Workshop on Clinical Rheumatology Society Journal Role of rehabilitation professionals in disaster assistance
2018 Volume 30 Issue 4 Pages 293-299
Details
2018 Volume 30 Issue 4 Pages 293-299
Purpose
To report the role of rehabilitation experts for the support of disaster rehabilitation by referring to past activities.
Method
Many rehabilitation-related organizations worked together to support the disaster victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011. The Japan Disaster Rehabilitation Assistance Team（JRAT）was established to keep up with the support activity of disaster rehabilitation due to the devastating large scale disaster. JRAT established local support organizations in each prefecture and held training sessions targeting rehabilitation experts, so it is possible to for JRAT to manage the supporting activity of disaster rehabilitation throughout Japan.
Result
The primary support targets of JRAT are children, woman and aged people patients（CWAP）who need special care. JRAT considers that increasing CWAP activity can prevent the occurrence of new diseases such as disuse syndrome and economy class syndrome at the time of the Kumamoto earthquakes. Therefore, JRAT proposed environmental improvement of evacuation centers, taught frail elderly people how to stand up from the floor, and promoted activities such as walking exercise and lower limb exercise to improve their activities.
Conclusion
Disaster rehabilitation assistance by rehabilitation professionals is now well organized. JRAT keeps developing human resources by providing disaster training and we hope to be a very useful organization for disaster victims when devastating disasters occur.
