From August 8th to 12th, 2025,Support for sustainable decision-making and arrangements that preserve dignity for everyone during and after life" project, I visited Seoul, Korea to investigate decision-making support for the elderly. The outline of the investigation is as follows:HerePlease see the article.
On August 12th, we visited the Nowon Senior Citizens Welfare Center in Seoul. In this article, Researcher Tachiba reports on the facility's overview and initiatives.
This facility opened in 1989 as Korea's first comprehensive welfare center for the elderly, and is a social welfare facility that has been in operation to this day.The facility's mission is to be a "senior plaza for the coexistence of all people," and it provides care for the elderly in the community.
Approximately 300 elderly people visit the center each day and take advantage of a variety of programs, including digital literacy education, general education courses, and human rights education and outreach to society through the publication of an in-house newspaper and broadcasting.
As part of our health support, we also provide health consultations, basic medical examinations, and mental health care, both directly and through collaboration with the local community. Furthermore, to help seniors maintain their daily lives, we provide safety support through visits and phone calls, as well as visiting services for daily life such as going out, meals, and cleaning, for those who have weak social ties, are in financial difficulty, or are at high risk of dying alone due to declining physical functions. We also provide support for job hunting and re-employment, if desired.
One of the features of this welfare center is its special educational program on "well-dying." Well-dying is the concept of a "good death" or "death with dignity," and well-dying is being actively discussed in Korea, with a law regarding the nature of death called the "Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment Decision-Making Act" coming into effect in 2018. This facility was the first in Korea to run a "Death Preparation School" in 2006, providing well-dying education and supporting the creation of advance directives (ADs).
In recent years, we have also been working to create smart welfare facilities for the elderly, building the "New Smart Senior Place" and providing a space and educational environment for seniors to learn digital literacy and how to use digital devices, and supporting related education and digital-friendly daily life.
First, we visited the "New Smart Senior Place" area, which aims to maintain cognitive function through devices that allow users to play games such as Hanafuda, promote exercise through devices that utilize VR and AR, and encourage communication between users through these activities.
They also offer seminars on creating content for video sharing sites such as YouTube, and I was impressed to see that they had a video shooting studio for users.
In addition to these smart devices, the facility also has a full range of facilities for traditional leisure activities. The next area we visited featured rooms for activities such as Go, calligraphy, and table tennis, all of which were well-attended.
In addition, because this facility is under the umbrella of the company that manages the nearby housing complex, lunch is provided free of charge to the residents of the complex. When we visited, many people were there to eat.
Finally, we visited the fitness club and cafe. On the same floor, there was also a one-stop consultation counter with specialists in administrative procedures related to elderly care, and an ACP consultation corner. We were surprised at the extensive service.
All the users were smiling, and one even told us as we toured the facility, "This facility is the best in the world!", and it was clear that they were very satisfied.
When you think of facilities for the elderly, you might imagine them as "a place to end one's life" or "a place far away from society," but I felt that this facility is one where each user can live life as they wish, connect with society, and prepare positively for the eventual death.
A word from the lead researcher (Kaname Sawamura):
Outside, there was a park equipped with exercise equipment. The various spaces we introduced have apparently been funded by Seoul City and other corporations. Perhaps because it was lunchtime, each space was crowded with people using them.
We learned that the social workers at this elderly care facility volunteer by sharing their time with the surrounding high-rise apartment buildings and providing support to people who have been discharged from psychiatric hospitals, making it a base for local professionals.
