Hiroshima Memo: Support for A-bomb microcephalic patients improves, further support needed for all A-bomb survivors
May 23, 2011
by Akira Tashiro, Executive Director of the Hiroshima Peace Media Center
About a quarter-century ago, on a number of occasions, I led a group of journalists from the United States and Asian nations, who had traveled to Japan to write stories on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the city of Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I, along with the foreign journalists, paid several visits there to see the father of a child with microcephaly. We listened to his account of endless suffering.
Upon returning to their home countries, the journalists issued reports on the microcephalic patient through newspapers, television, and other media. In these reports they expressed such reactions as: “The radiation from the atomic bomb affected even the fate of a fetus, yet to be born” and “Seeing a microcephalic patient innocently turning the pages of a magazine is a silent denunciation of the inhumanity of the atomic bombing.”
Most of these reporters had no knowledge of the existence of such victims of microcephaly and the fact that their conditions were brought about by radiation exposure. The stories they wrote, and shared with us back in Hiroshima, revealed the deep shock they felt.
The patient’s father readily agreed to be interviewed because he sincerely hoped that nuclear weapons, which can wreak such conditions as microcephaly, would be eliminated from the earth as swiftly as possible.
“I want to live at least one day longer than my child,” the father told us, “because she's unable to care for herself.” After his wife died, he made every effort to provide for his daughter. Two and a half years ago, he died, and the parents of other microcephalic children have passed away one after another. Meanwhile, the 22 patients born with microcephaly who are alive today have turned 65. They need even greater medical treatment and nursing care.
As a result of appeals made to the municipal, prefectural, and national governments by patients’ families and their supporters, the city of Hiroshima has been staffed with a medical social worker since April of this year, a woman who works exclusively on behalf of microcephalic patients. But if the scope of the social worker’s activities is determined by the boundary of the city of Hiroshima, patients and their family members living outside the city will obtain only limited support. Forming a strong network of the municipalities where patients live is naturally important. Toward this end, perhaps the person in charge could visit all patients and families at least once every six months. Moreover, would it be feasible for the system to help improve counseling services for all A-bomb survivors?
Improved counseling services are needed not only for microcephalic patients but also for all aging A-bomb survivors.
As of the end of March 2010, the number of A-bomb survivors declined to 227,565, and their average age was 76.73. The largest number of survivors, approximately 71,000, live in the city of Hiroshima. Each of the city's eight wards has only one nurse serving as a counselor for survivors. In Nishi Ward, there are 12,000 survivors. Even in Aki Ward, which has the smallest number of survivors, there are about 3,000. It is easy to imagine, simply from the limited number of counselors, that it is difficult to provide sufficient support for the survivors' needs.
Moreover, nearly 30 percent of the Hiroshima survivors live alone. Many of them have lost family members due to the atomic bombing or A-bomb-related illnesses and many no longer have relatives they can turn to for support. At the same time, medical treatment and welfare programs have become more complex. Therefore, in many cases, survivors cannot cope with such problems on their own.
There are four nursing homes for A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima, but gaining admission to one of them requires applicants to linger on a waiting list for four or five years. Nanao Kamada, 74, is chairman of the Hiroshima A-bomb Survivor Relief Foundation and director of Kurakake Nozomi-en, a nursing home in Asakita Ward. He stressed, “It’s urgent that counseling services be improved so that survivors can feel free to seek consultations about anything that concerns them.”
If providing such services by governmental bodies alone is difficult, it is important to enlist the cooperation of citizens' groups. For example, the Association of Social Workers for Hibakusha based in Hiroshima is a volunteer organization composed mainly of medical social workers who work at medical facilities in the city. This organization has been in operation for 30 years. Of its roughly 80 members, some 30 are qualified medical social workers.
However, due to difficulties involving finances and securing sites for consultation, the organization can hold counseling sessions for a large number of survivors only once or twice a year. Masahiro Mimura, 65, head of this group and a medical social worker, said, “If the city government provides us with a place accessible to survivors, we would like to hold consultation sessions even every day.” Some of the group's members are in their 20s and 30s, and he said that the organization's activities can contribute to handing down the A-bomb experience to future generations.
Posting a medical social worker devoted to microcephalic patients is indeed a step forward. While facilitating cooperation with organizations such as the group mentioned above, we should make the most of this opportunity to improve consultation services for all A-bomb survivors.
