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Exhibition Report on the Community-based Integrated Care Fair 2026: Exploring the “Future of Care” Together with Local Residents
On Saturday, September 19, 2026, we jointly exhibited a booth titled “Exploring the Future of Care” with the Kawasaki Nursing Association at “Community-based Integrated Care Fair 2026: Preparing for a 100-Year Life – Connecting Through Hobbies and Preparing for the Future,” held at Nakahara Civic Hall in Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki City. The event was organized by the Kawasaki City Community-based Integrated Care System Liaison Council.
As in the previous year, the booth featured posters and other materials introducing the activities of the Kawasaki Nursing Association, as well as Project CHANGE’s vision for the future of healthcare, nursing, and long-term care and its research and development initiatives. This year, we expanded the interactive exhibits to encourage visitors to feel more connected to the “Future of Care” and explore the topic in an enjoyable way.
One of the activities invited visitors to write messages of encouragement for hardworking nurses on the front lines of healthcare. We received many warm and supportive messages. We also demonstrated the “Next-Generation Nurse Call System,” which is currently under development. Visitors had the opportunity to interact with the actual equipment and learn about technologies designed to support the future of nursing and care.
As a new initiative, we also introduced an interactive activity titled “Let's Answer Questions About Care – Tell Us What You Think!” Visitors answered questions on a computer about the current state of healthcare and long-term care, approaches to care, and the future of community-based integrated care. This provided an opportunity to gain insight into how local residents think about care. With participants' consent, we recorded their responses and the time taken to answer each question for use in future research activities.
On the day of the event, approximately 160 people visited our booth, and nearly half of them participated in the “Questions About Care” activity. Through the exhibits and hands-on experiences, we had the opportunity to speak directly with visitors, which reminded us of the strong interest in community healthcare, nursing, and long-term care. It was also a valuable opportunity to hear the honest perspectives and opinions of local residents, offering insights that researchers and healthcare and care professionals alone might not gain.
Project CHANGE will continue to value these opportunities for dialogue with local residents, incorporating the needs of those working on the front lines of care and the voices of the community into its research and development efforts. Through these initiatives, we aim to realize future healthcare, nursing, and long-term care systems that enable everyone to continue living in their communities with peace of mind.
