■Summary
Description:
Project to collect information on medical institutions providing health care in foreign languages by asking JET participants in the prefecture. Use the information to create an online database including addresses, consultation times and other relevant information.
Duration |
3 months (for the whole project) |
|---|---|
Location |
Prefecture wide |
Target |
JET participants and other residents |
Participants |
30 data entries collected |
Organiser |
Prefectural International Exchange Division |
Budget |
0 yen |
Objectives:
Provide correct and appropriate living information to JET participants by gathering and centralising information from each area. Before the creation of this database, information about medical institutions was limited to those in the main city, an inconvenience for JET participants living in remote areas.
■Implementation
Collecting Information:
The Prefectural Advisor (PA) sent an email to JET participants in the prefecture requesting information.
There was no form to fill out, in addition to the name, address and telephone number, JET participants provided details about English proficiency and comments or feedback on the medical institutions.
Also, we gathered information from international exchange associations in municipalities. Gathering information took one to two months.
Confirmation and Authorisation from the Medical Institutions:
After obtaining information, we sent a questionnaire to each medical institution to confirm and complete the information provided by the JET participants and to obtain permission to use the information in our database.
After consulting the prefectural Medical Association it was agreed that the Prefectural Office should directly contact each medical institution. We took this opportunity to build a relationship with the Medical Association in advance of future surverys.
Medical institutions were given one month to respond, and we did not release the information of institutions that did not reply or that requested not to be included.
Creation of the Database:
After receiving replies from medical institutions, information was compiled as electronic data.
The data was compiled by two PAs, the prefectural English coordinator and Japanese staff into two versions, Japanese and English, over the course of a month.
Release:
The database is available on the prefectural JET homepage.
This project was started to provide necessary living information to JET participants, but the information collected proved useful for other foreign residents in the community as well. We are planning to expand the database and release it on the homepages hosted by the prefecture and/or international exchange associations.
■Budget
None.
■Submitted by
Niigata Prefectural Government
International Exchange Division
Tel: 025-285-5511
■Comments/Advice from the Supervisor
Information about medical institutions that provide care in English is useful for JET participants and foreign residents as well. Word-of-mouth from the JET participants allowed us to provide information to the prefectural JET community. We want to improve this database with information on medical institutions that provide health care in other languages, not only English.
■A Word From CLAIR
Although many prefectures provide information on medical institutions to foreign residents, using JETparticipants to collect information was a creative idea. Information based on the JET participants' very own experiences is undoubtedly valuable.
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