Seongdong-gu Designates 162 'Dementia Care Senior Centers'

Designation of 162 Dementia-Safe Senior Centers Including 50 Public Senior Centers to Create Dementia-Friendly Environment
Support for Education to Improve Dementia Awareness and Response Skills, Free Dementia Screening, and Programs

Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) announced that it has designated a total of 162 senior centers in the district, including 50 public senior centers, as 'Dementia Safe Senior Centers' and completed agreements and plaque installations.

Since January 2022, Seongdong-gu has been promoting a project to designate all senior centers in Seongdong-gu as Dementia Safe Senior Centers through an agreement with the Seongdong-gu branch of the Korea Senior Citizens Association. Dementia Safe Senior Centers are places where many elderly people at high risk of dementia gather, providing dementia prevention information, encouraging dementia prevention practices, and creating a dementia-friendly environment where people understand and care for each other even if they have dementia.

After two years of effort, the district designated 162 senior centers in the area as 'Dementia Safe Senior Centers.' Those designated as Dementia Safe Senior Centers have plaques installed at their entrances and support the elderly users with dementia awareness improvement and response capability enhancement through ▲ Dementia Partner (Memory Friend) education, ▲ free dementia screening, and ▲ dementia prevention programs.

Senior citizen Kim OO said, “Dementia is the most worrisome disease, so I feel relieved that it has been designated as a Dementia Safe Senior Center. I can get a free memory test, and dementia prevention programs are also operated, so I can worry less about dementia in the future,” expressing joy about the designation.

Seongdong-gu is also striving to create a dementia-friendly environment by designating three neighborhoods?Geumho 2-3 ga-dong, Seongsu 1-ga 2-dong, and Majang-dong?as Dementia Safe Villages.

A Dementia Safe Village is a community where all members correctly understand dementia and work together to prevent the isolation of dementia patients and their families, allowing them to live with peace of mind.

In addition, various projects are being promoted to build a dense dementia safety network, such as Dementia Safe Taxis, Dementia Safe Roads, and Dementia Safe Pharmacies, to ensure that dementia patients and their families can live safely within the community.

Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “It is very meaningful that a community environment that understands and cares for dementia is being created centered on senior centers frequently used by the elderly,” and added, “We will continue to take the lead in creating a dementia-friendly environment so that local residents can live safely without worrying about dementia.”