Yeongdeungpo-gu, Full Launch of Care SOS Center in 2021

On the 8th, the Dong-level Care SOS Center Plaque Ceremony Held at Singil 6-dong Community Service Center... Pilot Project Started in July 2020, Expanded to Dong Level This Year... Implementing Resident-Customized Welfare Services... Resolving Care Gaps with One-Stop Service by Care Managers

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) held a plaque ceremony for the Care SOS Center at the Singil 6-dong Community Service Center on the 8th, marking the official start of public care in Yeongdeungpo for the new year.

In response to the increased demand for care due to the recent spread of COVID-19 and to eliminate blind spots in community care, the district launched the 'Care SOS Center' last July, with the Welfare Policy Division as the integrated support center, starting a pilot project.

From this year, the center has been expanded to each neighborhood community service center, establishing Care SOS Centers at the dong (neighborhood) level to provide customized care services for residents.

After the plaque ceremony, Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chae Hyun-il visited households with disabilities, a vulnerable care group, to check on their well-being and promised to strive to support a warmer and safer Yeongdeungpo-style care service in the new year.

The existing care services had limitations due to user selection criteria focused mainly on low-income groups and fragmented service provision, resulting in somewhat inadequate care response systems.

The district’s Care SOS Center expanded the target groups for care service support to ▲elderly (65 years and older) ▲persons with disabilities (all ages) ▲middle-aged (50 years and older).

Additionally, by providing a one-stop care plan service through care managers, the center improved access to welfare services for the target groups.

Notably, while the previously operated welfare service ‘Visiting Neighborhood Community Center’ focused on discovering and protecting target individuals, the Care SOS Center concentrates on resolving the care needs of the recipients.

The Care SOS Center goes beyond cash and in-kind support and universal visiting nursing services by aiming for the prompt resolution of urgent daily inconveniences, thereby realizing demand-tailored welfare.

Specifically, the dedicated personnel ‘care managers’ assigned to the Care SOS Center play a central role by directly providing care services such as protection, housekeeping, and nursing support to the recipients or connecting them with cooperating service organizations.

As a result, amid the recent normalization of non-face-to-face services, more proactive and effective responses to emerging care gaps and increased care demands have become possible.

For example, a 70-year-old single elderly resident of Singil-dong, Park ○○, who collapsed due to diabetic complications, applied for the elderly long-term care grade but faced difficulties due to the more than one-month wait for the grade assessment, resulting in a lack of care during that period.

However, a care manager dispatched from the Care SOS Center conducted a field survey, identified the elderly person’s needs, established a care plan, and provided temporary home care services by supporting visits from care workers during the gap before the grade assessment, thus resolving the care gap.

The district plans to provide care services that directly respond to social changes caused by population aging and changes in family structure through the Care SOS Center, helping residents continue to live healthy and stable lives without leaving their long-term homes.

Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chae Hyun-il stated, “By expanding the Care SOS Center to the dong level, we aim to establish a resident-centered customized welfare service system that responds to social changes caused by COVID-19,” adding, “Through the Care SOS Center, we will realize social care under public responsibility and create a hopeful Yeongdeungpo with reliable care.”

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