'Warm Welfare City' Nowon-gu Recognized for 'Visiting Health and Welfare Services'

2021 Ministry of Health and Welfare Regional Welfare Project Evaluation: Excellence Award for 2 Consecutive Years in Visiting Health and Welfare Services... Nowon Ddokddokddok Care Team, Nowon-type Care SOS Center, and Resident Network Formation Project Highly Rated

Nowon Ddokddokddok Care Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is making every effort to actively identify welfare blind spots and establish a community safety net.

This year, Nowon-gu has promoted initiatives such as the ▲Nowon Ddok Ddok Ddok Care Team ▲Nowon-type Care SOS Center ▲Resident Network Formation Project to provide health and welfare services without blind spots. As a result, it won the Excellence Award for two consecutive years in 2021 in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “Visiting Health and Welfare Services” category.

First, the ‘Nowon Ddok Ddok Ddok Care Team’ is a public-private cooperative welfare service where neighbors care for neighbors. The care team, which began full-scale activities in February this year, regularly checks on vulnerable households such as the elderly, disabled, and middle-aged single-person households, identifying at-risk households and connecting them with welfare resources.

In a situation where the gap in public care has widened due to COVID-19, the care team, composed of 200 local residents, manages 6,763 care recipients and has discovered new at-risk households. Over 10 months, more than 133 cases of actual emergency situations were averted through the care team’s activities.

The Ddok Ddok Ddok Care Team also received the Grand Prize at the ‘2021 National Basic Local Government Manifesto Best Practice Competition’ last September, and is regarded as an effective solution to meet the rapidly increasing care demand amid the COVID-19 situation.

The ‘Nowon-type Care SOS Center Project’ is also greatly helping to resolve care blind spots for the elderly, disabled, and middle-aged. The Care SOS Center connects customized welfare resources for each recipient through eight services including temporary home care, short-term facilities, accompaniment support, residential convenience, and meal support.

As of the end of November this year, it has provided 3,294 care services to 1,485 residents, playing a key role in establishing a dense welfare system without blind spots.

Lastly, in line with the recent increase in single-person households, the ‘Resident Network Formation Project’ is being implemented to alleviate isolation among vulnerable groups and prevent the risk of solitary death. A total of 282 honorary social welfare officers deployed across 19 neighborhoods detect vulnerable single-person households early and provide life-centered welfare services.

Honorary social welfare officers cooperate with private welfare facilities in the area to hold small gatherings and events. They continuously foster social bonds through small exchanges such as cooking classes for single-person households, sharing companion plants, sharing side dishes, and monitoring newly moved-in households.

Additionally, the district is receiving great responses from residents by conducting customized health and welfare projects that directly reach recipients, such as elderly care services using artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the visiting health center mobile health bus project.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “In situations where operating the public care system is difficult, such as during COVID-19, the community spirit of neighbors helping neighbors shines. We will continue to promote various welfare projects that can lead public-private cooperation and steadily discover visiting health and welfare services to establish a dense welfare system without blind spots.”