Ayaka Iwabuchi. Ikumi Hoshi

Transcription

1 Project Summary In collaboration with the Johnson and Johnson Family of Companies Japan and the TOMODACHI Initiative, Children's National will create a Disaster Nursing Observership/Educational Program. TOMODACHI is a public-private partnership between the US-Japan Council and the US Embassy in Tokyo and is led by current President of the US-Japan Council, Irene Inouye. This partnership was born out of support for Japan s recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and invests in the next generation of Japanese and American leaders through educational and cultural exchanges as well as leadership programs. President Obama and Prime Minister Abe have praised the work of the US- Japan Council in their Joint Statement released as part of the 2014 US-Japan Summit. The overall objective of this Observership / Educational program is to create a curriculum that fosters capacity building around disaster nursing in the Tohoku region of Japan. This area was most affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. As part of the curriculum, a delegation of 8 nursing students currently in their BSN program, as well as, 2 faculty mentors, has been selected from various nursing schools around the Tohoku region. The students and their mentors will be visiting the US for a portion of the curriculum. This visit is planned for later this year in NY August 10-14/15 and DC August 14/ Members of the team will also travel to Japan in June to provide content to students who are unable to participate in the US trip and a needs assessment around disaster nursing will be conducted at that time.

2 Ayaka Iwabuchi Age: 20 School: Ishinomaki Red Cross Nursing School Hometown: Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture Through this program, I d like to learn about issues related to disaster nursing and community nursing, and bring that back to my own community. When I become a healthcare provider, I want to make a contribution to those in need all around the world through my knowledge of healthcare. I am interested in what the differences are between international healthcare systems and Japan s healthcare system. In the future, I want to help areas that need medical care from a disaster as a nurse and provide service to people not just in Japan, but overseas as well. In order to make this happen, I need to acquire the skills and knowledge that are being taught overseas through programs like this. Participating in this program is a step closer to my dream. Also representing the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, I will share the actions we took after the earthquake and what the situation was. Then hopefully, when a disaster similar to that happens in other countries, they can use my story as reference. Ikumi Hoshi Age:19 School:Sendai Tokshu Nursing College I started to feel a strong passion for disaster nursing after experiencing the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake. It was four years ago, City:Sendai but I still remember City, Miyagi the Prefecture day very vividly. For a few days after the disaster, I had no knowledge of what was going on in other parts of Japan, and only knew about what was happening in my own town. After a while, I was able to get access to information through the media, and finally realized the gravity of the disasters. As I watched various news broadcasts and feature segments on the disasters, what caught my eye were the self-defense forces, nurses, and doctors who were working selflessly day and night. I also heard that numerous international

3 volunteer organizations were coming into Japan to help out, and realized that I was able to reestablish my life after the disasters because of their extensive. This awareness made me want to also be a part of this support system and built my strong passion for becoming a disaster nurse. Because I experienced the 3.11 disasters first hand, I feel that I can support disaster stricken people in a more unique way and at a more personal level. When a disaster strikes, I hope to work on the front lines to save as many human lives as I can. In order for me to be able to do this, I need to start learning as much as possible about various medical fields and gain new experiences. I am determined to see, first hand, the state of disaster medicine and nursing in the United States. Mari Miura Age:20 School:Sendai Medical Center School of Midwifery In the future, I hope to be a midwife. I still vividly remember my 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake experience, when all of the lifelines were cut and my family and I slept huddled close to each other in the freezing cold and pitch black darkness. When I was finally able to view the news, I was shocked to see the video of the tsunami destroying everything in its path, and the changed images of ruined coastal towns. I also saw clips of people living in fear and anxiety at the evacuation centers. I did not like feeling powerless and unable to help other people, so naturally I started to think about the ways in which I could support and contribute to the devastated communities. It was during this time that I came across a TV documentary about some midwives who helped a lady give birth on the day of the disaster. As I watched the midwives provide support, calmly protect the mother, and successfully deliver the baby in a time of emergency, I was very moved. The documentary also showed them visiting various evacuation sites to give health advice to pregnant women and mothers of small children. Overall, the documentary made me realize that new lives are created and born even during times of disasters, and that it is especially during these times that our medical capabilities are put to the test. In order for me to become a competent midwife, I need to learn about disaster nursing, not only from a domestic perspective, but also from an international perspective to help broaden my horizon. In the future, I hope to work as a midwife in an international setting and contribute my professional knowledge to people all over the world.

