Gwangyang City Focuses on Elderly Welfare Services to Ensure a Vibrant and Comfortable Old Age

Expansion of Senior Employment Opportunities and Strengthening of Customized Public Elderly Care Services

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] Gwangyang City announced on the 3rd that since the establishment of the Elderly and Disabled Division through organizational restructuring in July last year, it has been expanding various projects to firmly establish a welfare safety net for the elderly and disabled in the region.

This year, Gwangyang City's budget for elderly welfare stands at 77.2 billion KRW, accounting for about 32% of the city's total social welfare budget of 241.8 billion KRW.

The city plans to focus on key elderly welfare projects such as ▲expanding senior job opportunities ▲increasing basic pension support ▲opening and operating new elderly welfare centers within dementia-specialized nursing homes and silver housing ▲providing special allowances to workers at elderly nursing facilities ▲offering customized public elderly care services.

◇ Expanding Senior Job Opportunities for a Vibrant Old Age

This year, the city has secured a budget of 10.4 billion KRW to actively promote senior job and social activity support projects for 2,822 seniors across four institutions (Gwangyang City, Korea Senior Citizens Association, Gwangyang Senior Club, Jungma Senior Welfare Center).

This represents an increase of 299 participants and 1.4 billion KRW compared to last year. According to last year's satisfaction survey on senior job participation, 88% of participants were satisfied with the overall senior job projects, receiving positive feedback from the elderly.

Additionally, to provide tailored job opportunities for seniors, the city plans to carry out a total of 40 diverse projects, including seven new initiatives such as the Senior Financial Support Group, Elevator Information Construction Support Group, and Spatial Information Service Support Group.

◇ Ensuring Senior Income Security through Basic Pension Increase

The eligibility for the basic pension, which provides up to 300,000 KRW per month (for single-person households) to seniors aged 65 and over, has been expanded.

Last year, the pension was paid to the bottom 40% income bracket, but under the revised Basic Pension Act this year, seniors in the bottom 70% income bracket or below can receive the basic pension.

Moreover, the eligibility income thresholds have been raised to 1.69 million KRW for single-person households and 2.704 million KRW for couple households.

As a result, seniors who received up to 254,760 KRW for single-person households and 203,800 KRW for couple households last year under the bottom 40% income bracket can now receive 300,000 KRW and 240,000 KRW respectively this year.

The city has allocated 56.7 billion KRW for the basic pension budget and will actively promote to ensure that eligible applicants do not miss applying.

◇ Supporting Smart Leisure Activities by Installing Public WIFI in Senior Centers

To help the elderly, who are relatively vulnerable to information access, enjoy leisure activities using smartphones, the city has partnered with KT to pilot the installation and support of public Wi-Fi in 55 senior centers across the region starting from February.

The city will support an annual usage fee of approximately 360,000 KRW for each of the 55 senior centers with Wi-Fi installed, enabling seniors to use smartphones without worrying about communication costs while at the centers. Once COVID-19 subsides, KT's social contribution team will also provide informatization education on smartphone usage.

◇ City-led Opening of Dementia-specialized Elderly Nursing Home

To address the rapidly growing social issue of dementia patient care due to the rapid increase in the elderly population and nuclear families, the city plans to open the Marohyeon Elderly Nursing Home, a dementia-specialized nursing home, in March.

Following the dementia-specialized room at Gwangyang City Elderly Specialized Nursing Home, Marohyeon Elderly Nursing Home will be the second facility of its kind, with a capacity for 21 dementia-specialized beds and 14 general nursing beds, totaling 35. It is expected to alleviate the caregiving burden on families suffering from dementia and mobility difficulties of elderly members.

◇ Special Allowances for Improving Working Conditions of Elderly Nursing Facility Staff

Starting this year, the city will provide special allowances to improve the working conditions of staff at elderly nursing facilities.

The recipients are approximately 270 elderly nursing facility workers in Gwangyang City who work at elderly medical welfare facilities under the Elderly Welfare Act, receiving a special allowance of 50,000 KRW per month.

Since the implementation of long-term care insurance in July 2008, elderly nursing facilities have been operated through long-term care benefits. However, low wages at the minimum wage level have caused frequent turnover among workers and concerns about declining service quality, necessitating improvements in working conditions.

This special allowance is expected to improve the working conditions of elderly nursing facility staff, boost morale among workers who have been struggling during COVID-19, and contribute to enhancing the quality of care services.

◇ Strengthening Customized Public Elderly Care Services

In line with the shift from family and individual elderly care to public care, the city integrated six existing elderly care projects (basic elderly care, comprehensive elderly care, short-term housekeeping, resource linkage, making friends for solitary elderly, and self-support) into the 'Customized Elderly Care Service' last year. It also operated support projects such as emergency safety services for solitary elderly disabled persons, leading public elderly care services.

Last year, a total of about 2,800 seniors received direct and indirect care services, including 1,426 through customized elderly care services, 963 through emergency safety services for solitary elderly disabled persons, and 330 through welfare checks for seniors living alone.

This year, the city plans to provide customized programs and diverse services tailored to individual senior needs, establishing a seamless smart care system with 1,154 new ICT devices and care workers, while actively discovering and linking local resources.

The city plans to support a wide range of public and private resources by confirming seniors' safety and well-being anywhere through ICT, as well as face-to-face services such as home visits by care workers, and by discovering limited local resources.

◇ Enhancing Senior Leisure Satisfaction through Operation of Elderly Welfare Centers

Despite repeated openings and closures due to the COVID-19 impact since 2020, elderly welfare centers have continued preparing to welcome seniors through facility renovations and improvements.

Gwangyang Senior Welfare Center remodeled its third-floor glass greenhouse and started operating the Customized Elderly Care Center, providing counseling and application services to seniors using the center.

Jungma Senior Welfare Center remodeled 285㎡ of space including program rooms frequently used by users, corridors, and lounges into eco-friendly spaces through the Sharing Forest Creation Project, promoting immunity enhancement and emotional stability for seniors.

Notably, this year, an elderly welfare center will be operated on the 1st and 2nd floors of public silver housing in Chilseong-ri, Gwangyang-eup, resolving previous issues of limited space and unmet demands for program expansion at the original Gwangyang Senior Welfare Center.

The elderly welfare center within the public silver housing will add cultural and leisure spaces such as a fitness room, program rooms, senior dining hall, and book caf?, enabling more seniors to enjoy healthy and joyful leisure activities.

Ha Tae-woo, head of the Elderly and Disabled Division, said, "The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has likely increased the loneliness felt by seniors," adding, "We will do our best to promote elderly welfare projects so that all 20,000 seniors in Gwangyang City can spend a comfortable and vibrant old age."

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