Older residents who have difficulty getting to the Dementia Care Center can now receive early dementia screening at their neighborhood welfare center. The Dementia Care Center of the public health center of Michuhol-gu District (Mayor Kim Jung-sik) in Incheon opened a 'mobile dementia branch' with Sungui Community Welfare Center on the 22nd.
 [The Korean Today] Mobile dementia branch at Sungui Community Welfare Center © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The mobile branch operates for two hours every Thursday, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Screenings are held in the assessment room on the third floor of Sungui Community Welfare Center, where specialists from the Dementia Care Center give cognitive screening tests to residents one at a time.
Any Michuhol-gu resident who wants a test can receive one free of charge. Because the center goes directly to where residents live, residents face fewer steps and less travel to get screened.
The public health center set up the mobile branch for two purposes. One is to make screening easier for older residents who find it hard to visit the center because of limited mobility or distance. The other is to actively identify new candidates who have never received early screening.
 [The Korean Today] Mobile dementia branch in operation © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The earlier dementia is detected and managed and treated, the better the chances of slowing the progression of symptoms and preserving the ability to carry out daily activities. This makes regular early screening important. The public health center expects that holding screenings at a welfare center residents already visit regularly will reduce the time and distance involved in visiting the center.
The Dementia Care Center already runs a mobile branch at the public health center every Monday during the same hours, and resident response has reportedly been positive. With the addition of Sungui Community Welfare Center, residents can now get screened twice a week: at the public health center on Mondays and at the welfare center on Thursdays.
Attention is on how effective this move to improve access to screening will be in identifying and managing, at an early stage, older residents who had fallen through the gaps in screening. More information is available from the Michuhol-gu Dementia Care Center (☎032-728-6520).
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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