The Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD)

Korea Information Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (KINPEA) held the 2nd World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Anniversary on June 11, Monday, 2007, following the first event in 2006. The second event was held from 10:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. on the 12th floor of the Busan Metropolitan City Hall. There were 300 participants, including many counselors and professionals from the Elder Abuse centers nationwide as well as the elders along with their family.
Particularly, the special event to mark the purple color as the token of hope for the awareness on elder abuse to be brought to light from darkness was included in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
All participants tied purple handkerchiefs around their wrists and shouted the slogan, “Moving Forward” right before the declaration of Human Rights for the Elderly, and let their handkerchiefs remain worn until the end of ceremony as the sign for the ‘Purple Movement.’
Ms. Alrene Groh, Elder Abuse Restorative Justice Resource Consultant for the Elder Abuse Response Team, presented the examples of many inevitable family conflicts caused by elder abuse and suggested restorative justice as the alternative solution. In the following session, the discussion and Q&A session followed to offer a valuable opportunity for professionals from both Korea and Canada. After the event, we received the letter of gratitude from the mayor of Kitchener, the mayor of Waterloo, and the Waterloo Regional Police. We thank them all for their kind acknowledgement. Also, we’d like to extend our sincere gratitude to Ms. Alrene Groh, for her kind cooperation as well as strong effort, and we look forward to continued exchanges and cooperation to build the society free of elder abuse.

Also, the director of the institute, Dr. Donghee Han, participated in the WEAAD 2007 “Pre-Event” Global Symposium: "Exchanges on Achievements and Future Strategies." at WHO, Geneva, from June 14-15, 2007. It was time of much worth and importance as she presented Korea’s elder abuse and human right advocacy movement to the international representatives and she established strong network with them. We promise to continue to exert our utmost to raise international awareness on elder abuse and move forward in search of the ultimate solution.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day to be Held on June, 11

The event to mark the Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day will be held on 11th of June in Busan, Korea. This is the second event following the first Korea World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June, 15, 2006. This year’s theme of the Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is “Moving Forward.” The event will include the celebration of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and the workshop in the Busan Metropolitan City Hall. Ms. Alren Groh, Elder Abuse Restorative Justice Resource Consultant for the Elder Abuse Response Team, will make presentation during the workshop with the title, “Restorative Justice Approach for the Elder Abuse.” Restorative Approach offers the solution of elder abuse that is the closest to Korean culture and customs, and it can be applied to other family problems such as family violence or conflicts. It also aims to find practical solution to elder abuse around the world, bringing the victims, the wrongdoer, and their communities together for collaborative harmony. We also hope the event will help raise awareness across the countries.

We’re Family - 1080 Game Festival

To promote close relationship between the first generation and the third generation, we’re planning to hold the event called ‘We’re Family – 1080 Game Festival’ on May 26, Saturday. The event is divided into two sections; online and off - line activities. The online game is planned to introduce the current game trend of teenagers to the older adults and improve positive relationship among the adolescents and the elderly. On the other hand, the off - line game will give the chance for the adolescents to understand traditional playing culture through off - line activities. We hope the event will help promote deeper understanding of each other, offering both time and space for mutual communication between them.
It is also a movement to destroy the prejudice of older persons and deliver information culture for the elderly. One of the participants posted her story on the web, saying,
“It is funny that young generation can’t take part in the on-line game festival without their grandparents.” It’s our cordial wish that the event will provide valuable moment for all the participants, combining both young and old to produce good harmony.

The End of 2007 Namhae Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific

The Third Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific has reached its successful closure and we would like to extend our cordial gratitude to all who participated in 2007 Namhae Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific. Without your strong support and kind cooperation, the conference could not have turned out to be as fruitful as it is. We also highly appreciate hard effort of those who had diligently worked for the success of the event. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the institute, and we therefore consider the conference to be full of valuable meaning. We are not planning to hold a big ceremony to congratulate our 10th anniversary, but we do plan to work on several projects for the betterment of the elderly and their communities. We already have published books with the title ‘Cyber Family’ and held the Third Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific. The current future plan includes ‘We’re Family - 1080 Game Festival’, ‘The Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Korea’, and ‘the 2nd World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Geneva.’ We hope to extend our work for improving the quality of life for the elderly and their communities as we mark the 10th anniversary of our institute, and sincerely wish the best for all who have exhibited their keen interest in Active Aging. Thank you.

