Int.Home Care &
Rehabilitation Exhibition

The three-day exhibition, H.C.R. 2007 opened with opening announcement by Juro Saito, the chairperson for the Japan National Council of Social Welfare. Doors opened after the ceremony with attendance of Mr. Christian Carstensen (H.C.R. Europe Coordinator) and Mr. Akira Suetsugu (President of Health and Welfare Information Association).

More than 25,000 home care and rehabilitation equipment were exhibited by 527 Japanese companies and 53 overseas companies from 14 countries and 1 territory. From early morning there was a continuous flow of many visitors to the exhibition, trying out the equipment and consulting with exhibitors with great interest.

In recent years, securing human resources in the social welfare provider service field has become one of the greatest issues in our country. In order to provide solutions to this issue, development of home care and rehabilitation equipment incorporated with the latest technology has been under way at universities and research institutions. These equipment are designed to reduce the burden of care-giving for the elderly and physically challenged persons or to support independence of such persons. A special area consisting of three corners--“Care Support Equipment”, “Self-independence Support Equipment”, and “High-Tech Wheelchairs”--was dedicated to exhibit home care and rehabilitation equipment which incorporated with cutting-edge technologies such as sensors, artificial muscles, and robotics technology. Also, demonstrations to present some equipment for care support and self-independence support were given on the first day.

This year again, special area was set up where a comprehensive range of home care and rehabilitation equipment for children was on exhibit. Educational equipment and communication equipment were displayed, as well as wheelchairs and daily living aids. Since children could try out products with their parents’ assistance, this corner drew a great deal of interest. Also consultation was available at no charge on various topics such as usage of home care and rehabilitation equipment, child raising from medical point of view and education.

International Symposium “The Current Situation & Issues Concerning Social Firms in Europe” was successfully held.
After enforcement of the law to support the independence of the physically challenged, there has been an increasing attention to activities to support independence of the physically challenged persons. In order to deepen our understanding of those activities, the guest speakers who were invited from the Netherlands gave a presentation regarding to social participation of the physically challenged persons and job assistance provided for those persons such as social firms. After the presentations, a Japanese guest speaker, Mr. Toshinori Shiga (director of the institutions which offers job training and employment opportunities for the intellectually challenged persons) hosted a discussion to consider the systems including the one in Japan.

Programs for specialists in the social welfare and care fields were held at the reception hall and various lectures related to the issues in the medical and social welfare fields were given. This year, we offer new programs specially designed for companies that are engaged in home care and rehabilitation business.
The program for October 3 was “Effects and Possibilities of New Therapies Utilizing Natural Power Such as Animals or Plants.”

A special seminar “How to Select and Use Home Care & Rehabilitation Equipment” was held, which gained great popularity last year. New programs such as “Lifts and Mobility Products” and “Canes and Walking Aids” were added to the usual lineup for this year. Specialists provided simple, easy-to-understand explanations about how to select and use home care and rehabilitation equipment to users of those equipment and their families.

The programs of October 3rd were “Home Renovation”, “Bathing” and “Toilet, Diapers, Excretion”; October 4th: “Beds”, “Lifts and Mobility Products”, “Canes and Walking Aids” and “Wheelchairs”; October 5th: “Communication”, “Aids for Daily Living” and “Car Related Aids”.

Workshops and seminars in 65 different topics were presented by exhibitors to provide visitors with the latest information.

At the reception party we presented appreciation awards to one overseas company and 11 Japanese companies which participated in our H.C.R. exhibitions fifteen times in the past.

Overseas Companies

Barry Emons Aangepast Spelmateriaal b.v. (The Netherlands)

Japanese Companies

AS ONE CORPORATION
ALBER JAPAN CO., LTD.
Utsumi Corporation
KOMURA CORPORATION
Colabo inc.
JMIC (JAPAN MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS CO., LTD.)
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
ZOJIRUSHI-BABY CO.,LTD.
HIMAWARI Co., Ltd.
MIKI CORPORATION
MITSUBISHI MOTORS CORPORATION

The number of visitors on the second day was 45,498. From the morning of the second day we had a continuous flow of visitors coming to our exhibition and the exhibition halls were filled with visitors. Exhibitors were promoting and providing enthusiastic visitors with explanations for their products and were unconscious of the passage of time.

International Symposium “The Current Situation, 10 Years After Introducing the Care Insurance in Germany” was successfully held. In Japan, after Long-Term Care Insurance system was revised in 2006, we have been struggling to deal with lot of issues regarding to financial resources, human resources and the quality of care services. For our symposium, we have invited a guest speaker from Germany, the country which introduced the world’s first care insurance system, to give a special lecture about the current situation and the issues concerning care insurance. After his presentation a Japanese guest speaker, Mr. Yasuko Hashimoto (professor of Taisho University), hosted a discussion to consider the comparison of policies in the two countries.

We presented a special program on the theme “Meal,” which brings pleasure and health to your daily life. A specialist and a master chef offered lectures on the theme “Delicious, Easy to Prepare, Delightful Meals. They made a presentation to introduce recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner based on Japanese and French cuisine, and provided useful tips when cooking these recipes. Also dietitians gave some advice for those who are diabetic or hypertensive.

We drew to a successful close with 128,178 visitors over the three days.