Building a community that expands the circle of health in society
── It means that everyone works together to aim for good health.
Earlier, I talked about the growing awareness in self-care; however, in order to amend the many years of living habits, self-care alone is limited. Anyone’s help or advice will be encouraging and will make it easier for people to continue.
People who are currently suffering from the disease, people who have worked hard and overcame the disease, and/or people who are supporting his family member with the disease all have lots of know-how on treating diseases. Everyone has a lot of know how. In the United States, people who have overcome cancer (“cancer survivors”) are volunteers who consult with cancer patients at hospitals and give advice based on their own experiences.
The ideal system is for people with different skills, such as medical professionals, various volunteers, and survivors, to work together to support a single patient. The more people of different ages and positions come together, the more wisdom will come together. It would be great if we could build a wide range of interconnected communities.
In summary, hospital-centered treatment is required to survive the acute phase. Minimizing the aftereffects is also a medical model imposed on hospitals.
After that, in the chronic phase, people return to the local community, receive solid rehabilitation, and aim for returning to society.Therefore, it is not the end, but the social model part is to continue to support consultation and life support. The idea is that these models work together.
── By linking the two models, people will be able to exert their strength in maintaining and improving their health, thus, we will have a better community.
Considering the steadily increasing problems related to dementia and long-term care, helping one another and supporting each other in the local community is indispensable for future medical care. I would like to expand the circle of health while firmly engaging with the national government, local governments, and medical institutions.
── Thank you.
Toshinori Ito
Specially Appointed Professor, Osaka University Department of Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, medical doctor. Graduated from Osaka University School of Medicine in 1977. Specializes in pancreas transplantation. Studied at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine Surgery; and the University of Texas, Houston School of Medicine Surgery. Executive Director of the Japanese Association for Alternative, Complementary and Traditional Medicine; President of Evidence Based Integrative Medicine, etc.
This article was published in the magazine “Paradise” No. 64 (Summer 2016).
