Gyeongil University trains student dementia partners

Gyeongil University held a dementia partner training session Monday in partnership with the Gyeongsan Dementia Care Center, bringing together 120 students enrolled in a community service course at a seminar room in the university's Building 5.

A dementia partner is someone who has completed training offered by national and regional dementia centers or local dementia care centers.

Partners can take part in a range of activities — from awareness campaigns and volunteer work to sharing information, checking in on people with dementia and maintaining community contact networks.

Gyeongil University runs the dementia partner training program every semester in conjunction with its community service curriculum, in collaboration with the Gyeongsan Dementia Care Center, and plans to expand it through additional training and related activities so it goes beyond a one-time offering.

The university also plans to develop a major-linked dementia volunteer program that lets students apply knowledge and skills from their own fields of study to addressing community health challenges.

It intends to expand service-learning programs in which faculty and students participate together, and to connect those efforts with volunteer club activities to sustain ongoing community engagement.

Bae Young-ja, head of the Department of Social Welfare Management and the professor in charge of the community service course, said it is vital for university students to move from building a proper understanding of dementia all the way through to hands-on volunteer experience.