Toyota Tsusho Starts Selling Foam Shower "KINUAMI U", a Bathing Assistance Product for Hospitals and Nursing Care Facilities
- Applying foam generating technology used in fire extinguishers, making comfortable body washing -
- Food & Consumer Services
2021-11-09
Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Head office: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture; President & CEO: Ichiro Kashitani; hereinafter Toyota Tsusho) and LIXIL Corporation (Head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; Director, Representative Executive Officer, President, and CEO Kinya Seto; hereinafter LIXIL) will start selling "KINUAMI U", a foam shower that alleviates bathing assistance work on caregivers and improves the comfort of care recipients when bathing, to hospitals and nursing care facilities nationwide starting December 1 (to be delivered in January 2022). This product was developed by LIXIL and its subsidiary NITTO CERA Corporation and will be sold by Toyota Tsusho, which has exclusive selling rights to hospitals and nursing care facilities.
1. Background
Part of nursing care work, bathing assistance is an essential but a hard job, and is called one of the three major caregiving duties, along with meal assistance and excretion assistance. Among them, bathing assistance is a challenge that requires a lot of man-hours, such as when whipping and applying soap, and pouring hot water to keep the care recipients warm, etc. For the care recipients, they face problems such as health effects due to a decrease in body temperature in the bathroom, as well as dry skin after washing, etc.
2. About “KINUAMI U”
“KINUAMI U” is a bathing assistance product that applies foam generation technology used in fire extinguishers and fire engines, and mixes a special body soap with hot water and large amounts of air to release soft and warm soap bubbles from the showerhead.
Soap foam can be applied to the whole body quickly, and the body can be washed through gentle touch, which alleviates the issues on caregivers and causes least damage on recipients’ skin by over-washing. In addition, washing with a soft and warm foam shower improves satisfaction and comfort for the recipients, reducing health risks such as a decrease of body temperature.
Furthermore, switching between normal shower mode and foam shower mode is as easy as moving the handle on the main unit of “KINUAMI U”.
3. Future Developments
A one-month trial of “KINUAMI U” was conducted at Hatsudai Rehabilitation Hospital (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) in August 2020, and many caregivers and care recipients commented that they found the bathing more comfortable. In the future, we will start selling the product to hospitals and nursing care facilities nationwide, providing safe and secure nursing care sites for more people.
The information in this release is current as of the date of announcement.
Please note that information may change after the date of announcement. Thank you in advance for your understanding.