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As a cancer support counselor, Yuichi Shinada listens to cancer patients’ concerns and suffering, and works with them to think of solutions at Tokyo Medical University Hospital in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
The scope of support he provides is broad, and includes the selection of treatment methods, responses to side effects, problems involving money, issues related to work or nursing care and dealing with vague feelings of uneasiness. In addition to his work at the hospital, he also offers free counseling services for patients across the nation by phone or other means.
Shinada, 43, qualified as a certified social welfare worker while studying at a university related to social welfare and joined the hospital as a medical social worker to advise people on their lives. In 2011, when the hospital was designated by the central government as a cancer care hub, Shinada started working as a counselor specializing in support for cancer patients.
He cannot forget the words of one patient, who was the mother of a child with disabilities. She was repeatedly hospitalized and released over about three years, but various surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy did not work well. She was exhausted.
When Shinada asked her to look back on the past, she said, “I have lived only for my treatment, at the sacrifice of something important.”
After that, she chose home care so that she could spend the time she had left with her child.
Patients sometimes lose themselves as they focus too much on treatment.
“Treatment is important, but I believe my task is to find a life for patients that they really want to realize, talking together with them about their beliefs and purposes in life,” Shinada said.
If a patient has a hobby, he helps them look for a way to enjoy the hobby even while experiencing side effects. If a patient hopes to continue working, he encourages the patient’s company to create various ways of working.
It is also necessary for him to have knowledge on a wide range of issues such as the latest treatment methods, social security systems and employment systems.
“I think cancer support counselors are specialists that stand close to cancer patients. I want to think about the best care for each individual patient together with them,” Shinada said.
Bridge between patients, medical workers
Cancer support counselors are personnel assigned to hospitals that provide cancer treatment. They have been working across the country since 2006.
Counselors deal with various issues, including providing advice on treatment-related concerns faced by patients and their families, treatment cost issues and the introduction of relevant systems and programs.
If a patient has concerns about treatment, counselors act as a bridge between the patient and doctors or nurses. They also examine second opinions from different doctors together with the patients.
To become a cancer support counselor, one is required, in principle, to be qualified as a certified social welfare worker, nurse, clinical psychotherapist or psychiatric social worker. One must also belong to a medical institution and complete a training program provided by the National Cancer Center.
Last year, the center launched a “certified cancer support counselor” project with improved education and training programs.
(THE JAPAN NEWS)
