[Seoul District News] Seongbuk-gu Quickly Delivers Relief to Housing-Vulnerable Residents via 20 Dong Community Centers and Social Welfare Centers; Gifts Cool Breeze to Homeless Welfare Facilities and Local Child Centers ... Gwanak-gu Focuses on Safety Management for Heatwave-Vulnerable Groups Including Elderly Living Alone ... Yangcheon-gu Wins Excellence Award at Smart Guardian Project Administrative and Policy Case Competition
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) has provided 500 electric fans and 150 summer blankets to help vulnerable groups stay cool during the summer.
This support was carried out as part of the ‘Seongbuk-gu Sharing Network Project.’ The ‘Seongbuk-gu Sharing Network Project’ includes support for vulnerable groups in livelihood, medical care, housing, and education expenses; age-friendly customized housing environment improvement projects; support for materials for professional volunteer home repair services; welfare projects by the local community security council; and provision of cooling and heating supplies in preparation for summer and winter seasons.
In Seongbuk-gu, a total of 680 million KRW in donations for the ‘Sharing Network Project’ has been raised, including 130 million KRW in 2021 and 550 million KRW through the Hope Ondol Warm Winter Fundraising Campaign in 2022.
The electric fans and summer blankets were promptly delivered to vulnerable residents in the community through 20 neighborhood community service centers and social welfare centers in Seongbuk-gu. The district also distributed them to homeless welfare facilities and local children’s centers.
Senior citizen Kim ○○ (Donam-dong, 77) said, “My electric fan, which had been working well for several years, suddenly broke down, and I was worried about how to survive the peak summer heat, but I don’t know how fortunate I am to have received an electric fan and summer blanket from the community center.” He added, “I sincerely thank everyone who considered the difficulties of those in need and shared these items.”
Lee Seung-ro, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, said, “Last winter, the warm winter fundraising campaign, in which Seongbuk residents participated bit by bit, has extended to providing a cool summer to vulnerable groups left out of the heatwave safety net. We will continue to carefully monitor and support marginalized neighbors for a better life and create a happier Seongbuk.”
Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) held a local issue discussion meeting on the 20th to focus on summer heatwave measures for vulnerable groups.
Since May, the district has been operating the ‘Gwanak-gu Heatwave Countermeasure Comprehensive Situation Room,’ where all neighborhood community centers and 15 functional departments actively cooperate to respond promptly when a heatwave warning is issued.
The district operates 141 cooling shelters such as senior centers, community centers, and welfare centers for elderly people vulnerable to heat. During heatwave warnings, neighborhood community centers and welfare centers are available for use during weekday nights and weekend afternoons.
In particular, to allow seniors to comfortably avoid the heat even at night, the district has partnered with three local lodging facilities to provide safe accommodations as cooling shelters until September 30.
The safe accommodations can be used during heatwave warnings within the period, free of charge from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day on weekdays, and from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day on weekends. Eligible users are single elderly persons aged 60 or older, elderly couples, and other vulnerable households without air conditioning facilities.
For households that find it difficult to visit neighborhood community centers due to COVID-19, a non-face-to-face intensive care service using IoT (Internet of Things) is also provided. The ‘Tongtong Line Service’ sends voice messages once a week to recipients, and ‘Smart Plugs’ and the ‘Seoul Salpimi App’ check on about 3,500 households by monitoring changes in household electricity usage or personal mobile phone usage during certain periods.
Additionally, 608 disaster safety helpers conduct heatwave protection activities targeting priority care recipients. A heatwave information delivery system is established to quickly contact and check on recipients during heatwaves and take emergency measures if an emergency occurs.
Along with this, ‘Gang Gam-chan Smart Shade Shelters’ have been installed on streets for elderly people with slow walking speeds and children to prevent heatwave damage. Currently, 46 smart shade shelters and 21 foldable shade shelters are operated, totaling 67 shelters.
The smart shade shelters, which open and close automatically depending on temperature and wind strength, allow people waiting at crosswalks to briefly escape the heat, proving highly effective, and plans are underway to expand their installation.
Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “We will meticulously ensure that citizens can safely and healthily spend the summer free from heatwave risks.”
Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Lee Ki-jae) announced that it won the Excellence Award at the ‘2022 Excellent Administration and Policy Case Selection Competition’ jointly hosted by the Korea Public Policy Evaluation Association and the Korean Policy Development Association.
The ‘Excellent Administration and Policy Case Selection Competition’ is a system that selects successful cases of administration or policies contributing to national development and improving citizens’ quality of life, targeting government ministries, metropolitan and local governments nationwide, and public institutions.
At the awards ceremony held on the 22nd, Yangcheon-gu was selected for the Excellence Award for the ‘Smart Guardian Project for Preventing Missing Persons among People with Developmental Disabilities and Dementia Patients.’
The district has been continuously implementing the ‘Smart Guardian and Safe Insoles’ distribution project since last year in collaboration with the Yangcheon Police Station’s Missing Persons Investigation Team to prevent missing incidents among vulnerable groups, distributing devices to a total of 672 people so far.
The Smart Guardian is a GPS tracking device in the form of a watch. For those who strongly resist wearing a watch, the district also provides Safe Insoles that can be attached to shoes for mobility.
The ‘Yangcheon-type Smart Guardian,’ which combines the previously separate watch-type Smart Guardian and insoles into one model, was first introduced by Yangcheon-gu in cooperation with the Yangcheon Police Station and is now being expanded nationwide as the standard model for Smart Guardians by local governments.
In this competition, the district was highly evaluated for presenting a systematic manual through education and promotion to prevent missing persons among people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients, and especially for the concrete achievement of discovering seven missing persons early after reports and safely returning them to their families.
Lee Ki-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “I am very pleased that the ‘Yangcheon-type Smart Guardian’ project, which has worked hard to prevent missing persons among people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients, achieved excellent results in this competition. We will continue to make every effort to promote related policies so that all residents can live safely and happily without any vulnerable groups.”
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