KIHASA has published Health and Welfare Forum, October, No. 312.

Foreword: The Outcomes and Future Tasks of Dementia Management Policy

Article I: "The Current Status and Implications of the Implementation of Dementia Management Policy," Yun-Kyung Lee, KIHASA

After the Dementia Management Act(2011) was enacted, dementia policy has growth markedly over the past 10 years through the Comprehensive Dementia Management Plan and the promotion of the “National Dementia Responsibility System”. The main achievements in this regard include a system for dementia prevention and early detection of dementia patients, the expansion of treatment and care coverage, and the establishment of a dementia management policy implementation system. The establishment of the Central Dementia Center, the Regional Dementia Center, and the Local Dementia Center has laid the foundation for the promotion of the dementia management policy. At the same time, it is evaluated that the long-term care insurance for the elderly and health insurance strengthened the coverage for dementia, meeting the care needs of dementia patients and their families and reducing the burden of care. In the future, there will be social demands for the efficient implementation of dementia management policies, and accordingly the need will grow for efficient role sharing between the current dementia management project execution organizations and related organizations. In this article, I examined the dementia management policy and the current status of protection of dementia patients in order to find ways to reorganize the roles of organizations performing the dementia management project. In the future, the Central Dementia Center and the Regional Dementia Center, including the Local Dementia Center, will need to support the implementation of dementia projects by related institutions as coordinators of dementia management policies in the region rather than directly involving in dementia diagnosis and provision of medical and care services in the dementia management policy. In this regard, I would like to suggest a role in overseeing dementia management policies in the region centered on customized case management.

Article II: "The Operational Status and Policy Challenges of the Dementia Care Center," Sun-Hee Lee, KIHASA

This article aims to examine the operational status of the Dementia Care Center in five years since the implementation of National Responsibility System for Dementia, and to propose measures for improvement in order to elevate the center’s position as a regional hub for managing dementia. A total of 256 Dementia Care Centers have been established in lower-tier localities across the country to increase access to dementia care, and various projects have been conducted to play a comprehensive role in managing dementia. However, issues have been reported on matters such as operational gaps within centers caused by regional conditions, difficulties in supplying workers and reduction in stability, and imbalances in business operations regardless of the achievements of expanding the scope of infrastructure. Considering that social demand will grow for Dementia Care Centers in the future as the number of dementia patients increase, reorganizing work range, ensuring stable and professional operational structure, and strengthening the governance system are emphasized to improve the operational efficiency of the Dementia Care Center.

Article III: "Expansion of Dementia Relief Village and Development of Dementia-Friendly Community," Se-jin Kim, KIHASA

Dementia-friendly community is a concept that is treated as a very important factor for the continuous community residence of the elderly. Of the various policies to build dementia-friendly communities in South Korea, the policy of dementia relief villages is the most essential project to build dementia-friendly communities. Through this expansion of dementia relief villages, communities will be able to establish a dementia-friendly environment. To this end, this article proposed the dementia relief village management system through the organization of dementia relief village led by local resident for continuous expansion of dementia relief villages.

Article IV: "Trends and Implications of Global Dementia-Friendly Community Policies: Focused on Integrating Age- and Dementia-Friendly Community Models," Eun-Ha Namkung, KIHASA

This article aims to describe the global trends in dementia-friendly community movements, including the World Health Organization’s dementia-friendly initiatives and the Dementia Friendly America (DFA) network in the U.S. The goal of the WHO dementia- friendly communities is to enhance the inclusion of all individuals in society, regardless of age, (cognitive) disability, and other individual characteristics, which is very similar to the goal of age-friendly communities. The concept of age-friendly communities has long been developed and implemented across many local communities around the globe. Thus, the efforts to create dementia-friendly communities should be integrated and coordinated in conjunction with the policies and actions to foster age-friendly communities. In addition, efforts to scale up an existing dementia-friendly initiative are necessary with the active participation of and support from people with dementia and their families.

Article V: "Dementia Policies in Long-term Care Insurance and Their Implications for Improvement," Eun-na Kang, KIHASA

The Long-term Care Insurance was introduced to improve the quality of life of the elderly who have difficulties in their daily lives and to mitigate the burden of care on family members. At the time of its introduction, the long-term care insurance was designed as a social insurance system to respond to the deterioration of physical function. However, as the number of elderly people with dementia symptoms and the burden of family care increased so much over time as to become a “social problem”, the long-term care insurance has expanded services for seniors with dementia and their families. The dementia policy in the long-term care insurance needs to become more proactive through the creation of customized professional services and environments based on the characteristics of the recipients.

Article VI: "Senior Housing with Supportive Services for Low-income Older Adults in the United States, So-jung park & Byeong-ju Ryu, Washington University in St. Louis

South Korea is s moving into a super-aged society with growing societal care costs for older adults. Various housing models with support and care for older people have been developed and promoted as an effective way of facilitating aging in place and delaying the institutionalization of an older population. This study aims to review various supportive housing models for low-income older adults in the United States and provide policy implications for affordable senior housing developments in South Korea. The study highlights the roles of service coordination in the residential well-being of older residents in senior housing. Also, the official partnerships on the federal level were provided in this study, which interconnect housing, health, and social services.