2007 Namhae Active Ageing Conference in Asia Pacific

2007 Namhae Active Ageing Conference in Asia Pacific will be held from May 16 to 18, this week. The institute has worked in cooperation with the administration of Namhae and many other organizations. Also, a number of national and international professionals in gerontology have showed us their strong support and hard effort for the successful conference, which has spurred us to work even harder. Without the support and interest from all of you, we would not have been able to come this far. We’d like to extend our sincere gratitude to every one of you and cordially look forward to seeing you in Namhae with all of our heart. Thank you.

Centenarian in Namhae

This is the picture of an elderly woman whose age is 100 and currently living in the longevity region of Namhae. The four generations are living together in her house and she still maintains her grace at her age. Her 100th anniversary passed just a month ago and we congratulated her birthday. We sincerely hope many elders will live a healthy and active life in old age and work together for active ageing. From her smile, we can feel “getting older is not just bad.”

Shanghai Government Representatives’ Visit

The representatives from Civil Bureau of Shanghai Government visited the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly in Busan, Korea to discuss the common solution to elderly problems in both Korea and China.Also, it offered a valuable opportunity to share the vision for the 2008 Fourth Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific.

Cyber Family’s Off-line Meeting

The Cyber Family (Busan Keonguk Middle School, Japan Osaka Keonguk Middle School, and Elderly Participants) exchange program was conducted on March, 19, 2007. This gave Cyber Family a chance to meet their long-cherished members again after the offline festival last year. We hope Cyber Family will continue their good harmony via the internet no matter how far they are as they became a virtual family.

Seventeens and Seventies “We feel no Generational Gap”

On / off-line Meeting through Cyber Family Program by the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly
The warm conversation between adolescents and the elderly…now made into the book

[Pusanilbo 2007. 02.15]

Is an honest talk between grandpa in seventies and a boy in seventeen possible? For grandpa, a boy may seem fussy. As for a boy, grandpa may seem fusty.

However, the real problem has always been the bias. That’s why the program turned out to be effective. The program was conducted by the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly. The whole result was compiled in the book called ‘사이버 가족 Cyber Family’. It is rather a compiling report of the past 10 years since the establishment of the institute.

The book doesn’t have one specific figure. It is a book without heroes. Instead of heroes, there are a number of pictures and talks. In the pictures, many elderly and children appear. They had an open talk, as if they were playing at a tug of war or three-legged race to overcome the generational gap.

“I want to raise my hand and ask the teacher a question, but I have no courage to do so as I’m not very good at studying. I don’t want to be seen, by my friends, as bothering the class. I know I have to do something to change my personality, but I simply can’t.”

“Why don’t you try raising your question loudly? The beginning is always difficult, but once you get used to it, you’ll be better at it.”

“Well, I understand raising a question is not easy. Why don’t you send an e-mail to your teacher? Your curiosity on something proves that you have interest in the study. Also, don’t underestimate your fine personality.”

These are the posted articles in the Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 . First, the adolescent posted their questions and then the elderly wrote their answers. The talk was not awkward. Rather, it appears more familiar than the one between friends of the same age. The problem was not generational gap.

The Chapter 7 attracted our attention for the same reason.
“Studying is my biggest trouble. And I started to feel annoyed at nagging of my parents. I feel like I’m becoming an adolescent. I want to go out of my house. I don’t know if my parents are aware of this.”

“You feel probably bad about your parents since they don’t express their care but only nag you out. Then, imagine that you’re a father and what would you do with your children. Can you think of different ways to treat them? I think your parents are concerned about the fact that if you lose the time to study right now, you’ll have rare chance to do it again. That is because of the love of your parents to you.”

The grade and lose of self-confidence is the common topic for the adolescent. Therefore, the topic tends to be quite serious. However, it doesn’t mean that the talk also has to be weighed down. With a simple phrase of “I understand you,” the gate of the talk was opened. The Chapter 31 and the Chapter 35 contains this issue.

