Support for people with disabilities lecture in Gunma discusses “life-prolonging treatment”

From Jomo News

April 30 2023

Fujioka, Gunma Pref – On the 29th, Ms. Keiko Emura, chairman of the Gumma Prefectural Hand Holding Incubation Association, gave a lecture at the Fujioka City General Education Center on support for people with disabilities after the loss of a guardian. Based on her experience, she explained the roles of adult guardians, various systems and procedures.

She said she needed to write down her child’s characteristics daily for the guardianship, and that sorting out assignments eased her anxiety. She also introduced the “Gunma-chan Anshin Note” compiled at the training session.

In 2021, she lost her son at the age of 33. She recalls that the decision to end-of-life care was extremely difficult, but she points out that she was able to “live the way she is now because she was able to see the end of her child’s life.” She said that it is important for parents and children to discuss life-prolonging treatment in case of an emergency.

It was planned by “Crescendo,” an association of persons with disabilities and their guardians centered on the city. It was opened in response to the heightened sense of crisis among parents, partly because they had been unable to see their children at the facility for a long time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Eiko Kashiwagi, the group’s chairman, sees it as “a pressing issue with aging parents.”