Youth directly examine inconveniences experienced by seniors and propose ideas
To be expanded into a generation-connecting preventive care model

The Sejong City Social Service Agency (President Lee Ki-soon) delivered 20 ‘shared walking sticks,’ proposed and manufactured by local youth after examining the daily inconveniences of local seniors, to the Sejong National Arboretum (President Kang Shin-gu) on the 17th.

This delivery ceremony was promoted as part of the ‘Dabom Project,’ a Sejong-style preventive care model under the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s open competition project called the ‘Complex Social Service Operation Model Demonstration Project.’ It holds great significance as the ideas of youth have been realized and applied in actual community spaces.

The ceremony was attended by about 20 people, including Sejong City Social Service Agency President Lee Ki-soon, Sejong National Arboretum President Kang Shin-gu, Sejong Social Economy Federation Chairman Lim In-taek, along with officials and 12 youth from the Goun Youth Center, the Sejong Regional Social Service Support Group, and HA Researcher officials.

The shared walking sticks delivered to the Sejong National Arboretum originated from ideas proposed by 12 youths from the Goun Youth Center to listen to the opinions of local seniors and solve inconveniences and safety issues in daily life. Through multiple manufacturing and improvement processes, they were completed into a practically usable form.

The ‘shared walking sticks’ are shared safety items that visitors—especially seniors who temporarily need walking assistance in parks or walking trails—can freely use and return to designated locations. Their on-site application was promoted considering the environment of the Sejong National Arboretum, which involves extensive walking tours.

Lee Ki-soon, President of the Sejong City Social Service Agency, said, “These shared walking sticks are highly meaningful in that they are the result of youth directly examining seniors' daily inconveniences and pondering solutions, which were then applied to the local community. We will continue to expand resident-participatory preventive care where generations discover and solve local care issues together.”

The Sejong City Social Service Agency plans to continuously check the operation status and user feedback of the shared walking sticks with the Sejong National Arboretum, and expand this case into a generation-connecting preventive care model where youth and seniors solve local problems together.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]