Okiden CplusC concluded agreement with Ogimi Village regarding Mimamori Support Project for the Elderly.
Published on July 17th – 2024
Okiden CplusC (President: Hiaraku Nakahodo, CplusC), which is a joint venture between Okinawa Electric Power Company, Japan Integration Corporation and INSPiRE Investment Corporation, and Ogimi Village (Mayor: Kageyoshi Tomoyori) have concluded an agreement for the purpose of supporting elderly caregivers in Ogimi Village to promote close collaboration and cooperation in order to solve social issues such as the increased burden on the local government and local residents and the time, financial and emotional burden on families who provide care for their elderly parents, thereby creating a life full of energy and smiles forever.
While the rapid aging of the population and the shortage of young workers are becoming social issues throughout Japan, the number of elderly single-person households in Okinawa Prefecture is increasing at a faster pace than the national average, and the concerns and anxieties of families living apart from each other and the burden on local governments and local organizations are becoming even greater. In addition, with the recent occurrence of large-scale disasters in many parts of Japan, local governments are required to take immediate action on disaster prevention, including the preparation and maintenance of individual evacuation list for the elderly and other persons requiring assistance with evacuation plans who have difficulty evacuating on their own in the event of a large-scale disaster.
Remote islands and depopulated areas in Okinawa Prefecture are particularly inconvenient compared to other areas, and it is hoped that providing residents with services that utilize ICT and other technologies will eliminate some of these inconveniences. Ogimi Village, under Okinawa Prefecture’s “FY2024 Remote Islands and Depopulated Areas Development DX Promotion Project (Mimamori Support Project for the Elderly),” is working with families living away from their parents, local organizations, social welfare councils, community associations, and other local stakeholders in the model area to provide a community-wide service whose goal is to build a community-wide system of self-help, mutual aid, and public assistance to ensure that the elderly are cared for in their own neighborhoods.
This fiscal year, Ogimi Village plans to establish a model area to develop and operate the infrastructure for Mimamori system targeting 100% households of the elderly in the area. Based on the knowledge gained from this project, CplusC will work to roll out the Mimamori system for the elderly to other local govenrnments in and outside of the prefecture that are facing similar issues, thereby contributing to solving nationwide social problems associated with the aging of society.
Major Initiatives
(1) Digital infrastructure development for “Individual Evacuation List” using the “Mimamori Network Development System”
Due to the background of recent large-scale disasters, such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake on January 1, 2024 and the tsunami warning announced in Okinawa Prefecture on April 3 for the first time in 13 years, there has been a growing demand for the preparation of “Individual Evacuation List” for elderly people and others who need special support in order to ensure their smooth and prompt evacuation in the event that a disaster occurs or is threatened, as they are unable to evacuate on their own. Local governments are required to prepare its own “Individual Evacuation List” and evacuation plans which has been an obligation since Japan’s 2021 revision of the Basic Act on Disaster Countermeasures.
According to the Results of Survey on Efforts to Prepare Lists of Persons Requiring Support for Individual Evacuation Plans compiled by the Cabinet Office and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency on June 30, 2023, 34.1% of Okinawa Prefecture has not yet prepared an individual evacuation plan, higher percentage compared to 15.3% of municipalities nationwide. The creation and updating of “Individual Evacuation List” requires a great deal of effort and time, including collaboration with the local community and welfare-related organizations, even in normal times, and is a burden on local governments. In addition, many local governments have created a paper-based List of Persons Requiring Assistance for Evacuation Activities to register in advance those elderly persons who need help during evacuation in the event of a disaster, making updating the list complicated and ineffective in the event of a disaster.
In light of this situation, Ogimi Village will use the ” Mimamori Network Development System” provided by CplusC under the “FY2024 Remote Islands and Depopulated Areas Development DX Promotion Project (Mimamori Support Project for Senior Citizens)” of Okinawa Prefecture to digitalize the process of creating and entering “Individual Evacuation List” and to improve the efficiency of updating information on persons in need of support and sharing information with those involved in providing evacuation support.
(2) “Mimamori Kit” social infrastructure development: self-help, mutual aid, and public assistance escalation functions
Ogimi Village will promote the distribution and infrastructure development of “Mimamori Kit,” equipped with the world’s most advanced WiFi sensing technology and device that does not use cameras or microphones and provided by CplusC to 100% households of elderly residents in the Ogimi Village model area, where the “Mimamori Network Development System” has been established. The use of a QR code-based setup procedure allows for a quicker and more efficient installation process.
This system enables local community /welfare caregivers to check on the status of elderly people’s homes during normal times while taking their privacy into consideration, and in the event of a disaster, the presence/absence information can be used to support evacuation. The system can quickly escalate the possibility of a lone death to the family, community officials, and local government when no motion or sleep is detected for a certain period of time, thereby reducing the burden on local governments and local organizations that have been burdened with responding to such situations as needed.
In addition, family members who live far away from their parents can download the CplusC “Mimamori App,” which visualizes and displays the motion and sleep of their parents living in the model area 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to their own smartphones or other devices, and check on them anytime, anywhere. Up until now, when visiting or calling your parents, family members could only ask their parents how you are doing and the parents answer OK not to make their children worry. This 24/365 visualization of motion and sleep will also enable communication with parents based on changes in motion and sleep. The “Mimamori App” can be used to register multiple family members, siblings, relatives, etc., and is expected to expand self-help activities for Mimamori of their elderly parents.
About Okiden CplusC (Head office: Ginowan, Okinawa)
Established in 2021 as a joint venture by Okinawa Electric Power Company, INSPiRE Investment Corporation, and Japan Integration Corporation. Signed agreements with 14 local governments in Okinawa Prefecture (as of March 2024) and succeeded in a large-scale demonstration of “Mimamori” in an area that covers more than 70% of elderly residents in the prefecture. Its goal is to deliver “energy of heart” from Okinawa to all over Japan by contributing to the creation of healthy and smile-filled lifestyles through people-to-people bonds (“Yui”).
About nami
nami builds software-based sensing infrastructure for responsive homes and intelligent buildings, solving problems for players in security, safety, PropTech automation, energy optimization, AgeTech and wellness. nami’s mission is to provide wide range coverage AI sensing with rapid setup, accurate data capture, through scalable and resilient mesh architecture. nami is headquartered in Singapore and recently opened a European hub office in Paris.
nami is a shareholder and close partner of Origin Wireless Inc., a leading pioneer in Wi-Fi Sensing. nami is part of Matter initiatives for RF Ambient Sensing, and of CSA Health & Wellness Steering Committee, and of La French Tech.
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