Yongsan-gu's 'Our Neighborhood Care Team' Shines in Preventing Solitary Deaths, Gaining Attention

[Seoul District News] Yongsan-gu Single-Person Households Surge, Welfare Blind Spots Increase Due to Strengthened COVID-19 Social Distancing & Neighbors Directly Care for Welfare Blind Spots with 'Our Neighborhood Care Team' of 45 Members (2-6 per Dong, Excluding Ichon 1-dong), Essential Management of High-Risk Solitary Death Groups... Dobong-gu Promotes 'On-Foot Welfare Blind Spot Discovery' for a Net-Like Welfare Without Blind Spots

A community care volunteer is making a welfare call to a care recipient in our neighborhood.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] #. Mr. Park, an elderly man living with his son, spends most days alone as they rarely see each other. Suffering from high blood pressure, cerebral infarction, and diabetes, he is almost unable to go outside. In June last year, after his spouse passed away, he also experienced depression and even attempted suicide. Due to distrust of others, he avoided visits and even phone calls. Nevertheless, Ms. Kim Mina (a pseudonym, Itaewon 1-dong), who is active in the Our Neighborhood Care Team, did not give up. She continuously contacted Mr. Park, forming an emotional bond and responding appropriately in crisis situations.

This is the achievement of Yongsan-gu (District Mayor Park Hee-young)'s 'Our Neighborhood Care Team' (hereafter 'Undoldan').

With the rapid increase of single-person households and prolonged social distancing due to COVID-19, the number of residents exposed to threats such as solitary death is also rising. In response, the district formed Undoldan last April with the purpose of neighbors directly caring for those in welfare blind spots.

Undoldan consists of 45 residents aged 40 to 67 who are either existing team members or have prior experience in local volunteering and are well acquainted with the area. They regularly check on households at risk of welfare blind spots and, when necessary, request linkage to social welfare services such as emergency welfare and Care SOS.

Each neighborhood has 2 to 6 members (except for Ichon 1-dong).

Monthly regular meetings are held under the neighborhood's supervision to report activities and share cases. Up to July, they visited 1,485 households and conducted phone consultations with 15,813 households, completing 597 public and 243 private service linkages.

A district official stated, “Undoldan leverages the familiarity of neighbors to more precisely understand the situations of households at risk in welfare blind spots and relay this information to the district.” He added, “This year, the care system for those at risk of solitary death has been strengthened, and the number of active members has significantly increased from 15 last year to 45.”

Although the welfare system was reinforced after the 2014 Songpa three-generation family incident, welfare blind spots still exist. The recent Suwon three-generation family incident last month heightened awareness of these blind spots. Most welfare services require applications, so if the individuals are unaware of the information, it is difficult to receive benefits. Therefore, timely identification and appropriate support for at-risk households are crucial.

Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “We are making multifaceted efforts to discover welfare blind spots, but there are limits to what the public sector alone can achieve.” He added, “We will further strengthen the public-private cooperation system to ensure no resident is left isolated.”

At the Dobong Women's Center in Dobong-gu during the Gender Equality Week event, a representative from the Care SOS Center is explaining emergency care and related services to local residents.

Dobong-gu (District Mayor Oh Eon-seok) Care SOS Center is an emergency care desk installed at each neighborhood community center to support those in care blind spots. When a household is judged to be in a care crisis, customized integrated care services (▲household chores and nursing support ▲short-term facility admission support ▲meal delivery ▲hospital accompaniment ▲major cleaning ▲installation of safety bars, etc.) are provided immediately (within the same day to two days).

All recent socially significant death cases were unfortunate examples caused by care gaps. Dobong-gu Care SOS Center has established a 'Field-Based Blind Spot Discovery Promotion Plan' and plans to conduct a full survey of vulnerable households starting in September.

The full survey will be conducted using neighborhood community center human resources who meet residents closely, including ▲welfare planners ▲community leaders ▲Our Neighborhood Care Team ▲neighborhood social security councils ▲honorary social welfare officers. They will conduct door-to-door inquiries to identify vulnerable households and immediately connect those found to support services, operating as a 'Care Blind Spot Happiness Magnifier.'

An agreement between neighborhoods, the district, and local medical institutions to establish a 'Discharge (Outpatient) Patient Emergency Care Linkage System' will also be signed in September. If medical institutions determine that discharged (or outpatient) patients require emergency care, they will connect them to the district office and neighborhood community centers to provide customized services, with all parties sharing care service outcomes.

Since many in need of emergency care are patients with illnesses, disabilities, or elderly individuals who are difficult to identify through general publicity, direct promotion will be conducted by visiting a total of 256 locations, including 19 related agencies, 106 medical institutions, and 131 senior centers, to actively request cooperation in discovery.

Oh Eon-seok, Mayor of Dobong-gu, said, “We will reach out first to prevent anyone in blind spots from giving up on life or dying alone. Through a field-based full survey of vulnerable households, we will proactively discover care crisis households and practice active administration to create a ‘Dobong-gu that walks with the vulnerable.’”

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