Mission Bay Hospice
Hello I`m Yushi Matsuda from Nihon University. I decided to participate in CME program as I am interested in organ donation in the U.S.
On March 1st, we visited Bay Hospice where we listened to the lecture by nine of its staffs. We also had a chance to talk to them and visit the hospice facility. I learned how they control their feeling and state of mind when they meet patients’ death. Many staffs make it a rule to distinguish between private and work. The lecture was especially interesting since we Japanese are generally tend to focus on working and not good at having private time.
When I first saw the hospice facility, I did not realize that the facility was hospice because there seemed to be no difference from the usual house. An elderly man was sitting down on the chair while a young one was talking gently to him. It was so natural that I could not see that they were a patient and a hospice staff until one of the staffs told me so.
I was surprised to see so many patients looked so happy and the hospice was filled with smiles. I heard that a party is held in the hospice every day. The purpose of the hospice is to make patients feel not sad but happy until the very last moment of their lives. How wonderful it is!
Through the visit to the hospice, I felt strongly that there is no difference according to countries in care for those who are close to death. In a lecture, one nurse said what is important for such care is to stay beside patients and listen to what they talk. I remember that when I worked a year ago at care home for the aged for a week, the boss was saying the same thing. The hospice and the house for the aged are medical facilities, however their staffs believe that not only the medical side but also mental care are crucial.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Hello!
I’m Airi Yoshimoto, the first-year pharmaceutical student of Keio University.
Today, I want to share my experience at the Tech Museum of Innovation.
The Tech Museum of Innovation is a family-friendly interactive science and technology center located in the heart of downtown San Jose, California. Their mission is “to inspire the innovator in everyone.” I think the Tech is far more than just a museum. It is a valued community resource for education and innovation. Also, this place is fun for adults and kids. The tech-oriented exhibits are really interesting and we could really spend a good few hours there.
I’ll introduce one of the wonderful innovation, “Adaptive Eyecare.”
Adaptive Eyecare gives away flexible, fluid-filled lenses that help people see. The wearer simply add more or less liquid to change the power of lens until they can see clearly. Without the need for trained vision care or equipment, these glasses help adults to work and children to learn to read. Today, one billion people in the world need eyeglasses but cannot afford them, and Adaptive Eyecare can help those people thanks to its low cost and adjustability.
These days, the scientific technology has highly developed. Now is the most time to think about creating things not for specific wealth people but for universal happiness like this spectacle.
In addition, the section of Innovations in Health Care, presented by EI Hospital was wonderful and impressive place to learn especially for medical students!
In this section, I was most surprised at the images of anatomy on the screen, like a huge iPad. By using this, you can see anatomy of cardiovascular system, urinary system, and some other systems. You can change the perspectives, midsagittal plane, frontal plane and transverse plane. Moreover this equipment has not only the images of people with some diseases, but also those of dogs, rats and other animals.
If this technology becomes familiar to us, medical students and students of other faculties, like pharmacy and nursing, will have more chances to learn about anatomy without dissecting a human body. This is very important education for the team-based treatment.
When I was a little kid, I became interested in science mostly because of my many visits to a variety of science museums. So, today, I could experience the bodily sensations of many astonishing innovations, and totally enjoyed like a kid.
“Don’t forget your first resolution”
This is a very precious proverb for me to be a creative researcher.
I want to visit the Tech someday in the future again!
Thank you for reading my blog post!
