<기사제목>Forest Service Expands 'Forest Healing' Support for COVID-19 Response Personnel

Personnel who participated in the "Forest Healing Support Project for COVID-19 Response Personnel at the National Yangpyeong Healing Forest last year" are experiencing the forest healing program under the guidance of officials. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service will expand support for ‘forest healing’ services for COVID-19 response personnel this year.

The Korea Forest Service, together with the Korea Forest Welfare Institute, plans to repay the sacrifice and dedication of frontline response personnel through the ‘Forest Healing Support Project for COVID-19 Response Personnel.’

This project is implemented to provide COVID-19 medical staff with opportunities to rest in the forest and relieve psychological stress and physical fatigue.

The Korea Forest Service has been conducting this project jointly with related organizations such as the Korea Forest Welfare Institute and the Ministry of Health and Welfare since 2020.

Over the past two years, 4,493 COVID-19 response personnel have participated in the project (2,469 in 2020 and 2,024 last year). Among the response personnel who participated last year, an emotional stability effect analysis of 686 individuals showed an improvement of 9 points or more.

The effect analysis scores the emotional stability levels before and after participating in forest healing. Participants’ emotional stability scores increased from 65.3 before participation to 74.6 after participation.

In particular, last year the Korea Forest Service also supported forest healing activities for 9,869 students who could not attend school due to COVID-19. As a result, 165 of the participating students showed a 34-point improvement after forest healing activities.

Based on these effects, the Korea Forest Service requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to encourage active participation of response personnel in forest healing this year and is considering including caregivers at nursing hospitals and nursing facilities as support targets.

Lee Hyun-joo, Director of the Forest Education and Healing Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, “We hope that medical staff and other response personnel working hard on the COVID-19 frontline will have opportunities to heal, rest, and recharge in the forest for the health and daily recovery of the public.” She added, “Even those who are not response personnel but are suffering from COVID-19 difficulties are recommended to visit the ‘Healing Forest’ to soothe their mind and body.”

Park Seok-hee, Head of the Korea Forest Welfare Institute, said, “We will strive to provide forest healing programs to response personnel and students affected by school closures who are experiencing difficulties in daily life due to COVID-19, contributing to the recovery of mental and physical health.” He added, “This year, we will work to expand the support targets so that forest healing benefits can reach more people.”

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