Doctors and nurses dispatched by hospitals of Prefectural Welfare Federations of Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs) to Kumamoto prefecture have been striving to provide medical and health care services to people living at evacuation centers in Kumamoto earthquake-stricken areas where aftershocks are still continuously occurring.
A doctor sent by Kagoshima Prefectural Welfare Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives is advising one of the evacuated people on how to avoid economy class syndrome due to a long stay at the public shelter. (Uto-shi, Kumamoto prefecture)
As of May 6, 18 medical teams of JA welfare federations in the country, consisting of 78 doctors and nurses, have visited disaster-hit towns and villages in Kumamoto prefecture to assume responsibility for health management of the evacuees at a number of public shelters since the powerful earthquake struck the Kumamoto region on April 14.
Those medical teams carried out various jobs not only of checking physical conditions of the evacuated people, but also providing shelters’ staff members and volunteer workers with guidance on preventing infection.
In addition to these services, members of the teams have paid special attention to take mental cares of evacuees. When they meet the evacuated people, they take particularly enough time to listen to them about their worries since their mental fatigue has accumulated during stays at shelters for several weeks.
Two teams of 9 doctors and nurses will continue their activities to manage health conditions of the disaster victims in Kumamoto prefecture.