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Clinic

Introduction

The number of demented patients in Japan is increasing and estimated to have reached 4.6 million already. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is planning to establish 230 medical centers for dementia all over Japan.  In 2010, we established the Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorders in the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (NCGG), as an ideal model of medical center for dementia. This memory center started the outpatient department in September 2010, and the hospital admission in April 2011. Aichi prefecture has designated the center as the first medical center for dementia in the prefecture.

Geriatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, radiologists and neurosurgeons are cooperatively working together in our memory center. This memory center offers a series of services for the demented, from the latent stage to the terminal-care by providing precise diagnosis with the most advanced clinical instruments, implementing “interdisciplinary and comprehensive medical care” through cooperation of healthcare professionals and families of patients, thereby developing medico-social network.

This memory center also creates prospective and longitudinal database on demented patients, and offers information based on the clinical and translational researches in cooperation with the Research Institute and the Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia, NCGG.

Mission

The concept of our Memory center at NCGG is to fulfill the wishes of patients and their families regarding dementia so that they can live peacefully at home for as long as possible.
To achieve the mission, we

• provide medical care to maintain cognitive function
• improve behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD)
• maintenance of daily life functions
• prevention of geriatric syndrome
• management of caregiver’s burden
• support the use of dementia care services in familiar places 
• hospitalization care in case of emergency

Clinical activities

Staff: Doctors (24), Nurses (8), Psychologists (10), Psychiatric social worker (1) and Clerk (2).

Activities to prevent dementia: Exercise, diet education and cognitive training 

Psycho-educational support for people with dementia and their families

Holistic Physio-Cognitive Rehabilitation

Comprehensive rehabilitation program aiming to improve daily life and to prevent progression of dementia.
Three rehabilitation programs stratified by their conditions provided by the trained rehabilitation staffs.

Database for clinical researches and trials:

including comprehensive geriatric assessment, neuropsychiatric battery, frailty measurement, & advanced neuroimaging

Education for medical and care staff in Japan and Asian countries Breakthrough:

Clinical and translational researches are intensively conducted for dementia prevention and care, such as development of blood biomarker for early dementia detection, preventive activities for dementia,  robotics to help carers, and establishment of a new socio-medical network (Orange town).

Holistic Physio-Cognitive Rehabilitation

About the program

At NCGG rehabilitation department, we offer family participatory group rehabilitation program (Holistic Physio-Cognitive Rehabilitation:hPCR) for dementia patients and their families. We cooperate with the primary physician and nurses at Memory clinic to design a program that fits different individual needs for the patient and  family, in order to continue with their living at ease. Also, we provide correct knowledge and tips which are necessary to maintain ability of daily living.

 

Who can participate

Patients who visited NCGG Memory Clinic and was referred to rehabilitation department by the primary physician.

How to participate

1. Visit NCGG Memory Clinic
   Visit Memory Clinic and receive a diagnosis. Upon request, primary physician refers the patient to rehabilitation department.
2. Visit rehabilitation department
   Rehabilitation physician conduct detailed assessments on daily living activity, then choose additional testing according to the disease condition.
3. Go through detailed testing on cognitive function, daily living marker, and family’s care burden.
   Go through evaluation on daily living, disease condition, problems, family’s care burden, and physician shares those information with patients.
4. Explanation on test results
   Rehabilitation physician explains the test results and rehabilitation treatment strategy.
5. Group rehabilitation starts

 

Rehabilitation contents (once a week, 1 hour)

Creative activity / Exercise therapy

Cognitive function such as communication, attention, and memory are activated through craft making or cognitive stimulation. Physical and cognitive functions are activated by dual task arranged with “Cognicise”.

Seasonal events

Foster a sense of season through seasonal events.

Approach to family members (once a month)

Patients and their families learn about how to perceive and respond to dementia symptoms through role plays. Families share their problems and concerns, and try to come up with solutions together.

Homework

Participants will work on homework to review the tasks and tips learned in the rehabilitation program. The program also aims to help them maintain their daily life at home.

• NCGG Home Exercise Program for Older People (HEPOP) 2020

 

 

 

Contact

If you are interested in participating in the rehabilitation program, please consult with your primary physician at Memory Clinic.

Facilities (Clinic)

 

 

 

 

Facilities (Hospital)

 

 

 

Establishing an ideal model of medical care for dementia

1. Providing medical care to more than 1,000 new patients per year.
2. Accumulation of database for clinical researches and trials
3. Treatment of behavioral and psychological disorders (BPSD) by cognitive rehabilitation
4. Treatment of geriatric syndromes associated with dementia by board-certified geriatricians   
5. Interdisciplinary care in cooperation with patients and their families by offering  classes for families
6. Establishment of a new socio-medical network
7. Socio-economical evaluation of dementia care and treatment
8. Education for medical staff in Japan and Asian countries

New Interdisciplinary and Comprehensive Team Medical Care

• We create a network between specialists* and general practitioners  through a coordination by geriatric physicians with broader and in-depth knowledge.
  (*especially; neurological physicians and radiologists providing precise diagnosis, psychiatrists knowledgeable about medical treatment for BPSD, and neurosurgeons knowledgeable about adequate adaption of operation)
• Patients themselves and their families join the treatment team together with healthcare professionals.

 

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