4 Nao Onodera Age: 19 School: Kesennuma City Hospital Nursing School Hometown: Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture I would like to share with people in the U.S. what we ve been through after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the importance of links between people and their lives, and what I feel about the disaster since the U.S. has supported us all along. The U.S. sent their army right away to save many lives by bringing food and water, searching for missing people in locations where the tsunami hit, and cleaning out the wreckage of many buildings. I want to talk about the remaining issues after the disaster with the people I meet through this program and create a brighter future. First, I would like to see with my own eyes what the current medical status is in the U.S. I want to see how healthcare is being provided and by whom. I have been to a small local hospital, so I want to explore what kind of advanced technology other hospitals are using and the tools that are being used. After the earthquake, many people suffered from PTSD and my father still has nightmares about the tsunami, even after four years. Mental care for people still suffering will be needed continuously. I would like to learn the methods that are used in the U.S. for mental healthcare and use those skills when I become a nurse. Through this program, I am looking forward to broadening my horizons to look into areas where all of us can improve care after a disaster. Soyoka Fujisawa Age: 21 School: Miyagi University, School of Nursing People have different values and perspectives depending on their age or experience level, their race or culture. However, I don t think many people have ever been mentally prepared for death. I have experienced this during the Great East Japan Earthquake. To stop more people from experiencing this horror, I will share my experience and emphasize the importance of strengthening local communities. The moment the earthquake hit, I was at my friend s apartment on the 13 th floor and everything suddenly began to shake tremendously. That moment, I mentally prepared myself for my own death for the first time in my life. I thought to myself, We re going to be crushed between the floors above and below, and just die. We were terrified. The manager of the apartment ran up the flight

5 of stairs and told us to get out of the building. From this disaster, many people s lives were lost, but I think to myself, if there were more announcements or people calling out to others, more lives could have been saved. When I heard on the radio that 200 to 300 bodies were found, and couldn t get in touch with my family, I prepared for my family s death as well. I do not want any more people to feel this way, so I decided to participate in this program and study what the global standard is for disaster nursing and how we should handle the difficulties from a disaster. In the future, I want to gain some experience working as a nurse at Miyagi Prefecture and after that, contribute by working in Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV). By participating in this program, I believe I will be able to further my knowledge on disaster nursing and local nursing through a global standard. As one who can talk about the experience from the disaster, I feel that I will be able to support the affected areas and its people with the knowledge I attain from this program. Natsumi Miyakawa Age: 19 School: Ishinomaki Red Cross Nursing School Hometown: Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture During the Great East Japan Earthquake my family survived, but my brother was on an artificial respirator and I remember running around town desperately searching for electricity to keep him alive. The evacuation site was my middle school, and I spent my days helping out where I could. Since I knew my middle school more than anyone else at the evacuation site, I felt that it was my duty to help out as much as I could andto the best of my abilities. I distributed food and water, cleaned the toilets, and interacted with the elderly evacuees with the brightest smile on my face. The notion, I am not the only victim, and everyone is hurt, united everyone, kept all of us strong, and allowed us to keep surviving. Through this experience, I realized that even if we did not speak a common language, as long as we had the will to understand each other, we could tell anything and everything to each other. I feel that the experience and lessons learned from this program should be shared with everyone, and I will be participating in this program as a representative of all of the Japanese people. So far, I only know about the 3.11 disaster from media coverage, but by studying disaster nursing and interacting with numerous people from all walks of life, I hope to spread not only my knowledge of the disaster, but also of the stories, thoughts and feelings of the entire Japanese populations. In the future, I hope to work as a nurse at the Red Cross Society or to travel to developing countries as a member of the JICA workforce. I also want to teach Health to children all over the world. Thus I hope that this program will give me an opportunity to pursue these dreams. I am determined to pursue everything I do with the idea of promoting peace and joy. With my international mindset, I will do whatever I can to contribute to the world in my own unique way.

