Mount Laurel senior home caters to Korean Americans

Ki J. Kim lifted her frail hands from her lap and brought them together as if in prayer. A smile, ever so slight, formed across her creased face. With the help of a translator, the 92-year-old Korean American said she was very thankful; she has everything she could want or need.

Kim, who spent the better part of her life in Cherry Hill, is one of 27 residents of Innova Health & Rehab's Korean care unit, which opened May 15 in Mount Laurel. With a capacity of 40, it caters to the language and lifestyle needs of Korean Americans, said the Rev. John Sung, the unit's director and founder.

The senior community is served familiar meals, such as warm noodles, roasted seaweed, and kimchi (a cabbage dish), prepared by chef Jong Soo Kim of Cherry Hill, who previously worked at a Korean restaurant in Mount Laurel.

Patients also receive Korean newspapers, have access to 10 Korean TV stations, and partake in games like Korean poker and jangki, which is similar to chess.

Three Korean nurses care for the residents, and an interpreter is available at all times.

Sung, the pastor of a Korean congregation that meets at Hope Presbyterian Church in Monmouth County, said the idea for the community had come to him while he visited congregants in nursing homes. Hearing their worries, he said, he felt it was God's mission for him to help.

"They didn't like the food. They didn't understand the games. They felt isolated," Sung said. "The isolation would lead to depression, and they were too afraid to confide in the American staff."

He said foreign-born Americans tended to rely on the comforts of their home country, from food to friends.

In his church, for example, Koreans who are not Christians come simply to meet people of shared origins, he said.

"They stick together," Sung said. "They use church as a social meeting ground."

So entering an American nursing home - daunting for any senior - could mean more than losing a home to foreign-born Americans, Sung said; it could mean being stripped of their lifestyle.

According to Census Bureau estimates (most recently for 2006 to 2008), a large number of Korean Americans live in the Philadelphia region. In Camden County, they are the sixth-largest group of foreign-born residents (behind Indians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Africans, and Chinese). In Philadelphia, the approximately 70,000 Koreans also rank among the top 10 subgroups.

About 40 percent of Innova's Korean residents come from Philadelphia, Sung said. The rest are from South Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia.

Sung said Innova was researching additional cultural-based centers, such as a Spanish or a Chinese unit.

He said Asian cultures in general see the eldest son as being responsible for caring for aging parents - creating a conflict in America, where the male is most often the main breadwinner and has to spend most of his time working outside the home.

"Technically, he can't do it 24 hours," Sung said.

Innova's culturally specialized care, he said, eases the burden on Korean American families and aims to assure them that their loved ones will feel comfortable.

Standing beside Kim's wheelchair and translating for her, Sung said the residents' happiness was his main objective.

Kim "said she's very happy here," Sung said. "She cannot think of anything she doesn't like."