Koreatown: Good or Bad?

According to the Stanford Korean-American research information, over one million of the US population identified themselves as Koreans. Out of those one million residents, 25% were concentrated in the Los Angeles area and 16% in the New York region. Additionally, 4.4% were aged 65 and over, which is equivalent to about 44,000 elders in total. Because 91% of these elders were foreign born and spoke little English, it is most likely that they live in Koreatown or in a highly-concentrated Korean neighborhood. Such environment calls for little changes in both the language and culture, which hinders Korean-American elders from assimilating in the United States. While living in these concentrated neighborhoods can be comforting and stress-free in some ways, many elders will not be able to have access to proper health care and social services as they age. Moreover, 43% to 48% of the Korean-American elders live alone and only 1.4% live in a nursing home. These numbers show that these elders do not have anyone to depend on as they age and become ill. Because of these circumstances, Korean-American elders must find ways to access health care services alone and bridge the gap of communication with the American society. Accordingly, it is important for elders to obtain both the language and the culture in order to benefit from the various resources that are available to them.