地域における難聴高齢者支援—地域包括支援センターでの取り組み

Supporting elderly people with hearing loss in the community:Initiative taken by the community general support center

　地域包括支援センター（以下，地域包括）に言語聴覚士（以下，ST）として入職し，難聴高齢者への支援として，地域住民への普及啓発や関係者指導，個別訪問などを行ってきた．地域支援事業を活用した介護予防の取り組みに携わるようになり，高齢化率の高い地域の住民と接していくなかで，介護予防の取り組みが今後いっそう必要不可欠になると考えている．特に難聴においては，認知症との関連性も含め，今後より取り組みを強化していく必要性が高い分野と考えている．本稿は第26回日本言語聴覚学会in山形のシンポジウム4のなかで講演した内容を基に，これまで行ってきた難聴高齢者支援の取り組みについて報告するとともに，各市町村で地域支援に少しでも興味をもっていただけるSTが増えていくことを願う．

　This paper is based on my presentation at Symposium 4 of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Speech-Language-Hearing Therapists in Yamagata, reporting on our past initiatives for supporting elderly individuals with hearing loss. The author joined a community general support center as a speech-language-hearing therapist (SLHT) and has been supporting elderly people with hearing loss. My work covers various activities including community outreach and awareness campaigns and conducting individual home visits. Having been immersed in community support programs focused on preventive care for the elderly, especially in the high aging rate areas, I have come to realize how essential these initiatives are for the future. Especially in the field of hearing loss, with its close relationship to dementia, there is a high degree of necessity to further strengthen support efforts in the future. It is hoped that this report will encourage more SLHTs in various municipalities to take an interest in community-based support.