▲Senior Happiness Call Taxi Operation ▲Advancement of Specialized Volunteer Teams within the Volunteer Center
Dongjak-gu (Mayor Park Il-ha) celebrated the 1st anniversary of the ‘Dongjak-gu Senior Happiness Call Center,’ a welfare platform launched in March last year that solves everything with just one phone call.
The call center, the first of its kind in Seoul, has served as an all-around problem solver for seniors in the district over the past year and announced plans to further expand its scope of services this year.
The ‘Senior Happiness Call Center’ connects callers to professional counselors through a single representative phone number, providing all necessary information to seniors in a one-stop manner and linking them to customized services in various areas such as care, health, leisure, and employment.
In particular, the center’s satisfaction rate among seniors is higher because it goes beyond simple phone consultations to directly address inconveniences and requests through home visits.
The district operates a daily life support team to actively respond to the ‘care demand,’ which accounts for about 60% of all consultations, and the rate of phone consultations linked to on-site visit services reaches 91.8%.
The daily life support team promptly dispatches support personnel to assist seniors living in the area who urgently request accompaniment to hospitals, helping them with medical appointments.
Additionally, to assist seniors with all aspects of daily inconveniences, the center reliably handles small but essential tasks such as replacing fluorescent lights, showerheads, and helping with digital device usage.
Providing practical services that help seniors’ lives has increased not only new users but also reuse rates, with the call center handling approximately 2,300 consultations last year.
As a result, it received high praise in the population structure change response category at the ‘2023 National Basic Local Government Manifesto Best Practice Competition,’ winning an excellence award.
Accordingly, this year the center has expanded its filial duty scope by launching the ‘Senior Happiness Call Taxi Project,’ which allows seniors who have difficulty moving around to use taxis with just one phone call.
The Happiness Call Taxi was established to support seniors unfamiliar with mobile transportation service apps, helping them conveniently engage in outdoor activities.
Im ○○ (age 88), a senior resident of Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu, said, “I requested a call taxi from the Senior Happiness Call Center to visit the local community center, and thanks to that, I met a good driver and was able to safely visit the community center. I am very grateful.”
Furthermore, the center plans to strengthen connections with five specialized volunteer teams comprising about 200 members active within the Dongjak-gu Volunteer Center to promote not only daily support but also professional service areas such as boiler inspections, beauty and hair care, and home repairs.
Park Il-ha, Mayor of Dongjak-gu, stated, “Building on the achievements of the past year, we plan to expand and further sophisticate the services provided by the Senior Happiness Call Center,” adding, “Going forward, the district will continue to implement various senior happiness policies so that seniors in the district can lead happy lives in line with the super-aged society.”
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