“I’ve studied early in the morning, but my grades don’t improve. What should I do?”

“I guess you feel quite a burden. I’ve seen some people who were weak in an actual test. However, the effort is never in vain as long as there’s a certain goal.”

“Hypnotize yourself. There are not always good things in the world. “Murphy’s law’ is much more powerful than ‘Sally’s law’. I’d like to tell you that if you can’t avoid it, then enjoy it.”

The talk doesn’t always need a special topic. There are some articles that share the remembrance and experiences in the Chapter 6 .
“I was surprised to hear that an azalea is edible. I tried some and the taste was sweet though a bit strange.”
“You haven’t tried an azalea until now? When I was a girl like you, I used to play with my friends a ‘flower game’ and ate an azalea so much that both of my lips became blue. We called an edible plant as a real flower and inedible as a dog flower.”

The talk goes beyond the national boundaries. In the Chapter 42 and Chapter 44 , there are cyber talks between the students in Osaka, Japan and the elderly in Korea.
“Dear grandpa and grandma in Korea. I feel like we’re much closer through talking on the Internet. I can’t go to Korea often, but I’m really happy to meet our Cyber Family any time through the internet.”

Any tangled yarn can be raveled smoothly with time. The conversation was just like that. It was the exit to the blocked world without communication. Whenever the adolescents expressed their troubles and the elderly posted their answer. The answer was more like sympathy than an advice, but what was needed to overcome the generational gap was ‘not an advice, but sympathy’.

‘Cyber Family (www.wellageing.com) Program began back in 2004. It was designed to destroy the negative prejudice of the relationship between the adolescents and the elderly. Anyone can post their articles and answers, but six schools decided to ‘stay as a virtual member.’ These include Gamman and Manduk Middle School in Busan, Gohyun Middle school in Gyeongnam, Pogok Middle School in Gyeonggi, Hwasan Middle School in Jeonnam, Japan Osaka Keonguk Middle School and the Busan branch of the National Health Insurance Corporation. They had an off-line festival when they first met face to face beyond the internet. The clue of the conversation was closer than our thoughts.
Hyunchoong Paek choong@busanilbo.com

2007 Namhae ACAP Logo Concept

The logo symbolizes the Namhae Grand Bridge to depict the active aging of Namhae people.

The blue suspension line begins from the figure of an old couple and connects island to island, province to province, and nation to nation.

The green color portrays the vibrant nature of Namhae and the red color represents the vitality of active aging

In summary, the design embraces the nature, people, and the symbol of Namhae(the Grand Bridge) in a holistic harmony.

Cyber Family Book

We are more than happy to announce the publication of the Cyber Family Book in Korea. The Book includes all the materials posted on the website at http://www.wellageing.com/. The Cyber Family Program is regarded as a great contributor to the intergeneration of the adolescents and the seniors.
This book is available in Korean version. The following is the description of the book.

Cyber Family is a practical program for intergeneration as a new family model in the digital era.
It has encouraged the seniors who have lived through analogue era to extend their love and warmth to the adolescents in the digital era who have had no experience of such feelings.
In the Cyber Family Space (www.wellageing.com), there is a strong sympathy on the chaotic identity between the adolescents and the seniors. It has changed both the negative prejudice of the seniors through various activities of the elderly and the adolescents, helping them to overcome their weaknesses and inner chaos through continuous love and caring support from the seniors.
Cyber Family went offline in July, 2006 and it gave a chance to face-to-face interaction whose impact and love still flows online today. The model was favorably received not only in Korea, but also by the SeniorNet in the US, the Active Aging Network in the US as well as in Japan, China and Korea.
The participating schools and organizations include;
1. Pogok Middle School
2. Hwasan Middle School
3. Gohyun Middle school
4. Gamman Middle School
5. Manduk Middle School
6. Japan Osaka Keonguk Middle School
7. Busan Branch of the National Health Insurance Corporation
8. Senior Members of Wellageing

It took a great deal of not only our own effort, but also our network that supported us more than we expected. We sincerely thank every one who participated in the program and would like to acknowledge their strong encouragement. Thank you so much and let us make wellageing worldwide!

