participants, were selected.

The program operation includes various dementia prevention activities such as art therapy and counseling, dementia prevention physical activities, recreation, and customized brain health education.

Before the full-scale project begins, a preliminary survey will be conducted from the 11th to the 22nd over two weeks for program participants, including introduction of the program schedule and content, health consultations, cognitive screening tests, shortened geriatric depression scale tests, and subjective memory decline questionnaires.

Gu In-mo, the mayor of Geochang-gun, stated, “This special policy was implemented as we have always been concerned about dementia, the disease most feared by the elderly population. We hope it will be a turning point for transforming the county into a place where the elderly can live safely and comfortably without worrying about dementia.”

Meanwhile, the county plans to strictly adhere to quarantine rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by conducting one-on-one preliminary surveys, and as this is the first project of its kind nationwide, it will do its best in program operation.

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