Yeongdeungpo-gu Public Health Center Partners with Local Clinics to Visit Elderly Homes Directly

Providing customized health services integrating local clinic's 'professional medical care' and public health center's 'home visit health management'... Support for care services in six areas including health counseling, mental counseling, welfare counseling, home rehabilitation, and nutrition management... 'Living Healthily and Long in My Home, My Village!' in collaboration with the former public health center

Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Choi Ho-kwon) Public Health Center announced that starting this year, it will promote the ‘Senior Health Companion Project’ in collaboration with local clinics to support the healthy aging of senior citizens.

The ‘Senior Health Companion Project’ is a customized health service support program that visits seniors who need help with health management directly at their homes and neighborhoods, allowing them to receive care comfortably.

This project is an integrated care service provided by the ‘Health Companion Team,’ composed of the district public health center’s doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and exercise therapists, who visit the homes of the beneficiaries directly. The team operates by receiving referrals through local clinics.

In particular, the Senior Health Companion Project is being carried out to establish a seamless care safety net in response to the current social issue of an aging population and the increasing number of elderly living alone households.

Additionally, by linking the clinics’ ‘professional medical services’ with the district public health center’s ‘visiting health management services,’ personalized care tailored to individual characteristics is possible, and various welfare services can be connected when needed.

The Health Companion Team provides beneficiaries with ‘direct visit services’ and ‘linked services.’ Direct visit services include ▲health measurement and education, medication guidance, and other health counseling services ▲visiting rehabilitation services such as physical rehabilitation, pain management, and fall prevention education ▲nutrition support services including dietary education, nutrition counseling, and provision of supplementary nutrition. Linked services include ▲home medical services such as pressure ulcer care and burn care ▲mental counseling services for elderly depression and dementia ▲temporary home care, housing services, and other welfare counseling, providing a total of six service areas.

Eligible beneficiaries are residents registered in Yeongdeungpo-gu who are elderly living alone or elderly couples with chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

The district currently cooperates with nine local clinics, and the list of medical institutions can be found in detail on the district public health center’s website under the ‘Visiting Health Management - Senior Health Companion Project’ bulletin board.

Seniors wishing to participate can apply by visiting any of the nine cooperating medical institutions or their local community service centers. Participating seniors will receive free visiting services for three months (12 weeks).

Also, the district public health center is continuously accepting applications from local medical institutions wishing to participate in the Senior Health Companion Project. Interested medical institutions can inquire separately with the district public health center’s Health Promotion Division, Community Health Team.

Choi Ho-kwon, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, stated, “As a super-aged society approaches, we will actively discover eligible beneficiaries through continuous cooperation with local medical institutions,” and added, “We will do our best to ensure that seniors can live happily and safely within the community for a long life.”

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