- 第二部 - 「動物介在活動（AAA）に関する発表」“Presentation on AAA (Animal Assisted Activity)”
種稲 憲太郎氏（特別養護老人ホーム きしろ荘 施設長）

Kentaro TANEINE, Director, Special Elderly Nursing Home ‘Kishiro-so’

Hello everybody. My name is Kentaro Taneine and I

they thought bringing dogs into facilities for the elderly

am the Director of the Special Elderly Nursing Homewas a bad practice from the standpoint of hygiene. InKishiro-so, which is located in Kobe City’s Nada Ward.

view of this opposition, Dr. Murata selected Kishiro-soas she thought it would be easier to get permission toToday I would like to talk to you on the theme ofenter a facility that had a female director.

animal-assisted activities in special elderly nursinghomes.

At the time, the director of Kishiro-so happened to
be a woman, and she loved animals so much that she

To accompany today’s talk, I have prepared someused to bring her own Chin (Japanese Spaniel) dog

photographs that show how these activities take placecalled Yuinosuke with her to work every day. Also,

inside the nursing home facilities. These photos don’there were other staff members working at the facility

t match the details of the talk, but please take a look at

who had a tolerant view of animals. For example, onethem while you are listening.

person central to running Kishiro-so also kept a dog
that had been injured in an accident at the facility. SoFirst, I will explain about the Kishiro-so facility.

I understand that animal-assisted activities started at
Kishiro-so without any major problems.

These days, there are many kinds of facility that oursenior citizens can enter. Kishiro-so is what is knownAt the time when these activities were starting at

as a ‘special elderly nursing home’. It is a live-in facility

Kishiro-so I was not yet working there. However I havefor people with dementia, those who are bedridden,

retained the impressions I had of the facility activities

and those who are in need of other kinds of support

when I did start working there. So next I would like toin order to live their daily lives. At present, there areintroduce two of the things related to the activities that

50 residents living at this home. Kishiro-so began

I remember from that time.

operating on May 21, 1979 so this year is the 33rd
year since its foundation.

Unfortunately I do not have a photograph of her but
first I would like to tell you about a woman who I will

Next, I will explain about the animal-assisted activities

refer to as H-san. This woman had no children and nocarried out at Kishiro-so. Here, we refer to the animal-contact with her relatives. My memory of her may beassisted activities as animal visits. The animals’ visiting

unclear in some respects, but when one of the female

day is the third Wednesday of every month. Thesedogs who came on the animal visits had some puppies,

animal visits began in July 1992 so the activities have

I remember that H-san named one of the puppies Peko-

been continuing for 20 years now. The photographchan. When Peko-chan also began taking part in thehere shows a scene of these activities. Dr. Kaori Murata,

activities, H-san began to look forward to the monthly

a veterinarian who works at the Mominoki Animalvisits of the dog she herself had named.

Clinic in Kobe’s Nada Ward, the same ward as Kishiroso, has played a central role in progress of the animal

Regarding terminal care at Kishiro-so, our policy is tovisits. About 20 years ago, Dr. Murata began thesetake care of our residents until the end of their lives

activities by bringing along a single dog with her. At

in as natural a way as possible provided that this isthat time, a lot of people were against the idea because

in keeping with the wishes of the residents and their

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families. H-san was old and in poor health, and she had

animals, she joined AAA and a dog would come up andno family, so it was decided that Kishiro-so would takesit on her bed. Usually, as her joints were stiff, when we

care of her until the end of her life.

gave her support with going to the toilet or changing
her clothes, we had a hard time. But if we took a little

When residents reach the stage of having a terminal

dog in and let it up onto her bed, after a short while hercondition we take care of them until their final day

body would relax and she could bend her outstretchedwhile giving them the opportunity of eating theirarms a little more than usual. Of course, when wefavorite foods, listening to their favorite music,

provided toilet and dressing support, we would call todecorating their room with their favorite flowers,

her and slowly move her body, but it was still difficult

etc. In the case of this resident, one of the things sheto do. So I think that, all in all, the dog had the power

most liked was meeting her favorite animal, Peko-to ease N-san’s tension. It is for this reason that N-san’schan. When H-san’s condition became serious, Peko-case stands out in my memory.

chan and the owner visited her frequently beyond theirusual monthly visiting day. I remember that Peko-chan

I believe that conducting these animal-assisted activities

and owner attended H-san’s funeral as well. For H-san,is producing a variety of beneficial effects at many

who had no family or relatives, I think the presence ofkinds of facilities. One thing, as was mentioned earlier,Peko-chan, who made visits especially to see her, mustis that people have to come and live in these facilities

have been extremely meaningful. This is why this story

for various reasons, and in so-doing they often have tostands out in my memory.

part with animals they were keeping. Of course, whenfacing this move, some people often say that that if they

Another resident I would like to talk to you about

can’t take the animal with them they will refuse to go

is a woman I will call N-san. She was afflicted with

into the facility. So, for this reason, some residents haveprogressive supranuclear palsy, which is a difficult

been permitted to join the facility together with the dog

medical term referring to a form of chronic paralysis.

or cat they had been keeping at home. It was not that

Among the characteristic symptoms of this illness are

Kishiro-so officially announced a policy that residents

a narrowing field of vision and stiffening of the joints

could keep their own pets; it was just that things

so that the sufferer eventually becomes unable toturned out that way. But even so, I think it was because

move. Also, in the later stages, the swallowing function

Kishiro-so accepted animal-assisted activities that such

becomes weaker and the sufferer becomes unable toa thing became possible.

