First Health Consultation held at ICHIBAN-KAN

An assistance program for the villagers of IITATE using Information network (called Madei Kaeru network), which includes a remote health consultation system, video conference system and computers was launched in June 2011. Village office and temporary homes located in several different cities were connected to each other by the network.

 

The program this time follows the above project and its objective is to assist people evacuated from IITATE village in keeping and improving their health with an improved remote health consultation system. The program started on 1st May 2012 with the funds provided through the Japan Platform (JPF), as a program targeting health-maintenance of “IITATE Zenson Mimamori-tai” (Patrol Group for IITATE village) members which  consists of about 400 people, patrolling in the village.

 

Health consultation in cooperation with Humanitarian Medical Assistance (HuMA, an NPO) is one of the most important services of this program. HuMA will send medical doctors and nurses to IITATE village for consultation every two weeks.

 

Distribution of over 500 pedometers to the members of Mimamori-Tai and the staff of IITATE village is another important feature of the program. Each pedometer can be used as an ID card for the remote health consultation system which was introduced in our previous program. Personal pedometers will assist each member in his/her health keeping activity and will also enable the system to proliferate.

 

There were over 200 applicants for the pedometers after the briefing session held on 29th and 30th of May at the ICHIBAN-KAN which is the building used as the guard station of Mimamori-Tai. Already, more than 100 pedometers have been handed over to the applicants until end of July.

 

The first Health consultation was held on 9th and 10th of June at the ICHIBAN-KAN with the cooperation of a doctor and a nurse sent by HuMA. There were 38 visitors for the consultation and the consultation lasted for about 20 minutes for each person. The consultation was highly evaluated by the participants, as can be seen by the fact that by the time the consultation ended, everybody, who arrived at the site with a gloomy face, had a smile on his/her face.

 

The first workout fitness exercise was held in the afternoon of 10th June at ICHIBAN-KAN with an instructor from Sendai. Two sessions were held to accommodate shift work of Mimamori-tai. Participants enjoyed the exercise while shouting “Ouch!” because it was effective for muscles not regularly used in daily life. There were about 80 participants in total for the two sessions.

 

Records from pedometers, blood pressure meters and weight scales are stored in the remote health consultation system. The system can be used for health consultations scheduled twice a month.

Takashi YOKNO, Counselor