On November 1st, I was inaugurated as the hospital director. I have been working in this hospital since October of 2003, specializing in the field of gastroenterology. I am pleased to inform you that I have taken over the responsibility for leading this hospital from Yozo SHIMIZU, M.D., the Hospital Director Emeritus.

The current situation of the medicine in Japan does not seem so promising in time to come, with the medical cost containment policy or increasing in the patient co-payment. Thus, our hospital is now ready to fully commit ourselves to the community in the field of medicine so that everyone in the community can live their healthy lives without anxiety.

First, the most important mission to this hospital is servicing emergency medicine. In 2015, we accepted 9,563 ambulances and treated 19,183 patients in the year not only from within the city but throughout Hokkaido area. This ranks first in the Hokkaido area, and still higher rank in the whole nation, thanks to the trust we gain from the community. The emergency medicine is basic in the history of medicine, which can embody exactly the philosophy of ours . Especially, treating heart attacks, strokes, and injuries is the field of our specialty, and we are determined to keep enhancing it.

Secondly, the Cancer Treatment: the project now we are aggressively working on. We have allocated the necessary resources for treating cancer, including PET-CT scan and LINAC (radiotherapy device), as well as enhancement of the services of each clinical departments. Centering on the treatment of the cancer of the gastroenterology, head-and-neck, breast, hematooncology, respiratory fields, without only focusing on those new, cutting-edge technology, we are evolving the holistic medicine which does not create any "cancer refugees." We are also putting effort on the more specialized field, such as IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases) or IVR (Interventional Radiology), as well as enhancing the education of young medical practitioners including clinical physicians in training, and promoting clinical research projects, which are rarely seen in other local hospitals.

Our hospital has developed so much in the past 10 years. As a result, we achieved the accreditation of JCI (the set of 1,146 international standards for hospitals in quality of care and other hospital functions) in 2015. As of October 2016, only 19 hospitals in Japan achieved this accreditation, which only obtained by the hospitals which could pass the strict survey. This contributes to not only quality care which can be experienced by patients and their families but also to the quality improvement that cannot be seen. We will maintain these standards to provide quality care.

We will aim for a higher ground, proactively engaging in the various projects and return the profits from the results to the community. We keep advancing step by step.

Director Tomoyuki Ohta