Yangcheon-gu is operating an Integrated Care Health Companion Center to provide seniors who have difficulty moving around or require ongoing health management due to chronic illness with comprehensive, personalized support spanning health care, caregiving and welfare services, the district said.
The center dispatches health professionals — including nurses, dietitians and exercise specialists — directly to seniors' homes to assess their health status and lifestyle habits, then delivers three months of tailored, intensive health management based on each individual's risk factors.
The district has run the Integrated Care Health Companion Center out of the Sinwol and Mokdong community health branches since 2023, providing more than 55,000 personalized health management services to over 1,600 health-vulnerable seniors to date.
Core services include basic health consultations and checks such as blood pressure and blood sugar measurement, pain management and rehabilitation exercise counseling, nutritional counseling with meal planning and nutritional supplement provision, and mental health counseling with referrals to welfare resources. Based on an initial health assessment, staff draw up an individualized care plan and work through ongoing consultations to help seniors recover their health and build the capacity to manage it themselves.
This year in particular, the district took the center's home-visit health management function a step further by integrating it closely with Yangcheon-gu's broader integrated care framework, following the March 27 enactment of a law on integrated community support for medical care and long-term care. The move expands the center into a unified support system covering both health and caregiving as community-based integrated care rolls out nationwide.
Under the expanded model, seniors aged 65 and older who need help with daily living — including recently discharged hospital patients and those with long-term care ratings — can be connected to medical, care and daily-life support services when additional care needs are identified during their time at the center. The core aim is not simply to address health issues in isolation, but to look at each person's life as a whole and link them to the care they need at the right time, so they can continue living healthy, independent lives in their own homes and communities.
The district also connects eligible seniors to a range of Yangcheon-gu-specific specialized services tailored to individual needs: a "Y Oriental Medicine Doctor" program in which a traditional Korean medicine physician visits the home directly, a "Yangcheon-style Home Exercise Guidance" service to prevent physical decline, a post-discharge integrated care linkage program to help patients return to stable daily routines after hospitalization, and a "Yangcheon-style Medication Safety Care" service to support proper medication management.
Seniors wishing to use the service can register as integrated care recipients at their local community service center, visit the Health Companion Center at the Sinwol or Mokdong community health branch, or apply by phone. For further details, contact the community health division at the Yangcheon-gu Public Health Center.
"The essence of integrated care is ensuring that seniors can receive the services they need, when they need them, without having to leave the homes and communities they know," district mayor Lee Gi-jae said. "We will draw on three years of home-visit health management experience built up through the Health Companion Center, weave it organically into our integrated care framework, and keep a close watch to make sure the support each senior needs — from health care to daily life — flows to them without interruption."
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