Taking THE HUG to Japan

Kimie Tanimoto, BSN, MSN, is in North Carolina again this year visiting Jan and HUG Your Baby. As you may remember, Kimie first learned of The HUG when she was visiting Duke University's School of Nursing in 2011. As a faculty member at the Kagawa University School of Nursing, Kimie is eager to discover new ways to help her pediatric nursing students meet the needs of today's families. This week she returned to Durham in order to carry this program home!

Kimie participated in The HUG training class held April 28, 2012, in Durham. This class gave Kimie the oppotunity to speak with other professionals who are learning The HUG and to see a "live performance" by a baby and her mom.

On Tuesday Kimie joined Jan at UNC Family Medicine Center to see pediatric patients. Here she got to see The HUG in action once again! Helping a new baby orient to a rattle for the first time, showing a grandpa how to calm a fussy baby, and teaching a grandmother how to help her daughter breastfeed are just a few highlights of a day with Jan. Kimie experienced both the ease of incorporating The HUG into an encounter with a family and the joy of this approach to parent education!

Wednesday evening Kimie joined Jan at a "Breastfeeding and HUG" class given to expectant mothers and fathers. This class helped Kimie think about how The HUG facilitates breastfeeding education.

Jan and Kimie put their minds and calendars together to come up with The HUG Goes to Japan timeline. Kimie is beginning this process by translating the HUG DVD script into Japanese. Jan will have an international language learning company audiotape this translation and create the Japanese version of The HUG DVD.

In the near future Kimie will complete the Certified HUG Teacher program. She will then be prepared to incoroporate The HUG into her undergraduate and graduate pediatric nursing curriculum. As a nursing researcher, she hopes to develop a plan to assess the benefit of making The HUG a part of pediatric nursing education in Japan. Jan plans to make a trip to Japan in the future in order to further share her HUG expertise and resources with colleagues there.

© HUG Your Baby 2012