talk. However, people with this illness do retain clear
awareness up until the end. N-san was particularly

Later, in the course of accommodating these residents,

fond of animals so she took part in the animal visit

our staff also began to develop an interest in animal-sessions every month. When she was first admitted toassisted activities. Study meetings were held at theKishiro-so, she was still able to move her body to somefacility on this theme with Dr. Murata providing

extent. When a dog came up to her, she tried her best
to move her rigid body and stretch out her hand toward
the dog, and this was very impressive to witness. But
she was suffering from a progressive disease, andgradually she found it harder and harder to move, andtoward the end she was bedridden.
In the course of animal-assisted activities a dog ownervisited N-san even though she was bedridden. Since
N-san had to stay in bed the whole day, she couldn’t take part in the club activities. But because she liked

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instruction. This was the catalyst for a dog being kept

has been growing steadily more severe. This has also

at the facility. This is a photo of that dog, a male Shihbeen true at Kishiro-so - the number of residents withTzu called Chaashuu. Chaashuu had been a regularmore severe conditions is increasing. So while in theparticipant in the animal visits for a long time and waspast there were many residents who looked forward toused to being with people. When time allowed, I took

the monthly animal visits, or who waited expectantly for

him around the residents’ dining room and also into

the chance to meet their favorite animal, in recent years

some of the residents’ own rooms, and many of theit has become more difficult for many residents to doresidents looked forward to this contact with Chaashuu.

even this. However, even though people with dementia

However, it seemed that Chaashuu himself enjoyedhave poorly functioning memories, their sensibilities do

being given presents more than anything, and he liked

remain steady. So they are able to clearly understandmeeting the young female volunteers more than hewhat is happening in a given situation. Accordingly, we

enjoyed contact with the residents.

are changing our AAA practices to focus on this aspect.

Actually Chaashuu died in September last year and, as

Kishiro-so has a policy of taking appropriate care of

he was so well loved by everybody including facilityour residents while placing importance on the life

staff, residents, visiting tradespeople and other visitors,

they have led previous to their arrival. So when a new

there was a continuing atmosphere of sadness for many

resident comes to live at Kishiro-so, we ask them anddays afterwards. About a month after he died, a relative

their family members to tell us as much as they canof one of the residents who was concerned about what

about their life history. Since the facility is carrying

we would do now that Chaashuu was gone, introducedout these animal visit activities, among the questions

us to a homeless dog that the police had taken into

we ask are whether the resident has kept any animals

their care. This was a pug named Kuro, and we began

and whether they like animals or not. If the resident

keeping Kuro at our facility from October of last year.

likes animals, we encourage them to take part in theWe don’t know where this dog originally came from.

animal visit activities every month. These visits are only

Possibly he was abandoned. But he had no name, so weonce a month and the length of the visits is also short.

chose the name Kuro which we thought would be easy

So recently many of the residents taking part tend tofor the residents to remember.

forget even those animals they met during previous
visits. But even so, thanks to the stimulation theyAt the beginning Kuro was a quiet dog that did not barkreceive from the animals, the residents can rememberor yelp. However recently he has stared to become

the good old days and talk about them, even if only

excited and yelp loudly whenever visitors come. So now

for a short time. Also, they can communicate with the

we are consulting with Dr. Murata on what to do aboutanimals in a calm atmosphere. Accordingly, we want tothis in future. But since Kuro has already started living

continue with these animal visit activities while placingwith us in Kishiro-so I hope he will be able to visit theemphasis on these positive points.

residents and give them some comfort and peace ofmind in the same way as Chaashuu did.

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to the people whobring their animals along to visit these facilities. There

Now I would like to talk about the animal-assisted

are two things that really impress me when I see them

activities themselves.

at work. One concerns the animals. When they visit
the facility, these animals interact with the residents

In the past, special elderly nursing homes in general

in a very calm manner despite the fact that many ofaccommodated many lively residents as well as many

the residents find it difficult to communicate using

who, although they may have used a wheelchair, werewords due to the progression of their dementia, etc.

clearheaded and not suffering from dementia. But overMy feeling is that this is because the animals receive

the last five years, the general condition of residents

plenty of affection from their owners everyday, and2nd Live Love Animals International Conference on Animal Care in Kobe 2012115

also because even though they can’t speak they are
emotionally accessible to the residents.
Another thing is that the owners of the animals arealso very adept when addressing the residents andin making contact with them. In nursing care work,communication is very important but it is easy to
become carelessly entrenched in words alone anddevote all our efforts toward understanding theresidents verbally. But in nursing care work it is also
very important to grasp the feelings of each resident
that they cannot put into words. The people whovisit the facility with their animals are experienced incommunicating non-verbally with these animals ona daily basis, and they engage in this communication
by making use of their feelings and sensitivity. For
this reason, these owners are very adept at involving
the residents in the activities, and I find that quite
impressive.
Since many of the residents who receive the animal
visits are now in a severe condition, the amount of timethey can spend in contact with the animals is quite
short. But even so, this time for remembering the goodold days and enjoying contact with animals is very
precious. My staff and I are very thankful that we too
can share these precious moments with the animals,
the animals’ owners and the residents. Thank you verymuch for listening.

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