Dongjak-gu, Focused Health Management for Vulnerable Groups Against Heatwaves

Placement and Check-ins of Visiting Nurses by District, Welfare Service Linkage, and Operation of Heatwave Shelters

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Park Il-ha) is strengthening care activities to ensure that residents can spend the summer healthily without any casualties amid the summer heat.

As the heatwave advisory continues across Seoul, the district announced that it will focus on managing the health of vulnerable groups such as elderly living alone and chronic disease patients until September.

A heatwave advisory is issued when the daily maximum perceived temperature is expected to remain above 33℃ for two or more consecutive days. The first heatwave advisory of this summer was issued in Seoul on the 10th.

First, the district identifies residents vulnerable to heat in advance, selects them as intensive care targets, and checks their health status and well-being through 30 visiting nurses assigned to each neighborhood.

Dongjak-gu visiting nurses carry out activities such as ▲checking on residents’ well-being and health status via visits or phone calls ▲providing education on how to respond to emergencies like heat-related illnesses ▲guiding residents to senior centers as rest shelters ▲distributing educational materials ▲and promoting public action guidelines such as advising to refrain from outdoor activities during heatwaves.

Additionally, when visiting the homes of health management targets, visiting nurses connect residents to relevant services if they determine that residential environment improvements or welfare services are needed.

Furthermore, until August, the health primary care team will provide ‘one-on-one customized visiting health management services’ to elderly residents who collect recyclables, conducting consultations and health assessments for focused summer care.

With the issuance of the heatwave advisory, the district immediately established a ‘Comprehensive Heatwave Response Situation Room’ centered on seven implementing departments, the medical quarantine team, and 15 neighborhood community centers.

Alongside this, 167 heatwave shelters are operated from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. using local neighborhood community centers, welfare centers, and senior centers where residents can take a break from the heat.

During heatwave advisories on weekends and holidays, nine welfare centers will provide extended shelter services from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Also, in July and August, two safe accommodations will be prepared to protect low-income elderly households living in poor residential conditions.

Since April, 140 shade shelters have been activated early to expand heat reduction facilities. Six ‘Smart Shelters’ are operated at locations such as Soongsil University Station and Seongdae Market, and ‘Cooling Fogs’ that lower surrounding temperatures are implemented at six sites including Daebang Park and Sayuksin Park to create a comfortable environment to beat the heat.

Park Il-ha, Mayor of Dongjak-gu, stated, “We are carefully monitoring and intensively managing residents vulnerable to the summer heat to ensure they face no difficulties,” and emphasized, “We will continue to spare no effort to support all residents so that everyone can have a safe and healthy summer.”

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