Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

Ilsong Educational Foundation which runs Hallym University and Hallym University Medical Center launched Hallym ESG Committee on August 1, to improve the environment, social, and governance (ESG)-centered management. The committee is organized in order to enhance eco-friendly management, fulfill its social responsibility, and enhance transparency.

It will take charge of examining and deliberating strategies for ESG management by succeeding the will of Ilsong Duck-Sun Yoon, the late founder who laid a foundation and led the development of medicine in Korea under the spirit of ‘medicine is a benevolent art.’

Ilsong Educational Foundation appointed Executive Director Hee-Sung Yoon as the head of the ESG committee along with additional eleven members including directors and chief planning officers of five affiliated hospitals and the vice president of Hallym University as committee members.

Hallym ESG Committee plans to find issues on the environment, social responsibility, safety, and corporate governance to draw sustainable management strategies with local communities and come up with improvement measures after analyzing performances.

It can be said that the history of Ilsong foundation began with ESG philosophy. The late founder Duck-Sun Yoon established a private general hospital in 1971 for the first in Southern Seoul, with the spirit of “Becoming a cornerstone for the country.” Since then, he dedicated himself to the development of medicine, social welfare, and education sectors in Korea by opening the Sillym Welfare Center in 1981 and Hallym University in 1982.

The foundation also has a long history of dedication towards underprivileged people. As part of philanthropic activities, Ilsong founded Sacred Heart Charity Hospital in 1975 to provide free medical services for low-income families. It also opened a braille library, supported the village for Hansen’s disease patients, and donated about 33,000 square meters’ land to Rafael’s House that cares for severe visual impairments.

Environmental preservation is another word that can describe Ilsong foundation. For the first time in the Korean medical sector, the foundation began to lead in eco-friendly management by declaring the ECO Hallym movement in 2008. It has been doing various activities for environmental preservation such as the saving the earth campaign by reducing energy and resources, setting up solar photovoltaic power facilities at its hospitals, and running educational eco-friendly programs for children.

The great will of the founder Yoon is now followed by Hallym’s ESG activities. The ESG committee is now organizing an integrated welfare model for the growth and the independence of the children in institutional care.

The project aims at supporting institutionalized children to design their future, helping them get proper education, and even giving them job opportunities.

The foundation is also launching campaigns for environmental preservation. It conducts a ‘Gam-Tan Project,’ aimed at reducing carbon emission in life for seven weeks from August 8th to September 19th. The campaign recommends and shares various practical ideas and small life habits to reduce carbon emissions.

By Jonghun Im, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (imjonghun@hallym.or.kr)