It has recently become a practice to focus attention on the necessity of therapies for the functions of eating, including exercises for swallowing and training for eating, for patients with difficulties in eating or swallowing. With the remunerations for healthcare under the National Health Insurance Scheme revised in April 2006, the limits put on the frequency of computation for patients in less than three months after onset were removed, and it became a practice to assess the degrees of devotion to inpatients. With our ward designed for specific types of rehabilitation, we have thus far provided functional therapies for eating to patients with disorders in eating or swallowing. But those therapies have been provided to them in a self-centered and haphazard manner because of a lack of knowledge on the part of caregivers while the methods were not standardized. On the basis of a fact-finding survey recently conducted on consciousness about therapies for the functions of eating, we have analyzed the present situation and formulated a record which would enumerate methods and steps to cope with items about which staffers feel apprehensive and the items on which attention should be focused. We also held study meetings on techniques for salivary gland, intraoral and facial massage, compiled an illustrated booklet designed to introduce those steps, and made it accessible in an exclusively designed van. As a consequence, it became feasible to make perpetual use of a standardized functional therapy for dysphagia, and this methodology made it possible to continuously provide a standardized functional therapy for dysphagia, eventually leading to the recovery of the intraoral environment and the maintenance and recovery of intraoral functions, and enabling patients with disorders in their eating or swallowing to enhance their pleasure of eating food and enhance their confidence.

In 2018, the OK Project was launched with the aim of sharing with children the essence of spiritual care fostered in hospice and palliative care. The project developed teaching materials, trained certified instructors, and delivered classes. By September 2023, 189 instructors were certified and a total of 720 programs delivered (202 in elementary schools, 88 in junior high schools, 25 in high schools, 78 in universities and vocational schools, and 327 in other schools) with 53,360 participants. Comments from the participants after the classes (freely written) indicated that they found support from their painful experiences, felt relieved after listening to the stories, wanted to be supportive themselves, and wanted to share what they had learned with others. As a follow-up for certified instructors, a place for certified instructors to learn from each other was regularly held online, and an environment was created where they could practice their presentations and provide feedback. OK Project has a potential to contributing to Compassionate Community because children can live in peace while embracing suffering that is difficult to resolve.