Ongjin-gun County (Governor Moon Kyung-bok) has set out to build a care safety net in which the administration travels directly to villages, serving residents of island areas where medical and care services are hard to reach because of the sea barrier. The county said it has been holding ‘mobile integrated care project resident briefings’ for residents of its island districts and working to establish a community-centered care system to close gaps in medical and care services.
 [The Korean Today] Ongjin-gun County mobile integrated care project resident briefing © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The briefings were arranged to inform island residents — whose access to welfare information is limited by geographic conditions — directly about the integrated care region-specialized services the county is pursuing, and to identify early those marginalized residents in need of help. The effort carries significant meaning in that the administration is reaching out first to residents who have remained outside the institutional safety net because information has not reached them.
Starting with Bukdo-myeon on June 9, the county made the rounds in turn — Baengnyeong-myeon on the 17th, Daecheong-myeon on the 18th, Yeonpyeong-myeon on the 23rd and Deokjeok-myeon on the 24th — to complete the schedule. At each island’s briefing, members of the township community welfare committee, including village heads and women’s association presidents who know local circumstances best, along with honorary social welfare officials, turned out in large numbers, showing keen interest in building the care system.
At the briefings, the county’s major integrated care services — including public health and medical care as well as nursing and care — were introduced, followed by a question-and-answer session in which residents asked about and received answers on the project. In particular, because the sessions were held for the human safety net that knows local circumstances throughout the villages inside out, they became occasions to share the value of ‘community-centered care,’ in which neighbors look after neighbors.
 [The Korean Today] Integrated care project briefing attended by island-area residents © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
Rather than confining the briefings to township offices, the county broadened the scope of its outreach by visiting major social welfare facilities in the district in person, such as senior cultural centers and public nursing homes, to brief their workers on the project as well. In addition, drawing on a tight network of links with on-site welfare facilities, it asked them to identify in advance high-risk individuals who urgently need actual care.
An Ongjin-gun County official said, “The more remote an island area is in terms of medical access, the more important the role of integrated care, led by the public sector and joined by the community, becomes above all else. We will prepare the Jawol and Yeongheung township briefings in July without a hitch, strengthen ties with welfare facilities, and do our utmost so that residents can enjoy warm care without being left out even if they live on an island.”
Ongjin-gun County plans to complete the Jawol-myeon and Yeongheung-myeon briefings next month, extending the care safety net across all of the islands in the district. Attention is focused on what practical change the tight care network woven together by the administration and residents will bring about in island areas, where welfare gaps easily arise due to their separation from the mainland.
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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