Are you ready? Emergency preparedness
Did you know that September 9th is Kyu-kyu-no-hi or Emergency Awareness Day in Japan?
It’s a lesser known but very important day that was established by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 1982 in order to raise awareness about safety and emergency response. Here at CareFinder, we want to help you and the families you babysit for prepare for a variety of possible emergencies that you may encounter while living in Japan.
The Basics
Do you know what to do in an emergency?
Ambulance: Dial 1-1-9
In the case of a medical emergency, say “kyuu-kyuu-desu”
Fire Department: Dial 1-1-9
In the case of a fire, say “Kaji-desu”
Police: Dial 1-1-0
Resources
By downloading the NHK World App, you can receive Japanese government emergency alerts including J-alerts in English on your cell phone.
Receive emergency assistance in English by calling the 24-hour non-profit Japan Helpline at 0570-000-911.
For mental health assistance, TELL (Tokyo English Lifeline) offers an anonymous, free, and English-speaking lifeline at 03-5774-0992 and professional counseling.
Are you CPR/First Aid Certified?
Getting CPR/First Aid certified not only provides you with the skills and knowledge you need in order to respond to a medical emergency but it also provides you with the confidence to handle the situation calmly if and when an emergency arises. There are a number of English resources for getting CPR/First Aid certified here in Japan:
Managed by the official international training center of the American Heart Association, this training center provides CPU training to healthcare provider and upper level professionals, as well as basic CPR AID and First Aid training. Their training center is located in Yokohama. You can find more information at http://blsjapan.com/en/index.html
Fluent in Japanese?
If you are a fluent Japanese speaker and are comfortable taking the CPR course in Japanese, you can head over to your local fire department or Japan Red Cross Society to reserve a CPR class with them.
Insurance
At CareFinder, we have a number of babysitters and nannies who are already CPR First Aid certified but we also take the extra step to provide CareFinder families with babysitting insurance. CareFinder has liability insurance from Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance. The insurance covers accidents such as body injuries and property damage that occur during babysitting jobs scheduled on the CareFinder platform. While the likelihood of such accidents occurring is quite low, the insurance gives more peace of mind to CareFinder users.
