When COVID-19 forced the closure of the Dementia Care Center in Gangdong-gu, South Korea, in February 2020, Gangdong-gu Mayor Lee Jung-hun launched a “remote medical assessment” pilot for dementia patients in the city, combined with visiting nurse services.
This telemedicine service has not only helped to fill the huge gap left by the centre’s closure, but has also helped resolve unequal access to health care in the city.Since its launch, the telemedicine service has greatly eased the situation of older people awaiting dementia assessments.
In 2020, 227 people received a remote dementia examination and 1100 people benefitted from the visiting nurse services.A city with a good dementia response track recordGangdong-gu already had a good