Int.Home Care &
Rehabilitation Exhibition

H.C.R.2010 opened with remarks by Mr. Juro Saito, the chairperson for the Japan National Council of Social Welfare. Joining Mr. Saito for the opening ceremony were Mr. Christian Carstensen (H.C.R. Europe Coordinator) from Denmark, Mr. Tom Borcherding (H.C.R. North American Coordinator) from U.S.A. and Mr. Kazuhiro Kobayashi (President of Health and Welfare Information Association). The doors were opened to the exhibit halls following the ceremony.

435 Japanese companies and 57 overseas companies representing 15 countries and 1 territory presented more than 20,000 home care and rehabilitation equipment products. From the very opening of the exhibition each day, there was a continuous flow of many interested visitors trying out the equipment and consulting with exhibitors.

In recent years, R & D for Home Care and Rehabilitation Equipment with the latest technology such as the human engineering ergonomics or several sensor technologies has been promoted, and that, it opens a lot of doors for elderly and disabled persons. As for the food products, thanks to the progress of the development, nursing-care foods which look and taste similar to the ordinary foods are becoming popular in market. And, the new collaboration between the space technology and the nursing & welfare field was introduced. During the event, newly-released and in-development equipment could be seen and touched with demonstrations.

We also provided an event called "Prevention of Low Back Pain & Home Care and Rehabilitation Equipment."
For the people who work at nursing homes or facilities for disabled, the low back pain becomes an occupational disease. According to a survey, 80% of them suffer from the low back pain. It’s also the same for all care givers at home. Here, several ways of nursing care or home care using equipment such as lifts or transfer boards which can reduce burdens of care givers, especially the low back pain, were introduced with demonstrations performed by specialists.

Each program covered a wide variety of themes regarding Medical and Welfare topics. And many interested people participated in the seminars and the demonstrations.

The themes were "The Useful Idea of the Service Developed On-site for Residents of the Facility" and "Integration of Medical Care and Welfare Care."

The specialists provided lectures with demonstrations aiming at the users acquire a better knowledge of the correct use of equipment.
►Topics:
"House Renovation," "Toilets & Excretion related equipment," and "Bathing related equipment"

Meal is a base of life. In these days, more single elderly people and senior couples buy ready made foods or lunch boxes for their everyday meals and less people cook for themselves. In this program, specialists introduced the arranging meals with little efforts but well-balanced nutrients based on the ready-made foods or the convenience-store-lunch.

Workshops covering 21 different topics were presented by exhibitors. They provided the latest information to the visitors.

Despite rainy weather, many visitors and media organizations who covered H.C.R. came and the halls were filled with excitement.

Nowadays, all developed countries are searching for the best way of reforming their healthcare system as a country’s urgent issue. Each country has their respective objectives even though it seems far more difficult to realize them simultaneously.
We invited Mr. Bruno Palier, a research director at French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) from France to speak at our International symposium. In his lecture, the trend and evaluation of the healthcare system reform in European countries were introduced and we considered the Japanese healthcare system reform together.

In these days, we see the remarkable development of the technological innovation of accessible products such as mobile-phones, smart-phones, and personal computers. Many of them can be used for the communication of disabled persons with ease and at less cost. Lately, E-books attract a lot of attention for its’ potential contribution to the field of social welfare. In the event, the functions of such products were introduced and participants learned the practical use of them in the daily life.

There were seminars with three topics "How to select facilities for the elderly such as Pay Nursing Home," "Management for Property of Elderly I : Points to remember for succession of property and its preparation," and "Management for Property of Elderly II : Testamentary Trust and its Current Situation."

Once again, a 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 aids to daily living. Since children and their parents could try out these products this corner drew a great deal of interest. Consultation was also available at no charge on various topics such as proper use of home care and rehabilitation equipment, raising children from a medical point of view, and education.

►Topics:
"Beds," "Mobility Equipment," "Wheelchairs," and "Cane & Walker"

There were 18 workshops held by exhibitors in wide variety of topics covering the latest news regarding Home Care & Rehabilitation Equipment.

This section attracted again great deal of interest and many mass media covered the latest equipment.

There were programs for executives, directors and staff of social welfare institutions with the themes "Nursing-Care Services and Rehabilitation" and "Case Example of Approach on Environment at a Social Welfare Institution."

►Topics:
"Car related aids," "Self-help Device," and "Communication equipment"