Gwangju Seo-gu Operates 'Maeumchaeum Program' to Prevent Elderly Solitary Deaths

Published 08 May.2024 13:07(KST)

Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Kim Ikang) is operating the ‘Hello, Hollo ? Grandpa Hollo’s Heart Filling 100’ program to prevent lonely deaths among elderly men living alone and to alleviate depression in socially isolated households.

Seogu District operates the 'Hello Solo? Grandpa's Heart Filling 100' program to prevent lonely deaths among elderly men living alone. <br>[Photo by Seogu]

Seogu District operates the 'Hello Solo? Grandpa's Heart Filling 100' program to prevent lonely deaths among elderly men living alone.
[Photo by Seogu]

According to Seo-gu on the 8th, this program was launched using 20 million KRW donated last year by Cheonji Cultural Center Co., Ltd. (CEO Bae Changsook) as part of a public-private partnership coupling project that matches welfare services and sponsors for those in need of care and assistance, aimed at improving the lives of socially isolated elderly men living alone.

The program targets 72 elderly men aged 65 or older who were identified as at risk of lonely death based on the ‘Loneliness Scale (UCLA) and Depression Scale Survey’ among isolated individuals discovered by the Neighbor Care Group, which operates as private lonely death prevention officers. The 18 members of the Neighbor Care Group who discovered the participants also join as helpers.

Earlier, Seo-gu held the first session last month titled ‘First Meeting with a Mental Healing Expert! Opening Hearts’ program, which helped participants connect as ‘Neighborhood Friends’ who can check on and support each other. On the 8th, they took elderly participants who would otherwise spend Parents’ Day alone at home on an outing to Gokseong Rose Park.

Seo-gu plans to promote various activities such as spring and autumn picnics and cultural outings once a month until November to build social networks. Even after the program ends, the Neighbor Care Group will continue to check on participants’ well-being and provide customized services.

Song Kyungae, Director of the Welfare Policy Division, said, “We will implement kind policies and services in every corner of Seo-gu to ensure no one is isolated or marginalized.”