Tohoku and Kumamoto: Long-Term Medical Issues

After three years of planning and promotion, IMCRA and our affiliates conducted our fourth major colloquium/workshop in Japan titled: "The Long-Term Caregiver Experience: Patients, Providers, Pragmatics".  The event took place in Sendai City on July 31st and attracted dozens of attendees, both survivors and medical personnel concerned with the long-term aspects of disaster recovery. Equally as important as onsite attendance, the event was televised by the NHK World News network, and was picked up by multiple newspapers and medical journals in Japan.

Five years after the Tohoku event and six months after the Kumamoto earthquake, the need for survivors and caregivers to get together and exchange stories was particularly acute.  What became clear during the colloquium, via the workshop which followed, and in the responses and queries received in the wake of media coverage, it is during the months and years which follow a disaster that the emptiness and loss encountered becomes most tangible and most harmful.  Survivors are impacted by PTSD, environmental disorientation, loss of livelihood and loss of family support networks. Children are frequently adrift in a new world their parents are not fully in control of. In the elderly chronic medication needs are neglected and suicides become distressingly common.  Among the most neglected victims are the medical and psychological professionals who have struggled to help such populations for years.

Unfortunately, there is still very little easily-accessible data on the long-term medical/psychological pitfalls of disaster recovery.  Thus, the most important outcome of this event will be the compiling and synthesis of new and personalized recommendations/guidelines for both caregivers and survivors (often one and the same) to use during the years ahead.  Going further, the experience of Japan can serve as a touchstone for peoples throughout the world experiencing similar disasters.

It took only one look at the relief and release on the faces of our attendees to reassure us that what we were doing now was something long overdue and underealized.   Much of the work still lies ahead though; the workshop data must be compiled and translated, recommendations and guidelines must be created, vetted through our faculty and distributed, the video modules and publications engendered by this and earlier meetings must be effectively disseminated.  Please join us in making this happen rapidly.  Please help us make the future less uncertain for so many.

Links:

• http://www.imcra.net
• https://twitter.com/IMCRAlliance
• https://www.instagram.com/imcralliance/

This is getting exciting!

Only one month to go now to the long-planned IMCRA colloquium and workshop on the long-term caregiver experience, Patients-Providers-Pragmatics.  

We have engaged four excellent faculty, to deliver the keynote addresses:  Dr. Niwa will speak about medical response conditions during the long-term recovery efforts.  Dr. Homma will discuss the impact on children's development during the 5 years since the tsunami.  Drs. Tomita and Suzuki will speak about some of the stresses caregiving teams have experienced as a result of ongoing contact with survivors bearing the burden of disaster.

Perhaps more importantly we will be collecting the stories of those doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and other medical professionals who have travelled the long hard road of continuing care.  Either through physical proximity to the disaster-stricken areas or an unrelenting sense of duty, workshop registrants will share what they've learned and experienced with each other and with their colleagues worldwide.

The colloquium will be broadcast on NHK and covered by several local newspapers.  More importantly the proceedings of the workshop will be made available in the global medical literature.  This fills an important and very deep gap in our understanding of what the committed professional goes through during the long-term treatment of severely impacted populations.

It isn't easy.  Especially in Japan, many are reluctant to talk about the problems they've experienced.  Some are even more reluctant, as medical professionals, to share personal feelings and disappointments.  Yet this information is critical to their colleagues now and in future.  Recruiting registrants throughout Tohoku has been one of our biggest challenges, so we look to you to help us get the word out; through electronic and print media, through word of mouth and via aggressive networking. 

Please help.  The outcome will be a gift to the world.  Let's make it happen!

Links:

• More information
• Workshop details and guidance