A world for the socially underprivileged, where everyone's life and death are equally dignified and where anyone can take care of both themselves and neighbors. Three women who had dreamt of a society where giving and receiving help is not taken for granted walked through the doorstep of the clinic to improve the lives of patients. Subsequently, people who wanted the dream to become a reality began to gather one by one. We met the alumni Hye-in Choo (Department of Medicine), Yeowon Yoo (Department of Philosophy), and In-pil Park (Department of Dentistry), who are taking the lead in the healthcare of Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul at Salim Health Welfare Social Cooperative. 

A clinic Where Everyone 

Gives and Receives Care

Salim Health Welfare Social Cooperative is a cooperative formed in collaboration between medical experts and local residents who dreamt of a community with a reliable medical institution where members care for each other. Beginning with 348 members in 2012 and an investment of 32 million won, Salim has grown into a solid medical cooperative with 3,721 members and an investment of 2.5 billion won as of March 2022. This co-op started from alumna Hye-in Choo, who aspired to become a doctor for social minorities. She entered the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with the aspiration of becoming an architect. Volunteering at a sexual violence counseling center, she encountered the reality that medical support for victims was significantly deficient. She moved on to medical school after she heard that “We need a doctor who can testify to the harm of sexually assaulted women.” However, she witnessed that public trust in doctors was collapsing due to the separation of prescribing and dispensing in 2000 when she was studying in the Department of Preliminary Medicine. Meanwhile, she was yearning to create a clinic where everyone can give and receive care, where patients and doctors trust each other in collaboration with local residents, and where feminism is promoted. Two other members, who had been conversing about feminism since their college days, joined her in pursuing this dream. They are Yeowon Yoo, a management advisor for Salim, and In-pil Park, the director of Salim Dental Clinic.

 “Marvelously, we were all working in different women’s organizations during our college days, sharing the idea of establishing a medical cooperative. Feminism, in my view, is all about seeing things from the perspective of the socially underprivileged and striving to create an equal world. If we could introduce this idea to clinics, patients and doctors could equally respect each other and become members of the village community, who give and receive care, rather than consumers or sellers of medical services.” - Hye-in Choo

① Hye-in Choo, alumna, checking the health of the elderly by operating a checkup booth at the Eunpyeong-gu Village Festival.

② Salim cooperative members holding a board meeting in the waiting room of Salim Clinic after hospital hours.

Protecting Patients’ Health 

in through Equal Relationships

All members of Salim have equal rights regardless of the amount of investment or membership duration. The delegates elected by the vote of the members hold a general meeting to elect directors and officers and approve the business plan. The members collaboratively decide on every matter regarding clinics, ranging from the purchase of medical devices to the discount price of vaccinations. Even in the treatment room, the medical staff listens to the patients or cooperative members and determines whether patients have any unhealthy lifestyle habits and checks for unnecessary or duplicate administration of medications. A sufficient discussion about these helps all parties understand each other's positions and build a trustful relationship.

 “The experience of participating in decision-making in clinics provides patients with a strong motivation to maintain their health. If a patient passively receives treatment without their own opinion, entrusting everything to the doctor, the patient will hear only what they want to hear among what the doctor has described. What`s more, there is a vicious cycle: because they aren't able to fully describe their conditions, they are not able to get proper treatment, which leads them to engage in ‘medical shopping’ or searching for other clinics." - Yeowon Yoo

 “Doctors tend to treat patients defensively in case of any thorny issues because they think that the patients don’t trust them. Reciprocally, patients are reluctant to share sensitive information with their doctors, which in turn results in doctors performing more tests and developing a defensive treatment plan even though the doctors need to select the least intrusive measure by detailing patients’ symptoms through questions.” - In-pil Park

 “In the early days of Salim Clinic, patients astonished me by saying that ‘The medicine doesn’t work well,’ and ‘This treatment doesn’t seem suitable for me.’ I had never heard these while I was working at other clinics. My first reaction was ‘Don`t they trust me because it is a neighborhood clinic?’ However, one patient insisted that ‘I have to tell you about this because this is the clinic I will visit for the rest of my life. I wouldn`t mention uncomfortable things if I wasn’t planning to come back here next time.’ A clinic where the parties can trust each other enough to share uncomfortable stories should be the vision of a medical cooperative and medical institution.” - Hye-in Choo

The biggest goal of Salim is to create a village where all members can live in safety and be healthy.

Community Values 

Rooted in Eunpyeong-gu 

Salim marked its tenth anniversary this year. Salim Clinic, which opened as a clinic specializing in family medicine, expanded its scope of treatment to gynecology and psychiatry and now operates various medical care and welfare projects, such as Salim Dental Clinic, Salim Oriental Medical Center, Salim Telemedicine Center, and Salim Day Care Center. Although it has grown into a well-established medical cooperative, Salim is continuing to experiment and face challenges to improve the health of residents and local communities.

“Last year, we operated a ‘Care B&B (Bed and Breakfast)’ as a pilot project, which offers temporary residence to those in need of care and rehabilitation. South Korea, despite its excellent health insurance, lacks facilities and services that can provide care for young adults who live alone if they develop cancer or need rehabilitation treatment due to an accident. In fact, some people are left unattended, resulting in sequelae. We intend to offer what the public domain cannot by promoting institutionalization.” - Yeowon Yoo

These three women’s wishes for equality in life and death for all people have taken root in Eunpyeong-gu over the past ten years, leading to many changes. They believe that cooperative members with conviction in the value of solidarity have enabled Salim to grow by supporting each other whenever they become exhausted. Salim's journey will continue in the hope that it will become “an axis that creates a village where people can live in safety and health and supports the village.”

“Most students who decide to become a doctor choose their major because they intend to give help to others. A medical co-operative is a rewarding job of caring for others, and concurrently, it plays a key role in exerting my influence to benefit the community and society. Any student who is seriously taking their time deciding on their career should be able to explore this field.” - In-pil Park 

“I hope that students who aspire to become health care experts have many opportunities to meet others from various fields. The process of learning about the lives of others itself will become a great asset in providing medical treatment. I hope that students will strive to cooperate with and understand others when they get out into the job market.” - Hye-in Choo