Guro-gu to host 5th social welfare forum of 2026

Guro-gu will hold its 5th Social Welfare Forum of 2026 on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the auditorium on the fifth floor of the Guro-gu District Office main building.

The forum, themed "From today's integrated care to tomorrow's Guro-style integrated care," is designed to review the achievements and challenges of the district's first year implementing community-based integrated care and to chart a path forward so residents can continue living healthy, dignified lives in their own homes.

The Act on Integrated Support for Local Care, covering medical and long-term care, took full effect on March 27, 2026, placing local governments at the center of integrated care systems. The forum will address key challenges raised in the field, including strengthening case management expertise, sharing resources and information across institutions, and building a cooperative foundation spanning the medical, long-term care and welfare sectors.

The forum will consist of expert presentations followed by a field-focused panel discussion.

The first presentation will be delivered by a specialist in the silver-industry welfare sector, covering the direction for building a Guro-gu-style care system to enhance the effectiveness of community-based integrated care.

The head of Guro-gu's integrated care division will then share the district's current progress and future challenges under the theme "Guro-gu integrated care: current status and tasks."

The subsequent panel discussion will bring together representatives from welfare, disability services, dementia management and other fields to debate the future of Guro-style integrated care. Drawing on frontline experience, participants will broadly discuss cooperation strategies to improve the effectiveness of integrated care, sector-specific implementation tasks and directions for policy improvement.

A question-and-answer session will also give attendees the opportunity to share their views on integrated care freely and gather diverse voices from the field toward building a community-centered care system.

The forum is hosted and organized by Guro-gu, the Guro-gu Community Social Security Council and the Guro Hope Welfare Foundation, with support from the Seoul branch of the Community Chest of Korea. About 100 people are expected to attend, including council members, workers in related fields and local residents.

Guro-gu District Mayor Jang In-hong said close cooperation among institutions across medicine, long-term care, welfare and other sectors — as well as the broader community — is just as essential as administrative effort for integrated care to take root successfully. "Through this forum, we will examine together what integrated care has achieved and where it falls short, and work toward building a Guro-style integrated care system where residents can receive the services they need while continuing their stable daily lives in the places they call home," Jang said.

Guro-gu plans to incorporate the expert and frontline opinions discussed at the forum into future integrated care policy and project implementation, building a sustainable care system tailored to the district's unique characteristics.