Community life support hubs and similar facilities in Handa City
Community Welfare Division, Welfare Department, Handa City, Aichi Prefecture
Handa City Disability Consultation and Support Centre, Handa Council of Social Welfare (social welfare corporation)

1. Overview of Handa City

Handa City is on the eastern side of the central part of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture. With a population of around 120,000 and an area of 47.42 km2, you can reach anywhere in the city from the centre by car in around 20 minutes.

As of 1 April 2021, there are around 5,760 people with a disability handbook (physical, intellectual, or mental disability) living in the city. Around 1,220 people, including both adults and children, use disability welfare services. There are eight designated consultation and support offices, and almost 100% of the users have a service usage plan created by the consultation and support professionals working there.

Another distinctive feature is the high ratio of welfare service providers relative to the population. There are 19 after-school daycare services, 12 businesses running group homes, 19 continuous employment support type B workshops, and 19 care with daily living facilities (including facilities falling under the standards for long-term care insurance and communal living-type facilities), making it easy for users to choose a facility which they wish to use.

2. Establishment and maintenance of community life support hubs and similar facilities

The rate of ageing in Handa City is around 24% (as of March 2020). Although this is fairly low compared to the national average, just like for other municipalities, the ageing of family members caring for disabled people is becoming a problem, and the number of cases requiring an emergency response because of the absence of a support person is increasing.

However, there is only one residential facility in the city, and it was difficult for one service provider to bear the entire responsibility for emergency responses. For this reason, it was necessary to put together a support system in which each provider and facility collaborated in times of emergency by sharing its areas of strength. This is a major reason why we decided to put in place community life support centres and similar facilities spread across the area, rather than as multifunctional hubs.

In FY 2016, we invited people from communities across Japan that were carrying out pioneering initiatives concerning community life support centres and similar facilities to hold training sessions for welfare personnel and local residents.

Following on from this, in FY 2017, we set up community life support centres and similar facilities in Handa City. In FY 2019, the Community-based Integrated Care Sub-committee of the Handa City Council to Support the Independent Living of Disabled People put together a pamphlet including actual case studies, entitled “Guidelines for Community Life Support Centres and Similar Facilities (first edition)”. At the same time, accreditation criteria for such facilities were prepared.

3. The five current functions of the community life support centres and similar facilities in Handa City

① Consultation

Handa City Disability Consultation and Support Centre has been established within Handa Council of Social Welfare as a core consultation and support centre. Handa City Disability Consultation and Support Centre carries out core consultation, commissioned consultation (life and employment), designated general consultation and support (transition-to-community support, support with settlement in the community), designated specific consultation and support, and support with independent living. Within the same Council of Social Welfare are the Community-based Integrated Care and Support Centre, advocacy groups (projects to support independent daily living, to provide support with living expenses to people in need, etc.), and the Volunteer Community Mutual Support Centre, so it also functions as the portal to comprehensive consultation and support.

In addition, there are eight designated specific consultation and support offices within the city, and a total of 25 consultants are engaged in planning and consultation. The Consultation and Support Liaison Committee, in which each of the consultation and support offices within the city participates, meets once a month, providing a regular forum for the consideration of actual cases and the sharing of information. 

② Opportunities and venues for experiences

Community life support work includes a “trial residential stay” project in which people can experience staying at the facilities where they carry out activities during the day. Nine facilities (including five which can be used by children) are enrolled, mainly after-school daycare services and support for continuous employment offices. Since people can experience staying at the centres which they attend every day, they are surrounded by familiar facilities and staff, allowing them to feel at ease. One notable characteristic of this project is that, at present, more children than adults are using it. Repeated experiences of residential stays from childhood broaden the possibilities for providing support smoothly in an emergency.

Also, in the area of transition-to-community support, we are moving ahead with preparations to make use of the training wings for independent living within rehabilitation facilities to allow people to experience residential stays which are closer in format to living alone.

③ Emergency admissions/ response

In times of emergency, the local government and core consultation and support centre play the central role in coordinating services. We make use not only of short-term admission to facilities but of trial use of group homes and so in responding to emergencies.

Moreover, we run an emergency short stay project for cases in which other services cannot provide an emergency response or for people who suddenly need accommodation. This project developed and run by the city encompasses elderly people, people with disabilities, and people in economic need. When this project is used, people are admitted by one of three partner service providers within the city.

In another initiative to prepare emergency support, we are drawing up “Handa City Emergency/ Disaster Response Plans (including Individual Evacuation Plans)” for current users of welfare services when the time comes to renew their service recipient certificates. Users can check a flowchart to make themselves aware of emergency support and the day-to-day preparations they can make.

④ Acquisition and development of specialist personnel

In Handa City, we are focusing resources on the support of people with severe behavioural disorders and of those needing constant medical care. At the same time as launching individual projects and considering issues within the Council to Support the Independent Living of Disabled People, we hold training sessions for support people when necessary. There are also training sessions which we hold annually on an ongoing basis, including training to develop support people for those with severe behavioural disorders and training for staff working on the ground (training to teach basic knowledge about support for people with disabilities).

⑤ Building of community systems

The Council to Support the Independent Living of Disabled People plays the central role in building community systems. At the Council, there are four sub-committees and three projects where issues are raised and considered, and where study sessions are held.

４. Current issues and future prospects

The role of community life support hubs and similar facilities is to establish and maintain systems which enable everyone to live in their communities in peace of mind. Putting community life support hubs and similar facilities in place is not the end of the story; they need to be updated as needed in line with the circumstances in the community. Besides these measures, we believe that assigning a community life support hub coordinator will be necessary going forward, in order to promote personnel development at the facilities providing the services and to follow up in emergencies. However, the fact that such a coordinator has not been assigned is an issue.  

In addition, medium-term stay facilities are also necessary for people with severe behavioural disorders and those needing constant medical care to be able to continue living in the community, and for recovery when it has become difficult to support them in their homes. Putting in place systems which can support people with severer disabilities is another issue.

Going forward, the Community Life Support Hubs Working Group (from April 2019 onwards, the Community Life Support Hubs Sub-committee) within the Community-based Integrated Care Sub-committee of the Council to Support the Independent Living of Disabled People is playing the central role in continuing to evaluate and maintain the community life support hubs and similar facilities. At the same time as building relationships which are beneficial to everyone involved – users, service providers, and local government – we intend to work to build communities in which people with disabilities can go on living with greater peace of mind.