last update: 20171230
◆Personal assistant Hideaki Masuda’s practice of selecting and nurturing caregivers
- He decides on a caregiver, instructs the caregiver, adjusts their shifts, and manages their pay, among other actions.
- A caregiver is identified among people other than housemates and family members, such as friends and acquaintances.
- Recruitment and interviews of caregivers and instruction and education on care and other activities are performed by Mr. Masuda himself.
- His own daily life is freely and independently organized by selecting a caregiver himself rather than having one dispatched by a caregiver agency.
◆Daily life with a Personal assistant
- Changing positions (exercising)
- Helping him swallow sputum
- Cleaning up after breakfast (managing gastric fistula) and ensuring regular hydration
- Changing his diaper
- Going out
- Setting up a personal computer and switching
- Communication through a letter board
- Dressing and placing him on a wheelchair
- Taking care of his oral cavity, face washing
- Dressing after returning; changing positions
- Dinner (managing gastric fistula)
★Currently there are 15 personal assistants, and most of them are students.
Students stop being personal assistants upon graduating.
Therefore, personal assistants are constantly being recruited.
◆Welfare Program
★Long-term Care Insurance System
Personal Care (Bathing), Rehabilitation, Technical aids (Electric adjustable bed, lift, wheelchair, ramp, etc.)
★Home-visit care for people with severe disabilities
（based on the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities): 987.5 hours per month
1) Personal Assistants, 2)Visiting Care from the home care agency:about 80 hours per month
◆Personal assistant training
★Entrusting care to someone requires smooth communication
- The personal assistant, who understands the patient’s needs, and the guidance system, a team of medical professionals available to provide medical care, help share the patient’s burden. This is linked to improvements in both community life and the nursing system.
◆Point of view from the Family
- Since the patient teaches the assistant how to care for him or her, the patient’s family can now leave the patient’s care to the assistant.
- As a result, family members will have more time for themselves, which they can dedicate to their jobs, shopping, etc.
◆Point of view from the ALS patient
- The prospective personal assistant: Someone with a good understanding of life’s daily rhythms, with whom there is a good rapport.
→ Suggestions regarding decision-making are formed with a priority on alleviating the family’s burden of care.
◆The ALS patient is now receiving care from someone outside the family
→ The patient frees the family from the role of caretaker while shifting to a more autonomous lifestyle.
It is important for patients to receive personalized care tailored to their needs as well as a wide range of general assistance. Having a personal assistant makes this possible and also allows patients to rely on someone other than family members.
In this way, I believe patients can continue to communicate even if it becomes difficult to express their wishes.
uploaded by Ogawa, Hiroshi
Dec. 14, 2017 REV: Dec. 30, 2017
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