Gangdong-gu Launches Full-Scale Home Care Service for Elderly Dementia Patients

Gangdong-gu Launches Nationwide First Dementia Elderly Home Care Service as a District-Specialized Project

Dispatching Caregivers to Fill Care Gaps, Allowing Families to Go Out with Peace of Mind

Expanding Support to Mild Dementia Patients to Accelerate Accompaniment with the Vulnerable

Gangdong-gu Dementia Family Support Center Family Classroom

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Soo-hee) announced on the 17th that it will operate the "Dementia Elderly Home Care Service" as the nation’s first district-specialized project to allow families of dementia patients to go out with peace of mind.

Families caring for dementia patients find it very difficult to leave the patient alone at home when going out. Even if the caregiver is ill, they cannot go for medical treatment, which can worsen their condition. Families who spend all day caring for the patient become isolated in daily life, threatening their psychological and physical health.

In response, Gangdong-gu empathizes with the suffering of dementia patient families and aims to reduce their caregiving burden by operating the "Dementia Elderly Home Care Service" as a district-specialized project. When families cannot care for the patient at home due to family events, hospital outpatient visits, or hospitalization, they can apply for this service, where a caregiver visits the home to care for the patient. This is the first time a district-level home care service has been provided for dementia patient households in Korea.

Providing Practical and Substantial Help to the Increasing Number of Dementia Patient Households

As of 2022, the population aged 60 and over in Gangdong-gu accounts for 24.5% of the total population, with an estimated dementia prevalence rate of 5.87%, amounting to 6,715 dementia patients. This is an approximately 18% increase compared to 5,699 patients in 2019 over three years.

The district focused on the increasing caregiving burden on dementia patients, their families, and caregivers, and decided to operate the home care service to provide realistic help. Considering the strong rejection of unfamiliar spaces and people characteristic of dementia, the service is provided at home, where the patient is familiar. To sufficiently meet service demand, agreements were made with 19 home-visit care centers.

The service hours can be used from a minimum of 6 hours up to a maximum of 64 hours, allowing support as needed.

This service is a key pledge project of Mayor Lee Soo-hee’s 8th term administration, titled "Short-term Safety Care for Dementia Elderly," and after preparation through briefings and meetings with related organizations, it began full operation in June this year.

Expanding Care Support to Mild Dementia Patients

The National Health Insurance Service also implements the "Dementia Family Leave System (All-day Home Care)" for dementia recipients with long-term care grades 1-2, but this applies to patients who require substantial assistance in daily life, covering only 18% of all dementia recipients in Gangdong-gu. The remaining 82%, with grades 3-5 and cognitive support grades, are excluded from benefits.

However, Gangdong-gu’s "Dementia Elderly Home Care Service" has significantly expanded the target to include dementia recipients with long-term care grades 1-5 and cognitive support grades, enabling even mild patients to receive support.

The income eligibility was also expanded from below 100% of the median income to below 120%. This was achieved by securing additional budget after being selected for the "Accompaniment with the Vulnerable" contest project conducted by Seoul City.

Gangdong-gu, the First to Focus on Dementia Patients’ ‘Families’

Gangdong-gu is the first local government to focus on the ‘families’ of dementia patients. To support families who suffer the most but lacked practical help, Gangdong-gu opened the first dementia family support center among local governments in February.

The Dementia Family Support Center not only strives to reduce caregiving burdens through services like the dementia elderly home care service but also supports the healthy aging and happy lives of dementia families and caregivers through psychological counseling, caregiving skills training, and leisure and cultural programs.

Mayor Lee Soo-hee of Gangdong-gu said, “I hope the Dementia Family Support Center and Dementia Elderly Home Care Service will provide comfort and support to families caring for dementia patients. We will do our best to help more elderly and their families live better lives in the community.”