(Originally published on May 16, 2011)
About a quarter-century ago, on a number of occasions, I led a group of journalists from the United States and Asian nations, who had traveled to Japan to write stories on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the city of Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I, along with the foreign journalists, paid several visits there to see the father of a child with microcephaly. We listened to his account of endless suffering.
Upon returning to their home countries, the journalists issued reports on the microcephalic patient through newspapers, television, and other media. In these reports they expressed such reactions as: “The radiation from the atomic bomb affected even the fate of a fetus, yet to be born” and “Seeing a microcephalic patient innocently turning the pages of a magazine is a silent denunciation of the inhumanity of the atomic bombing.”
Most of these reporters had no knowledge of the existence of such victims of microcephaly and the fact that their conditions were brought about by radiation exposure. The stories they wrote, and shared with us back in Hiroshima, revealed the deep shock they felt.
The patient’s father readily agreed to be interviewed because he sincerely hoped that nuclear weapons, which can wreak such conditions as microcephaly, would be eliminated from the earth as swiftly as possible.
“I want to live at least one day longer than my child,” the father told us, “because she's unable to care for herself.” After his wife died, he made every effort to provide for his daughter. Two and a half years ago, he died, and the parents of other microcephalic children have passed away one after another. Meanwhile, the 22 patients born with microcephaly who are alive today have turned 65. They need even greater medical treatment and nursing care.
As a result of appeals made to the municipal, prefectural, and national governments by patients’ families and their supporters, the city of Hiroshima has been staffed with a medical social worker since April of this year, a woman who works exclusively on behalf of microcephalic patients. But if the scope of the social worker’s activities is determined by the boundary of the city of Hiroshima, patients and their family members living outside the city will obtain only limited support. Forming a strong network of the municipalities where patients live is naturally important. Toward this end, perhaps the person in charge could visit all patients and families at least once every six months. Moreover, would it be feasible for the system to help improve counseling services for all A-bomb survivors?
Improved counseling services are needed not only for microcephalic patients but also for all aging A-bomb survivors.
As of the end of March 2010, the number of A-bomb survivors declined to 227,565, and their average age was 76.73. The largest number of survivors, approximately 71,000, live in the city of Hiroshima. Each of the city's eight wards has only one nurse serving as a counselor for survivors. In Nishi Ward, there are 12,000 survivors. Even in Aki Ward, which has the smallest number of survivors, there are about 3,000. It is easy to imagine, simply from the limited number of counselors, that it is difficult to provide sufficient support for the survivors' needs.
Moreover, nearly 30 percent of the Hiroshima survivors live alone. Many of them have lost family members due to the atomic bombing or A-bomb-related illnesses and many no longer have relatives they can turn to for support. At the same time, medical treatment and welfare programs have become more complex. Therefore, in many cases, survivors cannot cope with such problems on their own.
There are four nursing homes for A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima, but gaining admission to one of them requires applicants to linger on a waiting list for four or five years. Nanao Kamada, 74, is chairman of the Hiroshima A-bomb Survivor Relief Foundation and director of Kurakake Nozomi-en, a nursing home in Asakita Ward. He stressed, “It’s urgent that counseling services be improved so that survivors can feel free to seek consultations about anything that concerns them.”
If providing such services by governmental bodies alone is difficult, it is important to enlist the cooperation of citizens' groups. For example, the Association of Social Workers for Hibakusha based in Hiroshima is a volunteer organization composed mainly of medical social workers who work at medical facilities in the city. This organization has been in operation for 30 years. Of its roughly 80 members, some 30 are qualified medical social workers.
However, due to difficulties involving finances and securing sites for consultation, the organization can hold counseling sessions for a large number of survivors only once or twice a year. Masahiro Mimura, 65, head of this group and a medical social worker, said, “If the city government provides us with a place accessible to survivors, we would like to hold consultation sessions even every day.” Some of the group's members are in their 20s and 30s, and he said that the organization's activities can contribute to handing down the A-bomb experience to future generations.
Posting a medical social worker devoted to microcephalic patients is indeed a step forward. While facilitating cooperation with organizations such as the group mentioned above, we should make the most of this opportunity to improve consultation services for all A-bomb survivors.
(Originally published on May 16, 2011)
