Vulnerable Groups Including Homeless and Unaffiliated Individuals Seeking Emergency Rooms at Public Medical Institutions on the Brink
Social Workers Stationed in Emergency Rooms Provide In-Depth Counseling and Connect Patients to Appropriate Welfare Services
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 15th, Seoul City announced that it is supporting more than 28,000 vulnerable patients who visited the ‘Seoul-type Citizen Empathy Emergency Room’ operated by five public medical institutions to receive protection under the social safety net. Through the ‘Seoul-type Citizen Empathy Emergency Room’ at Boramae Hospital, Seoul Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul Red Cross Hospital, and Dongbu Hospital, a total of 17,455 patients have been connected to welfare services.
The ‘Seoul-type Citizen Empathy Emergency Room’ is a project that provides one-stop support from emergency medical care to in-depth counseling and welfare linkage for vulnerable groups experiencing physical, economic, and mental distress, such as homeless people, those without family ties, alcoholics (repeat intoxication), and psychiatric patients who visit the emergency room. It has been in operation since 2014. Social workers are stationed in the emergency rooms of the five hospitals to oversee patient counseling and coordination.
When a patient arrives at the emergency room, they first receive medical treatment from the medical staff, followed by in-depth counseling by a social worker. Considering the different difficulties and pains faced by each patient, necessary welfare services are actively linked.
For example, patients without family ties are connected to community centers to re-register their deleted resident registration, and homeless patients are linked to homeless centers to receive support for medical expenses and case management.
Seoul City explained, "Most vulnerable patients who come to public medical institution emergency rooms have been rejected by private medical institutions or are in extreme situations. Many have the opportunity to find a new life by being connected to welfare services they could not use before due to lack of information or opportunity, triggered by their visit to the emergency room."
Additionally, Seoul City compiled representative cases from the five participating public medical institutions into a casebook titled ‘Ieum.’ The title ‘Ieum’ reflects the meaning of supporting vulnerable patients to ‘continue’ living healthy and safe lives in the community even after discharge through the ‘Seoul-type Citizen Empathy Emergency Room.’
The casebook also includes support status by target groups of the ‘Seoul-type Citizen Empathy Emergency Room.’ It provides an overview of the overall operation, including the Seoul-type SBIRT program (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for high-risk groups), which systematizes one-stop support from emergency medical care to in-depth counseling and welfare linkage.
The casebook will be distributed to emergency medical institutions in Seoul and public medical institutions nationwide. Park Yumi, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, said, "The emergency room is the first gateway where patients in various crisis situations meet medical services and the starting point of welfare services that can help them enter the social safety net. We operate with the goal of not only providing emergency medical services to vulnerable patients in crisis but also helping them enter the social safety net."
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