Deploying the Latest Equipment and Nurses with Affordable Prices
Interior view of Seodaemun-gu Public Postpartum Care Center 'Pumae (Love-filled)'. (Photo by Seodaemun-gu Office)
‘Pumae (愛-gadeuk)’, the only public postpartum care center in the northwest area of Seoul, has opened in Bukgajwa-dong, Seodaemun-gu, and will officially begin operations on the 1st of next month.
Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Lee Seongheon) announced on the 27th that the opening ceremony of the public postpartum care center, with a total floor area of 1,351㎡ and consisting of one basement floor and four above-ground floors, will be held on the 30th. This is the second public postpartum care center operated by the government in Seoul, following the one in Songpa-gu in 2014.
Seodaemun-gu, which promoted the establishment of the public postpartum care center as a pledge project of the 8th local government administration, completed construction of the facility at the end of last month and conducted a one-month final inspection and trial operation.
The center is equipped with 12 maternity rooms, 2 neonatal rooms, a pre-observation room, a breastfeeding room, a massage room, a counseling room, an education room, and a cafeteria. Cheongsol Trust Co., Ltd., selected through an open recruitment process, will operate the facility on a consignment basis.
A total of 30 staff members, including 6 nurses, 12 nursing assistants, as well as administrative, cooking, and skincare personnel, will be stationed on-site. Although the postpartum care center is not a medical institution, nurses will check the health status of mothers immediately after delivery and newborns right after birth, providing an optimal environment for infection control by protecting health from infectious diseases.
The public postpartum care center boasts state-of-the-art facilities. For infection control, an air shower is installed at the entrance of the center, and maternity rooms are equipped with various facilities such as sitz baths, leg air pressure massagers, and Medela breast pumps.
A professional nutritionist provides nutritious meals and snacks (3 meals and 3 snacks per day) tailored for postpartum recovery, along with a special buffet once a week on Saturdays. Professional massage staff offer basic free massage services, and an international breastfeeding specialist regularly monitors conditions such as breast engorgement and mastitis, encourages breastfeeding, and provides one-on-one direct education to correct posture for stable breastfeeding.
Nurses conduct 24-hour observation in the pre-observation room before the baby is admitted to the neonatal room, checking for infectious diseases. If necessary, specialized equipment is used to measure jaundice. A pediatric specialist will also make rounds three times a week to monitor the baby’s condition and provide consultations.
In the neonatal room, one-on-one baby cams are installed so that mothers and guardians can always see the baby’s image via video. Thorough disinfection of neonatal items is carried out using ultraviolet sterilizers and high-pressure sterilizers to protect the baby’s health from various infectious bacteria.
The district announced that it will also operate various programs such as maternity classes, childcare counseling, customized exercise classes for mothers, and provision of postpartum care and childcare information.
Admissions will be selected through a public lottery to ensure fairness. Reservations are accepted on the 1st to 10th day, three months before the expected delivery date, via the care center’s website, and the public lottery is held on the 15th of that month. If the lottery date falls on a public holiday, the date and location will be notified in advance via text message.
According to the ‘Seodaemun-gu Public Postpartum Care Center Establishment, Operation, and Pregnant Women Support Ordinance,’ 70% of admissions are allocated to priority applicants such as basic livelihood security recipients, multicultural families, and single-parent family mothers among Seodaemun-gu residents, and 30% to general mothers through a public lottery.
If the priority admission rate falls below 70%, the proportion for general mothers will be increased, and if vacancies occur after the general mothers’ lottery, mothers who are not residents of Seodaemun-gu will also be selected through a lottery. The lottery results can be checked immediately on-site.
The usage period of the public postpartum care center is two weeks (13 nights and 14 days), and the basic fee is 2.5 million KRW. According to the ordinance, priority applicants receive a 50% discount, and residents of Seodaemun-gu for more than one year receive a 20% discount. For detailed information, please refer to the Seodaemun-gu Public Postpartum Care Center website.
Meanwhile, the ‘Seodaemun-gu Maternal and Child Health Center,’ located on the 4th floor of the public postpartum care center, provides ‘1:1 customized integrated health management services’ from pregnancy preparation to childbirth and childcare.
Within the center, the ‘Todak Todak Psychological Counseling Room’ offers one-on-one or group psychological counseling programs conducted by clinical psychologists to help infertile couples and caregivers cope with mental health issues such as stress and depression.
District Mayor Lee Seongheon said, “I hope that Seodaemun-gu’s public postpartum care center ‘Pumae (愛-gadeuk)’ will help improve the difficult reality of having children, and since postpartum care services are no longer an individual responsibility but a social one, we will do our best to expand public postpartum care services to all mothers in the district.”
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