The 33rd Japan Association for Clinical Engineers Conference was held on July 21-23 in Hiroshima to ACCE
On July 23, 2023, ACCE member Dr. Scott Skinner, a Ph.D., MBA, FACHE, participated remotely in the JACE (Japan Association for Clinical Engineers) 33rd Annual Clinical Engineering Conference. The role of HTM in disaster relief was planned by the International Relations Committee of JACE.
The session started with Dr. Hirayama of Okayama University and Dr. Kashiwa of the University of Tokyo, members of the International Exchange Committee of the Japan Society of Clinical Engineers, giving chairperson’s remarks. Presentations kicked off with Dr. Inaba, who visited Ukraine and Moldova to support the activities of his NGO Peace Winds Japan, and continued with Mr. Osins, BME of the WHO in Ukraine, “Impact of Russian Invasion on Healthcare in Ukraine from the Perspective of Biomedical and clinical engineering”. Next, Ms. Matcovschis spoke about the change in Healthcare in Moldova in her presentation, “The Republic of Moldova – the health system in the Context of the War in Ukraine and the refugee crisis”. Mr. Sugiura, a Japanese CE who serves as an ODA (Japanese Official Development Assistance) Japanese coordinator in medical equipment donations overseas, introduced his experience. Then, Mr. Skinner from America shared his insight through “Coordinating medical equipment donations through an NGO: Lesson Learned from Kentucky United States”. The session closed with Mr. Miki, a Japanese CE, who lectured on disaster response cases and daily preparedness as a Japanese CE in the Japan Disaster Relief Team (JDR) and Japanese Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT).
Japanese subtitles were used for the presentation, during the Q&A session, consecutive interpretation between Japanese and English was provided to ensure effective communication.
Mr. Skinner’s presentation explained the challenges of assisting in disaster-stricken areas through the experience of the Kentucky hurricane. Many people have donated useful resources and rushed to the area for rapid recovery to the disaster-stricken area. However, people flooded into the area which become a source of confusion and created a second disaster. And also the fact that the donated supplies were still in unused more than six months later made Mr. Skinner realize the need for triage once more, a concept commonly used in the medical field. Mr. Skinner also shared his experience of coordinating the donation of medical resources to Ukraine and Ghana through International SOS and NGOs, of which he is a board member. Lastly, he spoke about the need for BME involvement in the management of medical equipment. He emphasized the importance of communication and coordination with the local community to ensure the success of delivering appropriate donations, as sending items that do not meet the needs of the local community can burden them. With the consecutive interpreters on hand, many lively questions to Mr. Skinner, to which Mr. Skinner responded politely, fully demonstrating his communication skills. His communication skills seemed to back up the message he previously mentioned in the presentation. The symposium ended with great success. The JACE International Exchange Committee would like to thank Mr. Skinner and ACCE. who recommended Mr. Skinner as a guest speaker for this session. Thank you for all your support.
