[Promoting the "Revitalization of Healthy Life Expectancy" with the Town of Anamizu].

The town of Anamizu in Housu District, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula, has 8600 residents of whom 45.4% are 65 years or older, making it a region with an aging population. A project was launched to "make Anamizu a town known for the good health and long life" of its citizens. The project involved, among other things, health classes run by health outreach workers. The local government of Anamizu enlisted the participation of local pharmacists, by requesting that the Anamizu group of the northern Noto chapter of the Ishikawa Prefecture Pharmacists Association (comprising seven pharmacies) conduct health classes. The pharmacies within the specified group collaborated to hold 17 classes in 17 areas within six months, starting from October 2016. They conducted the health classes and held periodic meetings to confirm class topics and to standardize the responses to questions from the participants. In all, 258 residents joined the health classes, and the Anamizu pharmacist group received requests to hold more classes in 2017, based on positive feedback. The strong relationship among the pharmacies in the Anamizu group was one factor in the success of this project, executed in cooperation with the Department of Health Promotion. The shared goals of the pharmacies while tackling various projects-for example, in running a booth representing the Anamizu group at health festivals-enhanced their collaborative activities. The Anamizu group plans to conduct various other community activities in the future to improve the QOL of local residents.