Dongdaemun-gu in Seoul has announced a tiered welfare check system that adjusts the frequency of wellness visits based on the heat advisory level in effect.
The initiative aims to prevent casualties among vulnerable residents during summer heat waves and to get ahead of the risk of solitary death.
This year, South Korea's heat advisory system expanded from two tiers — caution and warning — to three, adding a new "severe warning" level, which has heightened the need to protect households at risk of solitary death.
In response, the district is incorporating the Ministry of Health and Welfare's core summer protection measures for vulnerable groups and will conduct field-based wellness checks through community care teams and honorary social welfare civil servants stationed at each neighborhood community center.
The district will also coordinate a range of wellness check services for about 3,000 households — including an all-care wellness check service, an AI-based wellness check service, neighborhood care teams, a health beverage support project, a banchan ("side dish") delivery project for single-person households, and a milk delivery program for elderly residents.
The defining feature of the new measures is a response calibrated to each heat advisory level. During normal periods, the focus remains on identifying and supporting those at risk of solitary death. When a caution or standard warning is in effect, existing check-in schedules are maintained while residents receive guidance on preventing heat-related illness and on recommended heat safety practices.
Once the new severe heat warning level is declared, the district plans to sharply raise its response by contacting high-risk solitary-death households at least once every two days — by phone, text message or in-person visit. If warning signs are detected during a wellness check, the neighborhood welfare team will be notified immediately to call emergency services and dispatch personnel to the scene. If needed, Seoul's emergency welfare support — covering cooling supplies and living expenses — will be swiftly arranged.
The district will also continuously update its list of at-risk households through a solitary-death crisis response system, compile daily wellness check results during severe heat warning periods, and actively promote the use of designated cooling centers.
To further strengthen its response to the risk of solitary death during summer heat, the district is expanding its banchan support project for low-income, middle-aged single-person households.
The project runs from July 2026 through June 2027 and targets at least 70 single-person households in the middle-aged bracket with incomes at or below 100 percent of the median. Based on Seoul's loneliness and social isolation risk checklist, high-risk households will receive banchan worth 15,000 won ($10) per delivery once a week, while lower-risk households will receive deliveries twice a month.
Banchan will be delivered directly to each household by fresh-service managers from HY Co., who will also check on residents' health and living conditions during each visit. If a crisis situation is identified, the delivery staff will alert the neighborhood community center to arrange a prompt safety check and connect the resident with welfare services.
Last year, the district delivered 8,592 portions of banchan to 763 people through the program, combining regular wellness checks with welfare referrals. This year, the district renewed its MOU with HY Co.'s Gangbuk branch and plans to further strengthen its public-private welfare safety net in November by linking funding from the HY Social Welfare Foundation.
"Extreme heat is a deadly threat to the health and lives of elderly residents living alone and other households at risk of solitary death," Dongdaemun-gu District Mayor Choi Dong-min said. "We will mobilize every resource at our disposal — from neighborhood care teams and our human safety network to our smart wellness check system — to build a tight-knit welfare check framework, protect those most vulnerable to heat, and do everything we can to prevent casualties before they occur."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
