Day Service in Higashiosaka City Utilizes "Skeeter Dance Recreation Held at Higashi-Osaka City Day Service ～Facility and local residents work together to revitalize the community and prevent nursing care

2024.05.29 10:00

株式会社土屋

Tsuchiya Corporation (Head office: Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture; Representative Director: Toshiyuki Takahama; Enrollment: 2,646), a subsidiary of Tsuchiya Corporation (Head office: Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture; Representative Director: Toshiyuki Takahama; Head office: Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), held a dance recreation in May 2024, using the skater system.

Dance recreation (1)

Normal Life Co., Ltd. operates "Day Service Iki-Iki" and "Group Home Otento-San," and supports "the continuation of a person's own life" as a community-based business.

We aim to help people live "lively" lives in contact with society even after aging or dementia, and we promote interaction between users and the community by using the "Skeeter" service, a matching service that connects nursing homes seeking paid assistance with people who want to provide support. In May 2024, we will open a new nursing home in the city.

In May 2024, a dance recreation event will be held at the facility. A dance instructor active in the community taught a "dance with light exercise elements. This is a joint effort by Normal Life Co., Ltd. and local residents to revitalize the community and prevent nursing care.

Outline of Dance Recreation Using ■Sketter

Date: May 16, 2024

Time: 14:00-15:00

Place: Day Service Iki-Iki (Normal Life Home Support Center)

Instructors ：Two dance instructors active mainly in Higashi Osaka

Participants: 22 users of "Day Service Iki-Iki" and "Group Home Otento-San

　　　　　6 staff members

Responsible person: Takashi Sugi, representative of Normal Life Co.

　　　　　Manager Takashi Iwabuchi

Description: Dance recreation using "Skeeter" (a paid volunteer matching service based on the concept that "even unqualified and inexperienced people can work in their spare time")

Scene on the day of the event

The day's dance recreation started with preparatory exercises using abdominal breathing. While sitting on chairs, the users stretch their shoulders, twist their hips, and raise their hands to stretch their sides in time with Hawaiian music.

The instructor makes eye contact, body touches, "Goo! and "OK!" and "Perfect! and "OK!", the participants were busy, but they were all happy to relax their upper body.

After a short break for mental exercises and guessing quizzes, the participants danced to the main song "Mikan no Hanasaku Oka" (The Hill Where the Mandarin Oranges Blossom). When the song started to play, they sang in unison, put bells on their palms, and immediately started to practice. After learning the body movements with the instructor's choreography, it was time for the real performance. The director of the facility was surprised to see such a wide range of motion in their body movements, and they took the dance seriously.

The final song was "Tokyo Kid" by Hibari Misora. The participants sang the song while looking at the lyrics cards handed out to them, and the recreation was both serious and fun at the same time.

Dance Recreation (2)

■Ask the Dance Instructor Why He Works as a Skeeter

Ms. Kazumi Minamino, the dance instructor for this event, usually works as an instructor, teaching jazz dance and hip-hop to middle and senior citizens in her hometown, Higashi Osaka.

Her mother, who had to live in a hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage, and her father, who was admitted to a facility, inspired her to start dance recreation at nursing care facilities.

One day in a dreary hospital room, I was dancing while playing music for my mother, and the elderly patients there were so happy that they started moving their bodies together. At that moment, it occurred to me that if I had the urge to move, I could do something like 'care prevention' before I became bedridden like my mother."

Ms. Minamino's thoughts were reinforced when she encountered a similar incident while visiting her father in a facility.

I thought that if dancing could make people feel a little better, I would be able to provide them with a fun time through 'nursing care prevention x dance recreation.'"

In her search for dance recreation that could be used in nursing care settings, Ms. Minamino came across Skeeter and began working with her students. At first, the students were "worried about whether they would get a reaction" because the program was targeted at people with dementia, but they were impressed by the reactions of the users and their happy faces.

And now, through dance recreation, Ms. Minamino feels more strongly about the importance of preventing nursing care.

I think it is important for people to have hobbies and exercise on a regular basis when they are seniors, the stage before caregiving. I think it is important for seniors to have hobbies and exercise on a regular basis before they become bedridden, so that they can walk on their own feet, eat delicious food, and smile and live their lives. That's what I want for myself, and I hope I can be of service to everyone as a contribution to the community."

Synergistic Effect of Daily Recreation and Skeeter

At "Day Service Iki-Iki", daily recreational activities include game tournaments, and several times a month, various recreational activities are held using the Skeeter.

For daily recreation, the staff decides on the games to be played just before the event based on the number of participants, their expressions, their physical condition, and other factors. We refresh the feelings of the patients by throwing paddles, bowling, playing karuta, etc., and also improve their independence and cognition by having the patients calculate the scores of the games themselves and write them down on the board.

We also use the sketters to hold various recreational activities such as piano, dance, and senior yoga. Other recreational activities include "Eisa," an Okinawan dance performance, a hero show put on by high school students, and twice-monthly 10-15 minute hand massages, all of which are highly appreciated by the residents.

Skeeters play a role in preventing the isolation of the elderly and creating social connections, and by providing unusual activities, they bring out smiles and a sense of anticipation not normally seen from the users. At "Day Service Iki-Iki", we help our users to lead a vibrant daily life through the synergistic effects of these two different recreational activities.

Path to Community Revitalization - Takashi Sugi, Representative of Normal Life Co.

Normal Life Co., Ltd. offers a variety of recreational activities on a daily basis as part of its "never-ending program." In addition, the company values its ties with the local community by decorating the shopping district with flowers grown by its users during horticultural therapy sessions.

The biggest challenge for community-based facilities, where both users and staff are residents of the neighborhood, is the "closed nature" of the facility, as all services are completed within the facility. To overcome this, we introduced a sketcher and have focused on interaction with the local community, which has had the unexpected effect of "changing the staff".

At first, it was only perceived as a "burden" and there was no small amount of internal opposition, but once the Skeeter was actually introduced, the staff themselves were delighted by the happy expressions and changes of the users, and even with regard to daily recreational activities, they wondered if they had become "stuck in a rut" and subsequently created new recreational activities from scratch and The staff also enjoys creating new recreational activities from scratch and playing different games every day to meet the needs of the patients.

In addition, the staff themselves bring in people who can perform Kawachi Ondo, picture-story shows, and puppet shows, and this has increased contact with the local community, which has had a very positive effect.

Normal Life Co., Ltd. will continue to encourage other nearby facilities to take this approach, and will continue to focus on interacting with local residents and playing a role in revitalizing the community so that seniors with dementia can live lively lives in their hometowns.

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https://twitter.com/tcy_honsha

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Company Profile

Company name: Tsuchiya Corporation

Location ：2F Hisayasu Central Building, 192-2 Ibara-cho, Ibara-shi, Okayama

Representative Director: Toshiyuki Takahama

Establishment ：August 2020