 Joyful Kakamigahara is a facility for the elderly that includes a special
nursing home, a group home, and a day-care center. Over the past three years,
a lively interaction has developed between the seniors at the facility and the
neighborhood elementary school (fifth grade).
The initial impetus for the program came in September 2004, when seniors from
the facility participated in the school’s Community Interaction Sports Day. The
seniors joined in the tug-of-war from their wheelchairs as if it were the most
natural thing in the world. The seniors unfortunately lost to the children, but
everyone was impressed by the enthusiastic way they expressed the frustration
of defeat.
The program, implemented throughout the year in consultation with teachers
at the elementary school, has three parts.
- Visits from the elementary school to the facility and get-togethers with
residents (five times per year)
After children are taught about dementia at school,
the whole class prepares some recreational activities and visits the facility.
- Visits to the school from the facility
Residents receive invitations
from the children to participate in sports day, community musicales, and the
harvest festival.
- (3) School open house (presentations by children summarizing their studies)
Seniors
enrolled at the facility and staff participate, as well as the PTA.
 The children
The majority of seniors from the facility are people with dementia.
Through this direct experience the children gradually learn how to interact with
people with dementia. Through trial and error, they have learned to prepare easy-to-understand
activities. They also learn to speak slowly, one point at a time. Children who
have graduated and entered middle school have begun returning to the facility
just to visit.- PTA
As the children gain an understanding of dementia, they spread that understanding
to their families. Tours of the facility and study groups on dementia are also
offered for PTA parents.
- Facility staff
Staff have come to appreciate more fully how important it
is for people with dementia, and for the staff themselves, to regularly interact
with the community.
- Members of the community
When seniors and staff members from the facility
go to the supermarket, people often greet them, saying “You’re from Joyful, aren’t
you? I saw you at Sports Day.”
- To see a natural relationship developing between children and people with
dementia, with the children growing up as sympathizers and life companions for
the elderly, raises high hopes for the future.
- Instead of being limited to specific events or occasional interaction,
everyday exchange between seniors and elementary school children continues year
by year until it takes root as something natural and expected. The children’s
understanding is transmitted to their parents and the community as a whole and
contributes to community networking.
- The schoolteachers work steadily behind the scenes to facilitate interaction,
documenting the process and implementing a practical program that could serve
as a model for genuine “Integrated Study*” in schools in communities across the
country. It is a program that demonstrates the important role our children’s
schools can play in building communities for people with dementia in the years
ahead.
- The driving force behind the program has been the organization and staff
of the facility for the elderly. Their activities offer a model for facilities
and staff nationwide that want to pursue exchange and activities with local schools.
The “Period for Integrated Study” aims at helping children develop capability and ability to discover problems by themselves and solve those problems properly.
(National Curriculum Standards Reform for Elementary School, Ministry of Education(at the time), 1998)
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