Seoul district trains subway workers to protect seniors with dementia

Inside one station in Seoul’s sprawling underground transit system, station workers and retail clerks are being trained to spot and assist disoriented elderly passengers, part of a new municipal initiative to address Korea's rapidly expanding dementia population.

Songpa District in southeastern Seoul has transformed its busiest subway hubs into a localized safety net for elderly commuters with dementia. The district launched the Songpa Metro-Care program, marking the first time a municipal district in the capital has integrated public transportation hubs into its official dementia care network.

The initiative addresses a growing urban safety challenge.

As Korea accelerates into a super-aged society, public health authorities estimate that the national dementia population among those 65 and older will exceed 1 million for the first time this year. With wandering episodes posing life-threatening risks in high-density urban corridors, officials are recognizing that medical centers alone are no longer enough.

"To ensure that dementia patients and their families can live with peace of mind, our protective systems must extend beyond specialized care centers into the everyday spaces people navigate every single day," Seo said.

The need for vigilance in public transit systems became starkly evident last March, when a man with dementia slipped away from his wife inside a subway station in central Seoul. After a frantic search involving transit police and station staff scouring closed-circuit camera feeds and train manifests, he was located unharmed hours later onboard a northbound line.

To prevent similar incidents from spiraling into tragedy, Songpa District partnered with Seoul Metro to establish the Metro-Care framework across eight major transfer stations, including Jamsil, Garak Market and Songpa’s stretch of Seoul Subway Line 9.

The strategy operates through four integrated pillars.

First, direct emergency hotlines now connect station masters, local police and the Songpa Dementia Care Center to streamline intake and expedite family reunions. To back up this network, station personnel completed 12 specialized training sessions covering nonconfrontational communication, behavioral cues and protocols for safely assisting lost seniors, earning official certification as Dementia Partners.

The safety net also extends beyond station offices by designating underground pharmacies, cafes and convenience stores as temporary safe havens equipped with emergency protocols. Finally, the district is driving public awareness through monthly screening events and targeted transit advisories that encourage commuters to report disoriented seniors.

Seoul’s move reflects a growing global trend among transit systems in big cities to adapt to demographic shifts.

In Singapore, the Land Transport Authority has designated all MRT subway stations as official Go-To Points, where frontline staff are trained to shelter disoriented commuters and reunite them with families. Similar transit-focused interventions are underway across Japan and the United Kingdom, where railway workers complete "dementia supporter" courses to identify nonverbal cues and safely manage wandering passengers in dense transit networks.

At major interchanges in Songpa District like Garak Market Station, the district now hosts monthly outreach events providing free cognitive screenings and prevention guides to senior commuters. District officials said they plan to expand the program across all remaining subway stops in Songpa, positioning local transit infrastructure as a core pillar of urban public health.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.