Serving with Love: An Okinawan Restaurant Run by Elderly Women with Dementia ちばる食堂

Serving with Love: An Okinawan Restaurant Run by Elderly Women with Dementia ちばる食堂

Today, I am visiting a certain restaurant for lunch hours. It may look like a normal restaurant, but in fact, this restaurant is staffed by people with dementia. Today, I would like to introduce how people with dementia work. Chibaru Shokudo is located in Kamirokuna 3-chome, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. It is run by an owner who loves Okinawa. Preparations before opening. Replenishing the towels and preparing the chopsticks. Finally, the restaurant opens. As soon as the restaurant opens, it is almost full. They hand out cold water and towels, and go to take customers’ orders. They also serve the food. When the restaurant is full, there is no time to take a break and they serve the food. They do all the work in the dining area, such as cleaning up after meals. They also wash the dishes carefully. It’s great to see everyone so lively and enthusiastic at work. What was Mr. Ichikawa’s reasoning for choosing to employ people with dementia? It’s not that I wanted to become a restaurant owner, but while working in the field of nursing care, I saw that there are still many things that can be done for people with dementia or who need nursing care , and that when they become dementia or need nursing care, their options are greatly lost. And then, because they have dementia or need nursing care, the things they can do may decrease, but they don’t become completely unable to do anything. So I felt that a restaurant was one of the options for people with dementia or who need nursing care to continue to live as themselves in society. The owner, Ichikawa, has worked in the field of nursing care for many years as a “care worker.” He wants to create a place where people with dementia can live as themselves. “Chibara Shokudo” is the embodiment of that desire. The employment condition is that they have dementia. So why did he choose an Okinawan restaurant? I simply loved Okinawa. First of all, when I thought about hiring people with dementia and opening a restaurant, I thought of making noodles. Noodles take time to boil. The boiling time for our noodles is about 3 minutes, but that time is free from having to do other work. In that way, I wanted to create time for the grandmothers to see if there were any problems, and if there were any problems in their interactions with customers, and to limit the time to 3 minutes from the perspective of a caregiver, and I thought I would make noodle dishes. They found time to work and went ahead. They are making chopstick holders with a stamp of the store name on them. I was surprised that each one is handmade. Sometimes they mix up orders because of their dementia. A customer asked them to order, but they don’t have any memo paper. She quickly write it down before forget. Even so, it seems that they have forgotten whose order it was. If they didn’t know, they would be in trouble. Where is this? Where is this? Plese Ask them (the customer). They sometimes make mistakes. But the customers know it. No one gets angry at them for making mistakes because they have dementia. By the way, what kind of considerations do you need to make when hiring people with dementia? It’s difficult because they do all sorts of things to themselves. There are times when you just give up, right? It’s the same with raising children, but there are times when you say, “Just do it yourself.” At times like that, they can pretty much do everything themselves, right? It’s weird to say it’s the same thing, but these people don’t know that they can do something themselves, and they do it because it’s quicker and easier , and they say it’s really hard! I thought that’s what it was, so basically I don’t think about helping the old ladies much. It’s a restaurant, so if they hear an order and don’t understand the menu, I just have them communicate with the customer, and instead of me teaching them, the customer can teach them (how to order again). If they can’t write the order, the customer can write it for them. I don’t think it’s necessary to do everything. I don’t see or hear the interaction (with the customer), so when I saw the footage of the interview on TV, I thought it was OK if (the old lady) wrote it for them. The old ladies find ways to make it easier for themselves. They want to do things their own way, but sometimes they forget, so they come up with something. I don’t manage that sort of thing. Ichikawa makes all the food by himself. He also does all the preparation before opening by himself. It’s a considerable amount of meat. The soup is simmered for about eight hours. As soon as the shop opens, customers start coming in one after another. He goes back and forth in the kitchen, which is a veritable battlefield. Next he cooks food using a frying pan. This time he completes five groups’ orders one after the other. During this time he also helps with tidying up and talks to the elderly ladies. It surprised me how much he’s able to stay on top of. Ichikawa also handles the accounting. He really does three or four roles by himself. How is he able to keep an eye on so many things by himself? I think it’s my ability as a care worker. I have to look after several old people by myself, and when I’m on night shifts, I have to look after 40 people by myself. I have to be aware of who is in which room and where the voices are coming from, so I’ve been able to make good use of that experience, or what I’ve learned there , so I think there are quite a few similarities. I’m always aware of things like customers looking like they want to order something over there, or that they’re almost done eating over here. Lunch service is over! It’s her first hydration in three hours since opening. Time flows slowly. Smiles seem to fill the air effortlessly. “Chibaru Shokudo’s most popular menu” is “Chibaru Soba.” I had it made for me to eat. The tender, juicy pork ribs seem to be calling out to me, saying, “Hurry up and eat! Let’s eat! The noodles were perfectly coated in a rich dashi-based broth, and the flavor was simply outstanding. I also interviewed the old ladies. JKT) Have you been working for a long time? Yes, it has been a long time. JKT) How is it? Try working. Because I love it, me too. I used to run a shop too, and I was just there because I loved it. haha JKT) What kind of shop did you run? It was a snack bar, I guess. JKT) I see. So you like interacting with people. Yes, I like it. JKT)You seem busy today. I agree. But I love to move around like this. JKT)That’s great. Because I love to move around. JKT)You’re busy, but please do your best. Because I love to move my body. JKT)That’s great. You have lively conversations with customers. You really seem to enjoy your work. In addition to running a restaurant, he also organizes art exhibitions. In order to let more people know about the work of care workers, and to help people with dementia live with a smile, picture books created by Ichikawa-san were displayed on the walls. I asked him about the thoughts he put into the picture books he created. I don’t want people to only see dementia as dementia, or to think of caregiving as difficult, and so on. In order to get rid of such thoughts, it seems that removing facial expressions, colors, and other such things (from the picture book) would match the content of this picture book (and the story). The children who came to the art exhibition were also fascinated by the books. Everyone has the right to live life the way they want to. That is, even if they need nursing care. “One story can change people’s hearts and the vitality of a town.” ” One story can change people’s hearts and the vitality of a town. ” Ichikawa of Chibaru Shokudo is working hard to create a society where everyone can live comfortably through food. Thank you so much to everyone for being part of this shoot.

[Chibaru Shokudo Official Instagram]
https://www.instagram.com/chibarusyokudou/

[Chibaru Shokudo Google Maps]
https://g.co/kgs/qKocxcY

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