i am very excited about finally finding what seems to be a good source
for vent.users and their families in Japan. I hoped to find something
like that for a while, for a vent.user I met in a hospital in Kochi. Let
me explain a bit first:
My name is Peter Bontje and I am an Occupational Therapist (OT) from
Holland, but since last year I live in Takamatsu and work in Kochi.
Basically I teach (in English) at the Kochi Rehabiliation College
tuesdays and wednesdays, but usually on wednesday afternoon I spent time
with OTs in a local hospital and rehab center. In the hospital I met a
20year or so guy, who sustained a spinal injury in a traffic accident 3
years ago. His ambition was to become a TV presenter, but at the moment
he barely speak audible (due to his trach set up).
Having worked with several other persons with similar physical injuries
in Holland and England I am quite shocked by the situation he is in. It
seems that there are absolutely no facilities for people like him. His
parents both work and cannot give him the care he would need at home
(apart from the fact that the house is on the second floor). But even
simple things as an own wheelchair are a problem, as naturally he cannot
use a standard type supplied by the health care insurer and has to pay
up for the extra costs himself.
Anyway, he spents mosts of his days in bed (exactly as you described on
your home page) and is only up for a few hours a day, usually afternoons
to attend therapy, or in the weekends when relatives and friends visit
him.
I know he wants to get out of the hospital and his OT supports him in
that. On the other hand, nobody really knows how to deal with it.
Apparently there are no suitable facilities nearby. I could explain
quite a lot to them about the ins and outs of living in the community,
if not for my own handicap: my Japanese is still rather poor (I'm
working on it though). In the mean time he's waisting his life and time.
Anyway, there are many more problems. I hope I can borrow a laptop soon
and show him your homepages.
Maybe you could sent me a message for him in Japanese? I cannot read it,
but I'm trying our Kanji-software for a few more weeks, so at least I
can print it out and show it to him in 2 or 3 weeks time (I'll be in
Holland next week for a short visit and study trip). Do you know of
anybody on a ventilator in/around Kochi-city?
Hope to hear from you.
peter bontje
pbontje(AT)kagawa-net.or.jp