Evacuation from F. has caused terrible shortage of staff

May 21, 2012

Fukushima exodus a torment for the physically disabled

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120521p2a00m0na021000c.html

FUKUSHIMA -- With more and more people evacuating from Fukushima Prefecture over radiation fears and the number of care workers diminishing, physically disabled patients here are beginning to lose hope for the future.

"Maki, would you like some tea?" a care worker asks, placing a straw in a disabled woman's mouth upon her affirmative nod.

The 39-year-old woman, Maki Kanno, a resident of Fukushima, is suffering from a rare disease known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), which causes her muscles to gradually transform into bones. She was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 4, and now, some 35 years later, it has progressed to a level where she can barely move only her neck and right limbs.

She is assisted by helpers on a 24-hour basis. They move her from her wheelchair to her bed and vice versa, and turn her body over every two hours, including at night, to prevent her from contracting bedsores.

To reduce her parents' burden of nursing her, Kanno moved out of her family home in 2009 and started life by herself at an apartment provided by a local non-profit organization (NPO).

Through services that provided her with nighttime and extended shift helpers, Kanno was even able to realize her dreams of going out at night and traveling to Hokkaido.

However, the outbreak of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant changed her lifestyle completely.

The helper who accompanied her on the trip to Hokkaido quit her job at the end of last year to evacuate outside the prefecture, "because of the radiation," Kanno recalls being told.

Kanno herself thought of leaving Fukushima and had planned to visit the Kanto and Kansai areas this April to look for nursing facilities. However, unable to find a helper to accompany her on the trip, she abandoned the idea.

Kanno began feeling the effects of the shortage in care workers around last summer. As many helpers became increasingly responsible for several patients at the same time, fewer of them were able to commit to long shifts. Even though there could be six helpers during the day, they took turns every two hours, making it difficult for her to plan regular commutes to her four doctors. Traveling outside of Fukushima, to visit her friends, for example, also became

increasingly difficult.

Takenobu Katagiri, a professor at Saitama Medical University, and a long-year researcher of the rare disease, said about 60 patients suffer from FOP throughout Japan. The majority of them, Katagiri says, live with their families and are nursed by them.

"I've never heard of a FOP patient living alone, apart from Ms. Kanno," he said.

However, with her father having passed away last year and her 63-year-old mother being ill, it is not easy for Kanno to move back into her family's home.

While wishing to maintain her independence, Kanno can't help but worry about the future, if the shortage of helpers continues.

"I can't foresee the future," she said.

Seven of the 45 full-time staff members at the Fukushima-based NPO Kanno uses quit to evacuate from the prefecture.

According to a survey conducted by Shogaisha Jiritsu Shien Kyogikai, a Fukushima Municipal Government-entrusted committee supporting disabled people's independence, 10 of the city's care worker providers have experienced staff shortages after the nuclear disaster. Altogether, 24 companies of the 27 providers in the city responded to the survey. Of these, 71 percent, or 17 companies, answered that they were experiencing either "remarkable" or "relative" shortages of staff.

Seventy-five percent of the firms said that they were anticipating further staff shortages. Some said staff members were considering evacuating from Fukushima Prefecture out of fear for their children's health.

"The problem cannot be solved with independent efforts in the private sector," says Seiichi Nakate, the vice-chairman of the committee's life support department.

The continuing evacuation from Fukushima Prefecture has also had a major impact on staff members at hospitals and local governments.

According to Fukushima Prefectural Government officials, the number of full-time doctors in hospitals within the prefecture decreased from 2,026 in March 2011 before the disasters to 1,963 in April 2012.

A total of 105 employees left their jobs at the Minamisoma Municipal Government during fiscal 2011, choosing early retirement -- some four times more than during regular years.

Although the municipal government hired 33 new employees this April and has received 29 people on loan from other areas, including some from Tokyo's Suginami Ward, there are still not enough workers, officials say, given the large amount of work that is yet to be done in the wake of the disasters.

To secure more employees, the Minamisoma Municipal Government plans to hire staff members from August on a three-year contract.