Silvertown for the Golden Years

Written By Karly Pierre

The band comes every Wednesday.  An elderly woman grabs the microphone and heads toward the front of the crowded dining hall—swaying and singing while she parrots the flashing lyrics on the screen. Everyone claps along to the familiar rhythm. They cheer on both her vocal triumphs and shortcomings. Soon the microphone will be passed to someone else in the crowd, but not before the bandleader invites her for a spin on the dance floor.

Noel Silver Town is one of a rising number of elderly nursing homes in Korea, a service essential to meeting the demand of a rapidly aging society. Korea’s 65 and over age demographic, which now accounts for 13.1 percent of the population, is projected to balloon to 40.1 percent by 2060, according to Statistics Korea. Caring for generations with longer life expectancies along with changing family dynamics has become a challenge for the nation.

“The band is from the Western District Office,” Noel Silver Town Director Jeong Eun Mi explained. The music
from the dining hall fades to a distant thumping as she walks down a hallway. She points out colorful origami dangling from strings, a photo of two residents playfully arm wrestling and a small celadon vase. “A resident made that vase. Sometimes they sell their pottery at flea markets.”

From the sunroom’s large windows, the view of the surrounding hills, orchards and garden below are a reminder to the facility’s 28 residents that not all of Korea is racing forward. For this generation, who Jeong said are known as “Hills of Barley,” the thought is comforting.

“Our residents aren’t strong enough to work in a garden anymore,” Jeong said. “So they watch the farmers in the garden and sometimes give them advice.”

All of the facility’s residents are women in their 80s or older. Most were factory workers in the past.  This is the generation, Jeong notes, that experienced “years of intense starvation and hardship,” only to find themselves swept up in the middle of the nation’s economic boom without a safety net.

“They were devoting too much to their families and could not prepare themselves for their elderly years,” Jeong said. “In Korea’s current system, it is difficult for families to care for elderly family members in the home as we did in the past. Within a family, both parents are working and family size has decreased.”

In traditional Korean Confucian society, caring for the elderly was the responsibility of the family, namely the eldest son. Jeong notes that in the past, sending an elderly family member to a nursing facility was considered abandonment, but with the government’s recent push to expand long-term welfare, facilities like this no longer have a negative stigma.

Woolgang Church, led by Pastor Kim Yoo Su, launched Noel Silver Town in 2009. Jeong has served as director from the beginning.  She previously worked in the Eastern District Public Health Center and was a professor at Honnam University in the Social Welfare Department.

“I would send my students on practicums to various nursing homes, and my students would return complaining about the poor living conditions of the elderly,” Jeong said. “From that experience, I wanted Silver Town to be a role model for nursing homes in Korea.”

Many residents in the facility are wheelchair bound, but Jeong has implemented programs to create an environment in which residents do not feel trapped indoors. Elementary and kindergarten students regularly visit to create a cross-generational connection. There is a fitness program, cooking classes and, a particular favorite among residents, foot aromatherapy massage sessions.

“They get to relax and talk to the masseurs,” Jeong said. “The elderly are so used to giving and not receiving, it’s important to create experiences that focus on them only. Occasionally, we will take them on outings for a picnic or festivals. They eat and shop…During Chuseok we made songpyeon together. It’s funny because the residents can make them faster than our cooks.”

Noel Silver Town’s staff of 18 includes nurses, cooks, caregivers and administrators. Jeong has visited a number of nursing homes in other countries including Japan, Sweden and the United States and feels that a “smaller is better” approach is more effective when providing elder care.

“After touring other facilities, I feel we have high quality programs and services,” Jeong said. “I think elderly people feel lonelier in bigger facilities.”

A waiting list is evidence of Noel Silver Town’s growing reputation in the community. It offers a high standard of service, but is able to keep its fees relatively low (around 400,000 won per month) when compared with other nursing homes in Korea. This is due in large part to the support it receives from Woolgang Church.  Also, in July 2008, the government began the Long-term Care Insurance System, which supplements expenses at nursing facilities.

With changing demographic trends and new government initiatives, elder care is set to become a thriving industry in Korea. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, in 2001, 7,864 elderly people resided in 128 nursing homes throughout the country. In 2012, 103,973 elderly Koreans resided in 4,079 nursing homes. A 2011 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report showed the number of long-term care beds in Korea was increasing at a markedly faster rate than any other developed country.

Although elder care is a nationally debated issue, the decision to enter a nursing home is a personal one.

“In their hearts and minds, the elderly want to be with their families,” Jeong said. “But some elderly came here of their own will because they think it is better to be taken care of by the facility since we provide food at regular times and they are able to be social.”

Families considering moving an elderly family member to Noel Silver Town are given a tour and subsequent counseling in order to make a decision.

“Many Koreans think that if you enter a nursing home you will stay there forever, but that’s not always the case,” Jeong said. “This is also a good place for recovery. If the resident’s health improves and they want to return home, they can. That has happened a few times here.”

Although Noel Silver Town was founded by a Christian church, its openness to welcome people of all spiritual backgrounds appeals to residents and their families.

“Most families like the fact that we have morning services everyday and ministers visit us on Sundays,” Jeong said. “We sing and pray, but there are some people who are not religious and that is fine…I believe that through caring for the elderly I am spreading the love of Jesus. I feel joy seeing the happy families when they visit. That kind of moment motivates me.