One Year Report

Construction of the Minamisanriku Health Center
The two public health centers in the Shizugawa and Utatsu
districts of Minamisanriku, Miyagi, were destroyed by the
tsunami. They borrowed unused classrooms in primary
schools and started up infant health checkup services in June.
“The tsunami wiped out all our furniture and equipment.
UNICEF provided essential items, such as height and weight
scales and carpets. UNICEF played a large part in resuming
health services,” reminisced Hatsue Kudo, of Minamisanriku’s
Health and Welfare Department. “However, with the reorganization
and reopening of Minamisanriku’s primary schools,
the facility became unavailable for us. Health centers don’t
only provide checkups for infants,” says Ms. Kudo. “They
provide places where children can play, and where mothers
and children can meet up with other families. Mothers were
concerned, because with the disappearance
of the health centers, they
had no place to meet anymore and
no place to talk with professionals
for childcare.”
In response to the need for a
timely reopening of the key health
centers, JCU decided in November
Hatsue Kudo,
an outreach nurse in
Minamisanriku.
2011 to support the reopening of the
two health centers at the request of
Minamisanriku. The completion date
is set for the end of March 2012.
Construction site of the Shizukawa Health Care Center.
Dental Checkups for Children in Ishinomaki
The change of lifestyles and diets caused by disasters
increases poor dental health, especially among children. In
Ishinomaki, Miyagi, dental hygienists provided health education
at temporary housing complexes, nursery schools, and
social welfare centers. JCU provided support by distributing
toothbrushes and other dental hygiene products for outreaches.
From June to December, our support reached to 1,464
people, 367 adults and 1,097 children, including those with
special needs.
9
Obstetricians and Gynecologists Dispatch Project
In the hard hit Ishinomaki district, Miyagi, out of the five hospitals
or clinics with obstetrics and gynecology, only the Ishinomaki
Red Cross Hospital escaped damage. The other four
hospitals or clinics were severely damaged by the tsunami,
with two of them being forced to close.
The Abe Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic was one of
those four damaged facilities. Dr. Yoichi Abe works as the
only doctor with 25 staff members.
Dr. Abe’s own house had been
destroyed, so he and his wife
started living at the clinic when he
reopened it. The examination rooms
on the first floor had been completely
damaged by the tsunami. To be
able to provide examinations and
Dr. Yoichi Abe, chairman of
the Abe Obstetrics and
Gynecology Clinic, talks
about the damage to the
facilities.
treatments on the second floor, the
Abes and two evacuated midwives
removed the mud. Recalling those
days, Dr. Abe says, “At one point I
thought about giving up on reopening
the clinic. However, on the third
day after the disaster, when the flood waters receded, families
of patients began walking all the way to the clinic just to
ask if we were reopening. After I heard that two other clinics
had closed, I devoted all my efforts to reopening.”
Tokiko Abe, Dr. Abe’s wife, says, “The day of the disaster
marked the 24th anniversary of the clinic. The staff was celebrating
and eating osekihan, a rice dish for special occasions,
when the earthquake hit. About two-thirds of the staff suffered
some kinds of damage from the tsunami. Even under
those conditions, they all were determined to reopen the
clinic as soon as possible, and I think that is how we
managed to live on.” In addition, Dr. Abe treated outpatients
and cleaned up his damaged home, working continuously
without resting. The physical and psychological stress accumulated
tremendously. Our partnership with JPCA provided
medical support by dispatching obstetricians and gynecologists
to Dr. Abe’s clinic. From June 30 to mid-October, JPCA
dispatched 11 doctors to provide medical support for 370
hours in total.
“Having veteran doctors with us was a big help,” says Dr.
Abe. “Even now, after UNICEF is no longer providing direct
support, we still receive doctors from JPCA. I think there are
lots of people around the world who are suffering worse than
we did. At first, we hesitated to accept UNICEF’s assistance,
as I believed there were people in other parts of the world
who needed help more than us. I hope to return this favor
someday by helping people in need, like children in Africa.”