Ongjin County (Governor Jang Jeong-min) is expanding its home-based medical care support network to the Baekryeong and Daecheong region for elderly residents with mobility difficulties who struggle to access medical institutions in island areas. The county announced on July 23 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Incheon Medical Center Baekryeong Hospital on July 22 to ensure the stable operation of the “Collaborative Long-Term Care Home-Based Medical Center Pilot Project” and to promote community-centered home-based medical care.
 [The Korean Today] MOU signing ceremony between Ongjin County and Incheon Medical Center Baekryeong Hospital on home-based medical care center © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
This is the second such agreement, following the county’s first memorandum of understanding signed with Yeongheung Woori Clinic on March 27 this year. With the home-based medical care foundation that began on Yeongheungdo Island in March now extended to the Baekryeong and Daecheong region through this latest agreement, efforts to build a community-centered medical and care system for residents of medically underserved island areas are gaining momentum.
The Collaborative Long-Term Care Home-Based Medical Center Pilot Project is a program that allows long-term care beneficiaries receiving in-home care who have difficulty visiting medical institutions due to mobility issues to receive medical care, health management and care services all at once in their own homes, without being admitted to a hospital or care facility. Under the agreement, a multidisciplinary team comprising doctors from Baekryeong Hospital and nurses and social workers from the Ongjin County Public Health Center will be formed, and this team will visit beneficiaries’ homes directly to comprehensively assess their health status and care needs. Individually tailored services — including home visits for medical treatment, health management, welfare counseling and connections to community care resources — will then be provided in stages.
This cooperative model was designed to address the geographic conditions of island areas, where structural barriers make access to medical institutions difficult, as well as the rapid pace of population aging. Having first established a home-based medical care foundation in the Yeongheung area, Ongjin County plans to further strengthen its so-called “home-based medical care system that reaches out to the islands” through this latest agreement covering the Baekryeong and Daecheong region, reducing gaps in medical and care services and realizing a sustainable, resident-centered community care system.
 [The Korean Today] Officials pose for a commemorative photo after signing the MOU © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
Going forward, Ongjin County plans to strengthen ties between the Long-Term Care Home-Based Medical Center and existing public health and welfare programs, including ICT-based home visit health management, dementia management projects, community-based rehabilitation projects and oriental medicine health promotion projects, with the center serving as the central hub. Through this, the county intends to actively identify elderly residents who need both medical care and caregiving support simultaneously, and to continue expanding its integrated community care system so that they can maintain a healthy and dignified old age in the places where they have lived.
Ongjin County Governor Jang Jeong-min said, “I find it very meaningful that we are now expanding our home-based medical care foundation to Baekryeongdo Island, following Yeongheungdo Island in March.” He added, “We will continue to build a tighter, integrated home-based medical care system tailored to Ongjin County’s regional characteristics, so that elderly residents who have difficulty visiting medical institutions can stably receive the medical and care services they need where they live.”
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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