I was a guest on SumaSpa PRO.
Hello, I'm Nezumi.
I work as a care manager.
I was invited to appear on SumaSpa PRO!
Just like Mioichi-san, I...
No, wait, being the same isn't quite right, haha.
I'm still a care worker, after all, haha.
But I was incredibly nervous.
I kept thinking, 'Oh no, do I even have anything to share?'
I was so worried that in front of my computer during the recording,
I had notes everywhere.
After reading Mioichi-san's article,
I wanted to write an article about my own reflections too.
Please bear with me for a moment.
About 15 years ago,
when I first became a team leader on the floor,
I felt strongly that 'I have to do better,'
and 'I have to be a role model for everyone.'
I remember studying really hard back then.
I think I studied the most when I was working
and getting my certified social worker qualification.
I've never really been the type
to work hard and steadily.
The first company I joined,
I only chose a real estate sales job
that hired anyone
because I didn't want to go through the job hunting process.
I think now that it should have been obvious before I joined,
but since I'm not naturally pushy,
in a sales job where you have to take pride in your company's products
and confidently [recommend] them to others,
I kept worrying that 'I might be bothering them,'
so I couldn't really recommend things well.
I really knew that before I even joined, though.
About a month after joining the company,
the sales leader at the time
told me, 'Nezumi, you've lived your life
without any major successes or failures, haven't you?'
I still remember that to this day.
That's right.
Without really studying,
without practicing,
I had just been drifting through life.
Even so, maybe because I'm type AB? Or a genius?
I never really ran into any trouble. (Grin)
So,
crushed by the harshness of society and the height of the wall
I faced for the first time,
I quit that company after about three months
without achieving any results.
After working part-time for a while,
my girlfriend at the time
suggested, 'You can't just stay like this forever, right?
Why don't you try working in care?'
(She was younger than me),
and even then,
with a lighthearted feeling of 'I can just quit if it doesn't suit me...',
I applied for a part-time job at a nursing home.
There, maybe because I was a cute 23-year-old at the time,
the residents would praise me for whatever I did,
saying 'Thank you, thank you,'
and for me, who was used to being yelled at or ignored by customers
during my sales job, those words of thanks really touched me.
As I continued to work,
I learned that due to the aging that comes to everyone,
quality of life inevitably declines.
I learned that there are parts you just can't do anything about.
When you work, you have the role of an employee or manager.
When you live with family, you have the role of a parent or spouse.
If you have friends, you have that role too.
Those roles gradually disappear.
That loss is unavoidable.
Memory and judgment also decline.
Physical ability also fades.
Things you could do easily become impossible.
You trip over a tiny step.
Because your bones are brittle,
you break them easily.
You don't have much stamina,
so if you get sick, it's easy for it to become serious.
I learned those things too.
And,
I also realized that life in a nursing home,
for better or worse,
is where all of life's needs are met.
Going out, shopping, housework—everything is taken care of.
Losing roles,
physical ability declining,
and activities decreasing.
That was how the elderly were living.
Even though there are roles of staff and resident,
we were still interacting as people.
That is why,
I think care work is more about being able to find the elderly endearing
than about knowledge...
what should I call it?
Humanity, maybe humor.
I think those parts are important.
Having said that, knowledge is also important.
The more I studied,
the more I learned ways to compensate for lost physical abilities,
the causes of pain that were troubling the residents,
how to improve things by incorporating rehabilitation,
and how to help them do things on their own by using assistive devices...
I was made to realize that knowledge is indeed important
for doing various things.
Speaking of knowledge,
I also learned how to interact with doctors.
Doctors who have studied for an unimaginably long time.
Care work, if I'm honest,
can be done without studying that much.
I understand that from a doctor's perspective,
it's understandable if they think of us as lower-ranking.
(I don't think of myself as lower-ranking, though.)
But among doctors, there were some
who said that care workers and medical professionals are a team.
They are doctors I still respect today.
Just because you're old,
you don't have to give up on everything.
If it's needed,
we just need to think of ways as professionals.
I understand that now.
From the nursing home where I worked for many years,
I now work as a care manager at a service-oriented housing for the elderly,
hoping that the residents' lives
will become [even a little better].
That's the thought I have while working.
Even a little better... it's a poor way to put it, but
this is my honest feeling.
It can't compare to when they were young.
It can't compare to their own homes.
It can't compare to their families.
But even a little better.
I want them to laugh at least once a day.
I want them to enjoy their meals.
Knowledge is of course necessary.
Studying is of course necessary.
But I think now that being a care professional
isn't something you can become just by studying,
but rather it's decided by whether you like the people you care for.
To summarize,
care work helps us grow too.
Setting aside the introduction (was that the introduction?),
Kosshi-san, Mioichi-san.
Thank you so much for a truly wonderful experience.
Mioichi-san's experience on the floor,
it was very easy to visualize and I learned a lot.
Dinner being Charumera ramen.
I think that's the best.
Cheap carrots. As expected of a housewife. It's the best.
Kosshi-san,
thank you so much
for inviting me.
Kosshi-san's hosting was truly comfortable.
Things like periodic visits that weren't in my notes
just flowed out of me.
I actually wanted to talk even more, haha.
But in the back of my mind,
I also had the thought, 'I haven't talked about residential facilities...'
I'm not joking,
my knowledge might not be great,
but I pride myself on being a good care worker.
Please invite me again if there's another opportunity.
Next time, I'll bring knowledge relevant to the theme...
No, I'll probably go off-topic, haha.
Once again,
Mioichi-san, Kosshi-san,
thank you very much.
Pirika-san,
thanks to SumaSpa,
I was able to have a fun time.
I offer my thanks.