Suncheon City Supports Happy Aging by Expanding and Strengthening Integrated Care Services

Expansion of Integrated Care Targets and Additional Service Support This Year, Operation of Care Bank System

Inside the Dahamkke Care Center located in Samsan-dong, Suncheon City (Photo by Suncheon City)

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] On the 19th, Suncheon City in Jeollanam-do announced that it will strengthen the Suncheon-type integrated care service so that the elderly can spend a happy old age in the places where they lived.

Since September 2019, the city has been promoting the Suncheon-type integrated care project after being selected as the first integrated care public project by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Jeollanam-do.

Community-based integrated care is a care policy that integratively supports various services such as housing, health care, and nursing care so that residents can spend their remaining years empathizing with neighbors in the areas where they lived, rather than in hospitals or facilities.

Last year, integrated care services were provided mainly to those scheduled for discharge and chronic patients, but from this year, the target will be expanded to prioritize linking national care services (elderly customized care, home health visits, dementia relief centers) centered on long-term care home benefits, elderly customized intensive care groups, and those scheduled for home care discharge, followed by additional integrated care services.

Furthermore, additional care services will be supported.

Currently, 25 care services such as home visit medical care, meal support, hairdressing, and housekeeping care that can be received at home are directly provided.

This year, with a budget of 100 million won, nutritional food ingredients responsible for the health of the elderly will be provided.

Customized two meals a day will be delivered directly to the homes of the recipients, and additional food ingredients will be purchased and supported to fill meal gaps on weekends and holidays and to supplement nutrition.

In addition, an elderly care bank system will be operated to spread the culture of donation.

When volunteers provide care volunteer activities to elderly people aged 65 or older who are not classified as long-term care recipients, care points will be accumulated so that the volunteers or their families can receive care after the age of 65.

A representative from the Suncheon City Elderly Welfare Division said, “In line with rapid aging, we will expand the target of integrated care services along with elderly customized care to strengthen meticulous care services,” and added, “We will do our best so that the elderly can spend a comfortable and healthy old age in the places where they lived.”

Meanwhile, Suncheon City was selected as an excellent institution for three consecutive years in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s community integrated care service evaluation, recognizing its efforts to provide various customized care services for the elderly.