CHICAGO, IL USA (Press Release) - May 26, 2015 - Professor Christine Norton, RN, PhD, Honorary President of the Innovating for Continence Conference 2015 and a leading authority on bowel/fecal incontinence, presented Ms. Nishimura with the John J. Humpal Award at the Foundation’s conference dinner. The fifth meeting in the Innovating for Continence series attracted delegates from around the world, including participants from Australia, Germany, Canada, the UK, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Japan, and throughout the USA.
| The Simon Foundation for Continence recently presented the 2015 John J. Humpal Award to Kaoru Nishimura, RN, the Founder of the Japan Continence Action Society (Tokyo, Japan). The award was presented at the Foundation's fifth biennial Innovating for Continence: The Engineering Challenge conference, hosted April 15-17 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago's city center. |
Early in her career as a nurse, Ms. Nishimura recognized the stigma and life impact of incontinence on her patients and the future challenges that the aging society of her home country, Japan, would increasingly face. In 1988, she relocated to England to study under leading British nurses in the newly created field of Nurse Continence Advisors. After completing her studies she returned to Japan as the country’s first Continence Advisor. Shortly after her return she founded the Japan Continence Action Society, which she continues to lead today. In late May 2015, she will chair a Tokyo conference on incontinence, which she has organized. The Japanese conference will focus upon the treatment and management of incontinence, and over 2,000 nurses from throughout Japan are registered to attend. Elizabeth LaGro, Vice President of the Simon Foundation for Continence remarked that, "The Tokyo conference is yet another indicator of the immense impact Ms. Nishimura has had on advancing the interest in incontinence in her country.”
Upon receiving the award, Ms. Nishimura stated, “I am greatly honored to receive this award. This honor indicates that my work has been recognized globally by my peers and those who, like myself, have a passion for helping people with incontinence. I thank you all so much for honoring my work.”
Ms. Nishimura was a presenter at this year’s conference in Chicago. She has twice before presented at the conference. This year, her presentation was on the current impact of the aging Japanese population on the needs and responses from the market and government to meet the growing incontinence product demands.
The John J. Humpal Award is named in honor of the Simon Foundation for Continence’s first chairman of its Governing Board. Professor Humpal was a professor at the University of Chicago Business in Organizational Development. Professor Humpal, until his death in 1990, gave above and beyond to the cause of promoting continence.
About the Simon Foundation for Continence
The Simon Foundation for Continence, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is a 501(c)(3) corporation whose mission is: to bring the topic of incontinence into the open; remove the stigma associated with incontinence; and provide help and hope to individuals with incontinence, their families, and the professionals who provide their care. The Simon Foundation for Continence is the world’s oldest patient-led organization devoted exclusively to incontinence, having been founded in 1982. The Foundation’s mission is supported by an Advisory Board of professionals, many of whom have dedicated their careers to improving the clinical treatment of incontinence and advancing medical science through bladder and bowel research. To learn more about the Innovating for Continence Conference, visit the conference site at www.innovatingforcontinence.org.
Simon Foundation for Continence
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