Across rapidly greying Japan, there are cities like Matsudo which have built community-based support networks and rolled out initiatives to help dementia patients and caregivers.
Matsudo, a city of 500,000, has the country’s second fastest-ageing population. The city has projected the number of dementia patients to rise to 30,000 by 2025.
A decade ago, Matsudo launched the Dementia Research Group comprising doctors, caregivers, local care centres, and family members of dementia patients, according to a spokesman for the city’s Elderly Welfare Department.
The need for greater community awareness of dementia and for better caregiving support has become more urgent in Japan. In 2015, the government launched a comprehensive Orange Plan to tackle issues related to dementia, rolling out more resources for early detection, rehabilitation and a social support network.
Uji city in Kyoto prefecture is also dementia friendly. The city started an early stage dementia intensive support programme in 2014 to detect residents who may have dementia and provide them with support.
Said Mr Yuichiro Kitagawa of Uji’s Public Welfare Corporation: “Uji was the first city where the mayor declared our goal to be dementia friendly. Our efforts are driven by four engines: a medical and welfare team of specialists, public welfare for affordable care, support from the municipality, and people living with dementia and their caregivers.”
One aspect that all public and private stakeholders agree on is the need to create an environment where dementia patients can live as normally as possible as part of the community.
For the same reason, Mr Atsushi Okaya of Haruhi Dementia Facility links his residents with small businesses that need an extra hand, such as mushroom farming and harvesting. “Being able to work, get paid and buy things with the money earned is a simple joy that dementia patients should be able to experience in a community they are familiar with,” Mr Okaya said.
This philosophy was at work at The Restaurant of Order Mistakes, a tongue-in-cheek pop-up initiative held in Tokyo in June 2017. The eatery was staffed by 20 dementia patients aged from the mid-40s to 90s.
The restaurant was the brainchild of Mr Shiro Oguni. “Only a few customers were served the wrong order,” he said. “In fact, people were a bit disappointed when they got what they had ordered.”
And that feedback was proof that the restaurant was successful in achieving what it set out to do: To raise awareness of dementia and to foster acceptance of people with the illness – by getting the community involved.
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Source: The Straits Times, 14 April 2018