Creating A Place and Role for Older People with Dementia through Multigenerational Exchanges
Rehab Home Ippo was established in 2011 as a small day care service for older people. Four years later, it combined that service with a small nursery school. That led to an important discovery: clients who, despite the staff’s best efforts, never smiled or engaged in activities suddenly lit up when they saw the children at the nursery. That realization triggered an innovative new approach to the company’s work: they decided to create a space where multigenerational exchanges could be carried out by combining the senior day care service, nursery school, and later a daycare for severely mentally and physically handicapped children in one facility.
Pattern Language for “Mutual Care”—A Thinking Aid for Those Caring for Older People
Keio University researchers developed a “thinking aid” for caregivers at eldercare facilities and at home to share better care practices. They developed a pattern language focused on the concept of mutual care, focusing on a relationship of “living together” rather than a relationship between “those who provide care and those who are cared for.”
MCS Care—A Science-Based Approach to Promote Self-Reliance
MCS operates hundreds of group homes and nursing homes in Japan and China. To improve their residents’ quality of life, MCS established an evidence-based system that focuses on a secondary cause of dementia, the deterioration of physical activity, and primarily consists of medically based adjustments to areas such as hydration, nutrition, exercise, oral function, posture, mobility, and medication.
Kaigo Café—Japan’s Largest Informal Care Professional Network
Kaigo Café is a professional, multidisciplinary, offline and online network that has been carrying out grassroots activities throughout Japan since 2012 that allow participants from all aspects of the medical and nursing care industry—regardless of their credentials or status—to talk freely and empower one another to continuously improve elder care.
Connecting Education and Welfare through TANO
TANO is a non-contact gamification system that promotes movement and social engagement for health promotion and rehabilitation for older people. It is being used in care facilities in Japan and overseas. The initiative seeks to connect education and welfare, promote society-wide cooperation through industry-government-academia partnerships, and create an environment in which children and students can develop an awareness of social issues from an early stage.
ITO EN Torori Green Tea—Delicious and Easy-to-Drink, Thickened Tea
ITO EN, one of Japan’s leading tea manufacturers, developed ready-to-serve Torori Ryokucha (thick green tea) that requires no added work to thicken and will not clump, so it is expected to save time and labor in nursing care settings or for home caregivers and make it possible for anyone to easily drink evenly thickened, delicious tea.
Assistive Wheelchair “COLORS”®—Making It Easier to Go Out
COLORS is a private company that provides a variety of caregiving services for older adults, people with disabilities, and others. Recognizing the issues facing caregivers in managing traditional wheelchairs, they began to develop a new design for a wheelchair that would be easier to use, regardless of the terrain, while still being light in weight and simple to operate.
Online Exercise Salon for the Elderly through Industry-Academia Collaboration
Based on a unique concept of “gut-brain-muscle correlation,” this program offers online exercise and brain health broadcasts on a contract basis to nursing homes. By providing more than 10,000 combinations of evidence-based exercises designed to prevent frailty and maintain health, the salons reduce the need for nursing personnel to spend time and resources creating their own content to keep residents healthy and engaged.
IM-OK Project
To combat social isolation, the Lions Befrienders Service Association (LBSA) created an easy-to-use elderly-friendly tablet device that lets users monitor and report their daily wellbeing. Pushing an “I am OK”button lets people know they are alright, and any missed check-ins alert family or LBSA volunteers to confirm the person’s safety. The tablet offers entertainment, learning, and health-related functions as well.
CARE-Net—A Smart Integrated Care Approach to Reach Older People in a Depopulated Area
CARE-Net is a digital platform that assists underserved rural communities by connecting health, welfare, long-term care, and medical care. By allowing inter-agency data-sharing and communication, experts can quickly identify a person’s needs and consult with others to resolve them. Village care managers (trained citizen health leaders) in each village help their neighbors navigate the system and advocate on their behalf.