Jongno-gu Launches Full-Scale Effort to Prevent Solitary Deaths... Distribution of Notices and Welfare Checks for Vulnerable Groups

Checklist with 12 Items to Find Neighbors in Need... Contact Dong Resident Center if Two or More Apply... Changsin 2-dong Also Visits Middle-Aged Singles and Delivers Home-Grown Leafy Vegetables to Prevent Solitary Deaths

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) is producing and distributing a solitary death prevention leaflet titled "A World Living Together" starting this month.

This aims to raise neighbors' awareness of socially isolated and at-risk households enduring difficulties alone and to proactively identify residents in welfare blind spots.

The leaflet presents a 12-item checklist to find neighbors in need of help, including ▲accumulated flyers, promotional materials, or mail in the mailbox or in front of the house ▲dust on the front door, surrounding area, or doorknobs ▲not going outside and relying on delivery food or groceries for meals ▲many alcohol bottles visible in the trash, among others. If two or more items apply, contact the representative phone number of the local community service center listed at the bottom of the flyer.

The leaflet will be distributed starting this month to convenience stores and marts frequently used by residents, as well as lifestyle business facilities such as goshiwon (small lodging houses), motels, real estate agencies, and mainly multi-family landlords who can easily monitor changes in residents' lives.

It can also be found through social welfare institutions located in the district, such as Jongno Comprehensive Social Welfare Center and Jongno Community Center. For related inquiries, contact the nearest community service center or the Welfare Policy Division.

Additionally, local community service centers are continuously working at the community level to address the issue of solitary deaths.

For example, Changsin 2-dong has been conducting projects such as "Smart Hello, Welfare Block Leader Watching Over Neighbors!" and "Living Together, Sharing Ssam" based on resident participation to prevent solitary deaths.

The Welfare Block Leader project, ongoing since April this year, involves weekly visits to middle-aged and elderly individuals living alone who were not included in the existing welfare check system, aiming to prevent solitary deaths.

To help improve residents' dietary habits, the project also delivers leafy vegetables personally grown and harvested from the rooftop garden of the Village Autonomy Hall and checks on their well-being.

Fitting for a resident-led welfare community pilot district, a "Neighbor Watch Workshop for Solitary Death Prevention" was held on the 26th of last month, receiving positive responses.

An expert with extensive field experience gave a high-quality lecture based on real cases, providing an opportunity to deepen understanding of socially isolated households.

Changsin 2-dong plans to hold additional workshops in the second half of this year to share effective ideas and activity experiences for discovering at-risk households.

Moreover, starting with Sungin 2-dong, 17 neighborhoods in the district are implementing the Sodamtok (News-filled Talk) service using KakaoTalk to provide welfare information and counseling services. This service checks message receipt to contribute to preventing youth solitary deaths and aims to minimize monitoring gaps.

After obtaining prior service consent, individual chat rooms are opened to regularly provide customized welfare information and allow simple consultations with welfare planners, making it convenient.

Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, "Since small interest from those around can prevent solitary deaths, we intend to build a more thorough welfare safety net together with local residents," adding, "We will devote ourselves to discovering and supporting socially isolated households to create a Jongno-gu free of solitary deaths."

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