There have been a number of cases of novel coronavirus infections at nursing care facilities, and operators and caregivers are growing uneasy about passing the virus to the elderly amid the ongoing shortages of masks and alcohol-based disinfectants.
Following the government's request to temporarily shut down elementary and junior high schools, nursing care facilities, many of which were already short on staff, are being stretched even thinner.
I accompanied a worker of Carefriend Toshima, a nursing care service operator in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, when she visited one of its users on the afternoon of March 9.
Certified care worker Masayo Kashihara, 52, put on a mask and disinfected her hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer before leaving the office. There are about 700 masks left at the office for a total of 42 caregivers. The masks will be gone within a few weeks.
"We've been trying to gather as many masks as possible, but I'm worried if we can get them," Kashihara said. I also put on a mask, which I brought with me, and carefully disinfected my hands and fingers.
We visited the home of an 85-year-old man who lives with his 83-year-old wife. The man suffered a stroke five years ago and is partially paralyzed on his left side.
They use services such as assistance with bathing and housecleaning three times a week. After pushing the intercom button at the entrance, Kashihara wiped her hands and fingers again with an alcohol-based sanitizer.
In order to prevent influenza infections, she has been always careful about disinfection, but this year she is taking extra care by doing thorough handwashing and disinfection.
Upon entering the house, Kashihara asked the couple their temperature, which they took in the morning, to confirm that there were no problems with their health conditions. She then washed the man's hands and fingers carefully and helped him move around the house.
The man said, "If caregivers stop coming to our house, we're going to have a hard time." His wife said: "It'll be awful if I get infected, so I avoid crowds. It's difficult for me to help my husband take a bath by myself, so home-visit nursing care services are very helpful."
Among other equipment, masks are essential items to safely provide home-visit nursing care services. According to a survey released by the Nippon Careservice Craft Union on March 6, 19% of the 1,437 nursing care service operators surveyed said they had no masks in stock. Narrowed down to the 438 facilities that offer home-visit nursing care services, 28% of them said they had no stock at all.
Kazufumi Kishikawa, 53, who heads Carefriend Toshima, said: "To be honest, we want to change our masks for every house, but there aren't even enough hygiene supplies in general. We do the job pondering how to protect our caregivers when a user of the service has a temperature."
There are now numerous facilities that provide day care services to the elderly visiting from home which have been forced to temporarily shut down.
Mass infections occurred at two facilities that provide day care services to the elderly in Nagoya. Subsequently, the Nagoya city government on March 6 requested 126 day care centers in two wards of the city to suspend their operations for two weeks.
Some users have refrained from using the services at day care centers to avoid the risk of infection, and this has tightened the financial situations of small business operators.
At a day care center in Hokkaido, an average of about 20 people a day used to use its services, but following the Hokkaido prefectural government's declaration of a state of emergency, the number dropped to only four to six per day.
According to the Japan Federation of Kaigo Business Providers, a Tokyo-based general incorporated association, there have been similar cases seen across the nation.
"The number of nursing care service operators facing difficulties in running their businesses due to requests for temporary suspension and users refraining from using them will likely increase. We want the government to prepare measures so that they can seamlessly provide the services to the elderly," said an official of the federation.
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