Gimhae City to Complete Gyeongnam's First Public Dementia Care Facility in November

Aerial view of the public dementia care facility in Gimhae City.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Ju-cheol In] Gimhae City in Gyeongnam announced on the 22nd that it will complete the construction of a public dementia care facility in November.

The first public dementia care facility in Gyeongnam is located on a 3,560㎡ site at 349-17 Suan-ri, Daedong-myeon, with a total floor area of 2,436㎡, consisting of one basement floor and two above-ground floors. The first floor will house a day care facility with a capacity of 40 people, and the second floor will have a dementia-specialized care room for 70 people.

Selected for the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s national funding project, a total of 7.8 billion KRW was invested, including 3.5 billion KRW from national and provincial funds. It is the only facility in Gyeongnam selected for both the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Rural Development Administration pilot projects, introducing a dementia healing agriculture program.

In May, a business agreement was signed between related institutions and participating farms to support stress relief for patients with mild dementia and their families through a program that maximizes the emotional benefits of agriculture.

Additionally, in July, the facility attracted the ‘National Healing Agriculture Expansion Center,’ the nation’s first project promoted by the Rural Development Administration, which is expected to further develop the dementia healing agriculture program.

Next year, the city plans to continue projects such as the Memory Filling Village to create a dementia-friendly environment, operate a non-face-to-face short-term shelter for mild dementia patients, designate dementia overcoming leading organizations, and expand dementia research and management in response to a super-aged society.

In particular, the Jinae-dong Dementia Safety Center (Eastern area) will oversee all dementia-related tasks in Gimhae City, while the Juchon Branch Office (Western area) will manage the dementia short-term shelter, providing various services to care for local dementia patients.

Meanwhile, according to the Central Dementia Center report, as of December 2020, the dementia prevalence rate among the population aged 65 and over in Gimhae City was 9.49%. Gyeongnam’s rate is 10.5%, and the national rate is 10.3%, meaning that approximately one in ten elderly people is a dementia patient.