Gwanak-gu Implements Welfare Checks and Staff Training to Prevent Solitary Deaths

Check-in Service, Meal Kit Support, and Winter Preparation Social Isolation Household Survey... Social Isolation and Solitary Death Prevention Training for All Employees on the 17th

Winter Welfare Team Activities

“Elderly sir, are you okay?”

Kim, an official at Gwanak-gu Office, rushed to check on a welfare recipient elderly living alone after failing to reach them by phone.

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) is making every effort to prevent solitary deaths to ensure that no one is left out of care during the sudden cold weather.

According to the analysis results of the ‘Gwanak Life Love TF Team’ formed by the district in January this year, solitary deaths tend to increase in winter. This is because chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases increase the risk of emergency situations, and single-person households have vulnerable social networks and may not manage meals and medication on time.

Accordingly, the district is visiting high-risk groups for solitary death through the face-to-face check-in service ‘Annyeong Salpimi’ to ensure their safety. In addition, through the ‘Smart Check-in Service’ using smart technology, the district carefully checks on the well-being of middle-aged high-risk groups in areas where manpower cannot reach, using a non-face-to-face method.

Since last September, the district has been conducting a ‘Socially Isolated Single-Person Household Survey.’ Comprehensive lifestyle consultations are conducted for about 1,800 people, including households at risk of solitary death and those refusing welfare services. The district plans to continue the survey until January next year and assess the risk level of solitary death for each subject to connect them with services tailored to their needs.

Besides this, the district is implementing various welfare policies to support high-risk groups for solitary death and crisis households, such as the ‘Happy One Meal Sharing’ project that provides convenient meals for healthy eating, ‘Juju Day’ where residents look after each other, and the ‘Shintong Bangtong Welfare Platform’ to discover crisis households.

Along with this, on the 17th, the district will conduct education on social isolation and solitary death prevention for about 500 employees at the Gwanak-gu Office auditorium.

Kim Seokjung, a specialist from the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Solitary Death Prevention Working Group who appeared on the tvN program ‘You Quiz on the Block,’ will provide training on signs of solitary death occurrence, prevention measures, and actual cases of solitary death.

Through employee education, the district plans to raise awareness to carefully watch over neighbors with the attitude of ‘starting with myself, starting now, starting nearby’ to enhance understanding of solitary death.

Mayor Park Junhee said, “All Gwanak-gu employees will recognize the importance of solitary death and carefully look after residents to lead the creation of a warm community even in winter,” adding, “We will continue to prepare more detailed policies to prevent social isolation and solitary death.”

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