Gangseo-gu's Unique Dementia Safe Zone "Overcoming Through Community Solidarity"

Do You Know About the 'Dementia Safety Village'?

A pharmacy located in Gangseo-gu. Pharmacist Kim recommended a dementia test to Mr. Kim (80), who was a customer visiting the pharmacy. This was because he noticed Mr. Kim revisiting shortly after receiving medication and suspected the possibility of dementia. This pharmacy is designated as a Dementia Safety Keeper by the Gangseo-gu Dementia Safety Center, which cares for local dementia patients. Pharmacist Kim also directly contacted the Gangseo-gu Dementia Safety Center. The center connected Mr. Kim to receive a dementia test through contact with his guardian. Additionally, Pharmacist Kim guides dementia patients to take their medication on time. For example, if medications from different departments need to be taken at the same time, they are packaged together in one bag.

Gangseo-gu's Unique Dementia Safe Zone "Overcoming Through Community Solidarity"

The Gangseo-gu area is a Dementia Safety Village. Dementia Safety Villages are communities created according to local characteristics to help community members correctly understand dementia and prevent the isolation of dementia patients and their families. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been implementing this nationwide since 2019. Currently, there are over 600 Dementia Safety Villages across the country.

Activities by dementia overcoming leading organizations are also active. Ryu Seong-il, vice principal of Gyeongbok Girls' High School, is conducting youth volunteer activities in connection with the Dementia Safety Center. Gyeongbok Girls' High School was designated as a Dementia Overcoming Leading School last year. Dementia Overcoming Leading Organizations are groups that take the lead in creating a dementia-friendly social culture. Vice Principal Ryu said, "After receiving dementia partner education, I thought, 'I too could get dementia,'" and added, "I also felt hope that if there are many dementia partners in the village, people with dementia could feel safe." Dementia partners are neighbors who, through dementia education, show consideration for dementia patients and their families in daily life. Gyeongbok Girls' High School conducts dementia partner training every year for first-year freshmen.

They are also promoting a one-on-one customized home care project called ‘Daily Keeper’ that focuses on early-stage dementia patients. This project teaches the use of electronic devices and connects patients to jobs to help them establish a regular daily routine. The Green Memory Cafe, which opened last month, is a pilot project by Seoul City and the Gangseo-gu Dementia Safety Center to promote social participation of early-onset dementia patients (those diagnosed before age 65) and reduce family caregiving burdens. Early-onset dementia patients become employees who grow vegetables and make and sell juice. Since September last year, 130 postal workers from Gangseo Post Office have also participated in a project to report wandering dementia patients to the police or connect them to the Dementia Safety Center.

Dementia Safe Zone located in Gangseo-gu
[Photo by Gangseo-gu Dementia Safe Center]

Gangseo-gu is actively engaged in these activities to realize a dementia-safe society where not only the families of dementia patients but also neighbors participate together. Above all, they saw the need for an environmental alternative that enables AIC (Aging In Community), where patients can maintain their remaining abilities and live in their original residences instead of entering facilities. The government’s 4th Comprehensive Dementia Management Plan also sets the policy direction to realize a happy dementia-safe society where dementia patients, families, and neighbors coexist.

With increasing global life expectancy, population aging is progressing rapidly. The estimated number of dementia patients in Korea is 950,000. Among the elderly population, 1 in 10 people aged 65 or older has dementia. The national cost for dementia management is 18.7 trillion KRW annually. Next year, when Korea enters the era of 10 million elderly people, the number of dementia patients aged 65 or older is expected to exceed 1 million, and by 2050, it is projected to surpass 3 million. The national dementia management cost is expected to increase to 121.7 trillion KRW by 2050.