Disaster victims need to be 'matched' with 2nd hometown as rebuilding will take time
A staff member from a nursing home in Saitama Prefecture was at a loss for words upon visiting Saitama Super Arena, a stadium where many evacuees from the disaster in northeastern Japan are taking shelter.
Elderly refugees and their families packed the facility, with those requiring nursing care getting their diapers changed in the hallway. Staff from the Saitama-based nursing home brought five of the elderly -- showing such symptoms as dehydration caused by fevers and decreased consciousness levels -- along with two family members back to their nursing home.
The following day, local government officials began transferring evacuees in need of medical treatment and other care to welfare facilities with availability. When evacuees first arrived in Saitama, however, the provision of "care" involved doctors, lawyers and administrative scriveners just listening to the problems and needs voiced by the displaced.
Learning of such distressing conditions, an operator of nursing homes and home-visit nursing care centers in Chiba Prefecture offered to take in evacuees via prefectural authorities. While a survey by the Chiba prefectural government found that facilities across Chiba are capable of accepting some 600 evacuees, such facilities have been unable to get in touch with communities affected by the disaster. Little progress has been made thus far by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to coordinate matches between disaster victims in need and those offering their assistance.
Many of those affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are elderly. Although their lives were spared by the natural disaster itself, their health can easily deteriorate if shelters are unable to provide adequate food and water, endangering their lives once again if they lack the care they need. Many facilities across the country are offering their help, but that goodwill goes to waste if they cannot come in contact with the victims.
Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, is hosting all 184 of the elderly residents and staff from Onahama Tokiwaen, a nursing care facility located in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki, which was severely affected by the earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident. Doctors and other staff from Onahama Tokiwaen are staying -- along with the facility's elderly residents -- at a Kampo no Yado resort inn near Kameda Medical Center, providing residents with daily care.
The Iwaki local government says it considers the inn a temporary enclave of the city and plans to foot the expenses of nursing care insurance the same way it did when residents were physically ill in Iwaki. Meanwhile, Kameda Medical Center has provided assistance not only in medical care, but also in maintaining contact with the Fukushima Prefecture and Iwaki City governments.
Under current circumstances in which municipal governments in affected areas have yet to resume regular functions, relocating entire welfare facilities or evacuation shelters, with the host facility or hospital cooperating with local governments to set up a system for providing care, is an effective alternative. Why not consider having local governments far away from the disaster split the task of hosting entire communities from the disaster areas?
The aforementioned nursing home in Saitama took in elderly refugees from evacuation shelters without any personal identity verification. Moreover, the nursing home is currently footing the expenses of the families accompanying the elderly they accepted. The system must retroactively complement what is taking place, and the national government must provide its full support in realizing it.
Due to the sheer magnitude of the disaster, many victims are expected to be living in shelters for a long time to come. We must take part in relief efforts as if we are creating a second hometown for the victims.
(Mainichi Japan) March 25, 2011
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