Elder Abuse Content Development

The Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly has developed the contents on the Elder Abuse. This will provide the information on the elder abuse for those suffering from a disease and their family. The content is included in Doumnara Content operating under the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO).

KADO, Doumnara Content Demonstration
[Digital Times 2006.October 31]
Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) held a demonstration ceremony on the 30th of October. During the ceremony, KADO (CEO Yeonki-Son, www.kado.or.kr) demonstrated its Doumnara Content (www.itall.or.kr) development and pledged for the customer satisfaction.
The content includes; △ Leisure Culture △ Social Work Promotion-9 contents related to the challenged people, △ Elder Abuse △ Medical Encyclopedia △ Family-7 contents related to the elderly, and transportation system(Both) which account to 17 in total(new 5 contents, complementary 12 contents). Those contents will be available through Doumnara from the 6th of November.
During the “Customer Satisfaction Pledge,” 10 related organizations- namely the Korea Association for the Mentally Retarded (CEO Yeonchang-Bae) and Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly (Director. Donghee Han) - joined the ceremony.
`Doumnara’ is a special portal site for the challenged and the elderly which was initiated in November, 2002 to provide practical information online freely without local, economical, physical limitation.
[Hwa Young Sim]

"Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day"

International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse will hold the Second World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Geneva, Switzerland. As the Korean Representative of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, our institute will join the event by commemorating the day in cooperation with the Busan Metropolitan City on June 15.
The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day celebrated "The First World Elder Abuse Awareness Day" on June 15, 2006 at UN Headquarters, New York. The institute joined the event by holding the ceremony titled “My World, Your World, Our World- Free of Elder Abuse” on the same day at KT Building in Busan, Korea.

" The 100th anniversary of Alzheimer’s disease "

2007 marks the 100th anniversary of Alzheimer’s disease. Many works have been done to cure this disease, but it was not enough to support for those daunting number of the Baby Boom Generation.
International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics have issued the statement on Alzheimer’s disease to raise awareness on the issue as well as assess what have been done and have to be done in face of the aged society. In light of this movement, the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly will promote its Social Drama which describes the affect of dementia on the patient and her family caused by Alzheimer’s disease. 2007 is the turning point for our institute, too. The 2007 Namhae Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific is to be held from May 16(Wed) to 18(Fri) and we’re happy to hold our conference at this important time.

Adieu 2006

Adieu 2006
Our institute has done lots of works this year.
Inside, we have developed many programs for active aging and empowerment for older people such as Social Drama, Contents on Prevention of Elder Abuse and Re-designing Program for older person, informatization of the elderly, Dementia Support Program for Dementia Family, and Cyber Family Program which is really precious one for our wellaging.
Abroad, we held Active Aging Forum as well as introduced Namhae as a Healthy City in the 2nd General Assembly and Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities. Also, we visited SeniorNet in the USA and decided to cooperate for creative Senior Culture on the internet. Moreover, we are currently preparing 2007 Namhae Active Aging Conference in Asia Pacific as the Secretariat Office. We appreciate all your kind concern and continuous encouragement with all our heart. We wish great blessing from God on 2007 for all of our valuable supporters. We sincerely wish you a Happy New Year and promise to do our best for wellaging in this world.

2006 December 20th Yeonje Silver College

Yeonje Silver College in Gyeongsang National University reached the end of semester.
80 old people in Yeonje-gu and the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly have had class in Yeonje Silver College through Senior Re-designing Program from March to December this year.
Senior Re-designing Program is the program to help the seniors to find information in the cyber space to find the way for them to engage in social participation actively.
Also, it aims to help the seniors to realize the old age is the second life time to try new challenge through the program and prepare themselves for their second life.
The program progress helps the elderly to change their negative concept of society, and family as well as the uneasiness of his or her intrinsic & extrinsic change.
Besides social issues, they are encouraged to discuss how they feel about Senior Culture, develop relationship with their family and neighbors, and have positive attitude and active thinking on the environments around them.
Also, they learned passionately in the fact that aging in the informatization era is not calamity but opportunity to have a chance for society participation.
Especially, some of them felt happy by sending their family greetings and congratulation card via e-mail, giving an advice to the adolescents on the bulletin board at our Wellageing website.
We hope for all of the students in Yeonje Silver College who put Active Aging in practice this program for the past year that the program has helped design a new lifestyle.