6 Mikiko Sato Age: 24 School: Miyagi University School of Nursing I am currently studying nursing at my university, and having experienced the disaster I hope to work in the field of disaster nursing. Immediately after 3.11, life was extremely unstable. I lived in fear and anxiety everyday as all of our lifelines had been cut and there was no way for me to know the safety of my family. After two weeks, I was finally able to get in contact with my father. As he told me the news that my grandmother, who we had all been concerned about, had passed away during the disaster, I saw my father break down in tears for the first time in my life. I still remember this moment very vividly in my mind. At this precise moment, my naïve habit of thinking that I would live to see tomorrow diminished. Through this experience, I learned that, instead of spending endless hours planning action plans, I should immediately start to pursue whatever I desire to do because time is a luxury that should not be wasted. Even after four years, my mother still falls into depressions, and my father is living separately from us in a trailer house. As I saw numerous healthcare workers and nurses help people such as my grandfather, who were affected by the disaster, I naturally became interested in studying disaster nursing. Also, as many of the community and municipalities management systems were destroyed by the disaster, I learned the importance of people to people connections, especially those between the local government officials. Thus I would like to travel to the United States where disaster nursing training programs are commonly held, and visit the communities that have recovered from disasters similar to I want to learn strategies that would allow for the building of a strong connection within the community, and to think of how I can enforce this support system as a medical professional. I am determined to contribute to the 3.11 recovery effort, and share what I gain from this experience as a model to other communities in both Japan and abroad. With these long term goals, I will undertake my disaster nursing training program. Marina Sugawara Age: 20 School: Sendai Saiyo Gakuin College When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, I was in my first year of high school. Once I entered my second year of high school, I had the opportunity of hearing a talk about a healthcare nurse who helped out at various evacuation areas in Tohoku. From this talk, I became interested in becoming a disaster nurse who works in areas with strong community connections. From this talk, I also learned the importance of never forgetting our disaster experience, as it will help us interact better with disaster victims who are in need of your help. In the future, I hope to work as a nurse in

7 my hometown, Fukushima. Despite this desire, I am scared to go back to my hometown to work, because of the radiation problem. Every time I see the dosimeters that are placed in public areas, I am made aware of the fact that the ill-effects of the disasters are still ongoing, and I am reminded of my fear of radiation. Since the disaster, a great number of people have suffered from mental issues. Not being able to express their anxieties is harmful to people s well-being, so I started to contemplate what we could do in order to prevent or help alleviate these mental issues. When I become a nurse, I believe that it will become extremely important to interact and support those who are suffering, and truly cherish the people-to-people spirit. By participating in this program, I wish to gain a deeper understanding of disaster nursing, and help spread the knowledge gained to meet people s needs. Megumi Komatsu (MENTOR) Institution: Sendai Medical Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery Ms. Megumi Komatsu has experienced both 3.11 and She became a nurse in 1984 and started working at National Sendai Hospital (now Sendai Medical Center). She has worked there for 15 years as staff in the neurosurgical ward, the sensory ward, the internal blood ward, and as the vice chief of nurse. Ms. Komatsu was working in the clinical area when in 1996 she decided o participate in an HIV/AIDS clinical training program at the University of Southern California and her desire to study abroad became stronger. In 1999, she flew to the U.S. and studied infection control at St. Luke s Roosevelt Hospital Center while studying English at New York University. Then, 9.11 happened and she experienced disaster nursing first han. She started working at an NGO that deals with AIDS support and she became a registered nurse in the state of New York. After coming back to Japan in 2007, she enrolled in Tohoku University School of Medicine and finished the first half of a Ph. D program in the field of aging health care. In2012 she became a teacher at Sendai Medical Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery while continuing her studies at Tohoku University School of Medicine. Ms. Komatsu is excited to support the future nurses who will see a new world and start to take action through this program.. MENTOR #2 (TBD)

8