There is a facility for the elderly who works with the idea of ​​"not giving up touching" by interacting with their families even if they are suffering from corona.

Attempts are underway to have families wear special protective clothing to reduce the risk of infection and to interact with parents entering the facility.

"Special protective clothing"

At an elderly facility in Ikeda City, Osaka, where 70 elderly people live, it has become difficult for families to meet with parents who enter the facility as the infection spreads. We have made repeated efforts to write down the situation of parents, etc., where staff members enter, and deliver it to their families.



However, the average age of 70 people living in the facility is over 87 years old, and with 15 people dying from diseases other than corona and senility in the past year, we have aimed to resume visits as soon as possible.



As a result of repeated discussions with doctors, from last month, we resumed the visits that we had forgotten by having families visiting the facility wear special protective clothing.



This protective suit has a mechanism to pass a high-performance filter when the air taken in is taken out, and even if the family visiting the visit is infected asymptomatically, the virus is released outside the suit. It means that you can prevent as much as possible.



Although the actual meeting time is limited to 15 minutes, wearing protective clothing has made it possible to actually meet, talk, and hold hands.



At the end of last month, my 75-year-old daughter wore protective clothing and was able to meet her 98-year-old mother, who lives in the facility, for the first time in eight months.



Mr. Yasunori Hirano, the director of the facility, said, "There are many elderly people with dementia, so I decided to visit them in protective clothing in order to respond quickly to the time left. As I get older, it becomes difficult to talk and listen. However, I think that "touching" can be felt. I would like to take measures against infection as much as possible and work with the idea of ​​"not giving up touching."

Mother-daughter holding hands for the first time in 8 months

Yukiko Naito (98), who lives in this facility, hasn't seen her daughter Mariko (75) for eight months.



Visits at the facility resumed in June last year when the number of infected people in Kansai decreased slightly, and Mariko was able to celebrate her mother's 98th birthday, but since July last year due to the re-expansion of the infection. , I can no longer visit.



Mariko said, "Before the visits were restricted, I always went to see them every week, had tea and watched TV side by side without doing anything. Even on my birthday in July," When I said, "I'm going home," my mother cried and said, "I'll see you again when Corona subsides. I'm worried because I've never been able to meet for such a long time."



I receive monthly letters and photos of my mother from the facility, and I also use video visits, but I'm worried that my dementia may not be progressing because I'm too deaf to communicate. I will.



Then, on the 26th of last month, Mariko changed her clothes to protective clothing after measuring the temperature and disinfecting her fingers, and went to see her mother for the first time in eight months.



The visit time was about 15 minutes, and I met in the elevator hall, not in my mother's room or on the shared floor.



When her mother, Yukiko, saw Mariko in a protective suit, she called her name "Mariko" and clasped her hand.



The mother was deaf and had conversations with written conversations, and there were also scenes where she could not understand her daughter and could see the progress of dementia.



However, even so, the mother was happy to see her again, happily holding Mariko's hand, saying, "Thank you very much."



Mariko, a daughter who finished the visit, said, "I was very happy to be able to meet in person compared to online. I am glad that I could hold my mother's hand and feel the warmth of my body temperature." It was.



The facility has four protective suits ready so that the desired family can meet once a month.