Research in Namhae

December. 12
Many officials in Namhae are putting their effort together on various training program and necessary arrangements to hold the 2007 ACAP successfully. Hence, Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly has conducted education meeting with them to let them know of the idea and strategy of Active Ageing.

December. 15
Health&Welfare Center in Namhae and Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly has arranged a research on a group of preliminary seniors(ranging from 40-64) who are about to enter legally senior age about their satisfaction level and attitude toward Namhae.
This survey will be a groundwork for more pratcical approach to making Namhae the best healthy city.

Press Release

[Namhae] Healthy City Namhae Project Fully Underway
[Yonhap News 2006-11-28 15:05]
- Namhae-gun held ‘active aging in Namhae’ symposium with national professionals
WHO Healthy City Namhae held ‘Making Namhae a Healthy City’ symposium in Namhae Culture & Health Center on 28th at 10 a.m. Governor of Namhae Youngje- Ha and Yeongtae-Kim, the speaker of Namhae County, along with health professionals and 300 villagers filled the center. This symposium was arranged to cope with the ageing society and promote health industry in Namhae as a longevity region. The theme of the symposium was ‘Active Aging in Namhae’ and there were lots of heated discussions, lectures, and presentations among the national professionals.
During the symposium, many scholars gave their lectures on the issue. Among them were Kwanguk-Ko, a professor of Kosin University, titled ‘Aging and Health’; Donghee-Han, a director of Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly, titled ‘Vision and Project for Active Aging in Namhae’; Haesung-Nam, a professor of Chungnam University, titled ‘Effect of Health City’; Kunyeop-Kim, a professor of Konyang University, titled ‘Barometer of Healthy City’.
Also there were presentations by Jungdal-Park, a director of agriculture technology center, titled ‘Healthy City and Longevity Region Promotion in Villages’; Cheolho-Lee, a chairman of Health City Organizing Committee, titled ‘Medical Side on Ageing’; Jongpyeo-Lee, a congressman of Namhae, titled ‘Security and Independence for the Elderly’; Moonsan-Park, a president of silver university in Namhae, titled ‘Silver Participation’
Following the symposium, social drama was held in Namhae Culture&Health Center at 2 p.m. by the members of senior club from Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly. There was discussion time after the performance among the participants on the solution to the problem of dementia and dementia family.

Namhae was appointed WHO Healthy City in July, last year. It has promoted various Health Campaign to make ‘Health Barometer’ akin to the regional trait. One of them was ‘No Smoke Village Campaign’, which was favorably received nationally and internationally.
It also plans to hold ‘2007 Namhae Active Ageing Conference in Asia Pacific(ACAP)’ to make concrete policy for the ageing society and raise its international status next year.

Creating the senior IT club

There was a club which is senior IT volunteerism Wellageing Metro. It is from wellageing from LG Metrocity Apartment. The Wellageing IT center has tried to do informatization for older person. After learning how to use of computer, the member of senior IT members will do a lot of works for own their community by themselves. It will be a good culture for seniors to be participants and social integration in healthy city.

Date : 1, December, 2006

Visited Kohyun Middle School, We are Cyber Family.

The aged in wellaging of the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly called at the Kohyun Middle School, the Cyber Family, which placed in Namhae gun of Gyeongsangnam do Province on 28, November, 2006.

Both the aged and the student of the Kohyun were looking forward to seeing each other.

All the students of the school, 59 persons, received visitors, 20 persons gleefully and they had a good time with the aged in their school library.

They embraced each other with tearful eyes because of glad meeting and engaged in animated conversation. It was so impressive!

It was so wonderful day, because of their love, not the online on the site but the offline meeting. Also, It was more meaningful in that they had strong solidarity.
We hope that everyone have a continuous talk that we couldn't have while on the internet.

We offer the student and teachers of the Kohyun Middle school my heart and felt thanks for your hearty welcome.