Prof. Dr. Chae-Hee PARK
ACSM Exercise is Medicine® Older Adult Committee Member
Dept. Sport and Healthy Aging
Korea National Sport University
Republic of Korea
Prof. Dr. Chae-Hee Park is a Professor of the Department of Sport and Healthy Aging at the Korea National Sport University in Korea. She earned a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Kinesiology. Her primary research interests are in the area of exercise/physical activity, health and well-being, and quality of life in the older adult population. Park’s doctoral work specifically focused on evaluating the National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity among Adults Age 50 and Older providing as a guide for various organizations, associations, and agencies, to inform and support their planning effort related to increasing physical activity in the USA. She played a major role in a pilot project to assess the feasibility of Healthy Aging for low-income and frail seniors in the State of Illinois. Dr. Park also conducted studies on older adults and physical activity collaborating with researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Currently, she serves on the older adult committee member of the ACSM, affiliates with Education, Recreation, And Dance, Korea Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women, and Korean Society of Exercise Rehabilitation.
Sustainable Community Physical Activity Programs for Older Adults: A Case of Gangdong-gu, Seoul
With the rapid aging of Korean society, most of Korean seniors want to stay in their homes and community independently and comfortable until they die instead of moving to a retirement community or nursing home. In such a situation, regular physical activity participation is one of the main ways to privent and manage various chronic diseases and can have a positive effect on independent living an active old age in own community. Gangdong-gu, which is one of the 25 districts of Seoul has a total population of 464,208, of which 71,096 are 65 years old or older, accounting for more than 15%, and fall under the category of an aging society. Gangdong-gu needs to respond to senior residents in various areas such as health, medical care, welfare, and the social problems associated with increasing aging population. As the amount of physical activity of the elderly in the area decreases due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic situation, Gangdong-gu is looking for ways to minimize the risk of spread of infection and promote the physical activity of the senior residents. Through collaboration and cooperation between a university and communities, by giving them the opportunity of participating physical activity programs (PAP) with the younger generation of college students, they improved their negative perceptions of the elderly and created a place for generational integration. In a symposium, a talk will be made in three main areas. First, an example of development and application of sports and PAP suitable for senior citizens in Gangdong-gu, second, a case of dissemination of PAP in cooperation with three general welfare centers for the elderly and two general social welfare centers in Gangdong-gu, and finally, the dissemination of talent-sharing culture through sports and the formation of a sense of solidarity through intergenerational communication can discuss the importance of sustainable PAP for older people in the community.