Japanese tour of hospice honors Rev. Kamp
BY TODD SHIELdS tshields@pioneerlocal.com September 27, 2011 12:26AM
Music Thanatologist Tony Pederson demonstrates a musical vigil for visitors from Seirei Hospice of Japan during their tour of the Midwest Palliative & Hospice Care Center in Skokie. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 11, 2011 2:39PM
The prominent Rev. Francis J. Kamp of Society of the Divine Word in Northbrook died Aug. 27, but his religious work still bore fruit last week.
As a volunteer chaplain for Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter in Glenview since 2005, Kamp, 91, had organized an education program between the center and hospice workers from Nagoya, Japan.
He and the Rev. Robert Riemer, who has served as a Divine Word missionary in Japan since 1961, set up a tour of Chicago-area and Milwaukee facilities for hospice care.
“We had a discussion and brainstorming session here. Father Kamp advised that we offer an international exchange,” Riemer said.
For Japanese guests, the program’s purpose was showing them how U.S. hospice centers care for the terminally ill and their families.
“Spiritual needs at the end of life were a particular focus for both (Riemer and Kamp,) ” said Kristin Gover, communications director for Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter.
The Japanese visitors toured Marquette University’s School of Nursing in Milwaukee and Chicago’s Our Lady of Angels where they went on home hospice visits.
They also visited patients and staff at Midwest CareCenter staff in Skokie Hospital.
Their last tour day was Friday at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights to meet with the Palliative Care services team.
Sister Lidwina Murakami, a provincial superior of Japanese Province of Sisters of the Holy Spirit and licensed nurse, noticed how more involved American nurses were in caring for patients.
“Here for in-patient care, doctors, nurses, chaplains, social workers and care managers all get together. All input is valued and respected,” said Murakami through an interpreter.
“In Japan, you behave as others expect you to behave. You may not say what you really believe.”
Her colleague, Yukiko Sakai, a nurse and specialist in palliative care at Seirei Hospital in Nagoya, said only people with cancer and AIDS/HIV were accepted at hospice facilities.
She also was surprised that anyone in America regardless of sickness can receive hospice care.
Why so selective in Japan, she was asked.
Cancer was the No. 1 cause of death in her country, she explained, and the Japanese government has “taken an interest in helping people with AIDS,” Sakai said.
In addition, Riemer said the Japanese government was reluctant to get involved in or reimburse religious orders for hospice care — sort of a separation between church and state, he said.
“Many people believe hospice care is related to Christianity,” Riemer said, adding Japan has 200 hospice programs.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization stated 5,000 hospice programs in the U.S. were serving terminal patients in 2009.
Hospice care first started in the U.S. and Japan in the early 1970s.
Both Sakai and Murakami said the traditional Japanese practice of children caring for elderly family members had faded since about 1990.
“The Japanese now have smaller families, so there is a shortage of
young people taking care of parents. Older people die in hospices or in hospitals,” Sakai said through an interpreter, while Murakami believed the Japanese government was overlooking the elderly.
“The government is not catching up to the speed of aging people. Instead, the government is spending money on hospitals, but they have financial problems, too. Hospitals want to discharge patients sooner than later,” she said.
“So the patients go where? The Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter is a nonprofit. I feel we should have more of these centers in Japan. We don’t have nonprofits related to medical programs in Japan.”
While watching American hospice nurses care for home patients, Kazuko Tochiki noticed how they created a “very relaxed and natural atmosphere.”
“The American nurse was always smiling and closely assessing the patients without showing any pressure. I thought I can do this back in Japan,” said Tochiki, also a nurse at Seirei Hospital in Nagoya, the country’s third largest city with 2.2 million people.
First as Hospice of the North Shore, Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter has served the community for more than 30 years.
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