Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

The sweltering weather with the temperature rising above 35 degrees C has been troubling evacuees and relief workers in Soja City and Mabicho, the two hardest-hit locations in Okayama Prefecture.
 
As of 23 July 2018, AMDA has been providing medical and health-related assistance in three evacuation centers, namely, Sunwork Soja (Soja City), Okada Elementary School, and Mabi Community House Sono Branch (both in Mabicho).
 
Meanwhile, AMDA’s medical personnel have been dispatched to Mabi-Kinen Byoin Hospital to support the medical services.
 
 
Activity report (22 July 2018):
 
-Sunwork Soja (Soja City)
 
AMDA has been continuing to provide the health-related assistance at Sunwork Sojo. On the 22^nd, one nurse and one coordinator from AMDA collaborated with local health workers to conduct health consultations, physical exercises, nursing, and monitoring of the evacuees at the shelter.
 
In addition, one nurse from AMDA is now stationed at Mabi Community Center Sono Branch to do the rounds at night for elderly people who are in need of nursing care. AMDA nurse is working closely with the local nursing team who had already been working there earlier.
 
For this mission, AMDA’s partner organizations such as Kuroshiocho Town in Kochi Prefecture, Kaiyocho Town in Tokushima Prefecture, Seto Kenshin Clinic (Kagawa), Okayama Co-op, and Asahigawaso are rendering support. (They belong to AMDA’s Platform for the Great Nankai Trough Disaster, a disaster response platform which AMDA established for the foreseen Nankai Trough Disaster which is expected to strike Japan in the near future.)
 

-Massage and acupuncture services at Okada Elementary School (Mabicho)

A week has passed since AMDA’s massage and acupuncture services were launched at Okada Elementary School. The treatments have been provided using one of the classrooms under the name of “AMDA Care Room”. The needs for both massage and acupuncture have been increasing as the post-disaster phase gets prolonged.
 
On the 22^nd, AMDA’s therapists went around the shelter with the local health workers from the municipality to talk to the evacuees in person to check their health conditions. Later on, some of the evacuees came to receive the treatment after they found out about the services.
 
16 people received the acupuncture treatment that afternoon, including two patients who came in for the first time. Main symptoms among patients were back ache, shoulder ache, as well as sore legs and hands. Most of the patients were in their 30s to 50s which is the main age group that engages themselves in clearing work. 14 of them have already received the acupuncture treatment several times, and they are all aware of how effective the treatment is. Although they seemed a bit nervous at first, after they are done with the treatment, they’d come out of the treatment room with a relaxed smile.
 
What has been observed through the treatment is the fact that a lot of them find it difficult to get a quality sleep despite of sleeping for a good amount of time. Because their evacuation life has been getting longer, AMDA acupuncturists hope to improve this problem as the lack of quality sleep could lead to heatstroke and mental instability.
 
On the 22^nd, a footbath was introduced at the corridor in front of the treatment room. The service was launched in response to the scorching weather and the prolonged evacuation life. On the first day, four people came to soothe themselves by putting their feet in the mint-infused water. Some of them used the service while waiting for the acupuncture treatment. AMDA hopes to continue launching new measures by seeing the arising needs.
 
On the 23^rd, AMDA went around the shelter with local health workers to monitor the conditions of the evacuees. The aim was to let them know about the AMDA Care Room and prevent them from getting sick. The acupuncture treatment is available from 2 pm besides the footbath service.