Social Contribution Activities

As a corporation that supports medical facilities that deal first-hand with people's lives and health, the MEDIUS Group has been matching gifts (donating) to Médecins Sans Frontières since 2023.

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is a private, non-profit medical and humanitarian aid organization.They provide emergency medical aid to people in crisis in conflict zones, areas afflicted by natural disasters, and impoverished regions, taking an independent, neutral, and impartial stance in their actions.The organization was founded in France in 1971, and the Japan office was established in 1992.

MEDIUS Group implements a matching gift program where employees voluntarily contribute, and the company matches their donation to reach a total amount. This is a way for group employees to contribute to society starting from just 100 yen.

We are starting by doing what we can, with the goal of one day creating a world free of conflict, natural disasters, and poverty, which are areas where Doctors Without Borders works.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the only UN food aid organisation whose mission is to eradicate hunger. It operates in over 120 countries and regions, with the pillars of its activities including emergency support during disasters and conflicts, improving nutritional conditions and providing school meals. The Red Cup Campaign is an initiative to support school meal support, which provides free school meals to children in developing countries. The campaign is marked by the red cups used to hold school meals, and companies that support the campaign sell products with the campaign mark and donate a portion of the sales to school meal support.

MEDIUS Group will donate a portion of the sales from its private brand product, "ASOURCE Select," to support efforts to improve the nutritional status and expand educational opportunities for children around the world from the medical field. This is a social contribution activity conducted together with local medical institutions under the motto, "Nutrition and hope for children from the medical field."

Assistance dogs support people with various disabilities, such as visual, hearing, and physical disabilities, but the number of working assistance dogs in Japan is limited, and restrictions on daily life due to a lack of social understanding still remain. In order to create an environment where assistance dog users can participate in society with peace of mind, it is essential to publicize the system and conduct continuous awareness-raising activities.
The Japan Assistance Dog Resource Center is the only organization in Japan that does not breed guide dogs, hearing dogs, or mobility assistance dogs, but instead provides information, consultations, and public awareness from a neutral, third-party standpoint. The center works to raise awareness of the Assistance Dog Act and continues to work with government, medical and welfare officials, companies, and educational institutions to reach out to society as a whole.

As a company involved in the medical and welfare business, improving the quality of life for people with disabilities through assistance dogs is a social contribution activity that is positioned as an extension of our business. Supporting the Japan Assistance Dog Resource Center is highly compatible with our social contribution policy, especially from the perspective of correcting disparities in the medical and welfare fields.
In addition to donations and support as a supporting member, we are working to promote understanding through educational activities both inside and outside the company. By continuing these activities, we hope to raise awareness throughout the group and steadily expand the circle of support needed by society.

Sports are an activity through which we can contribute to society by bringing smiles to the faces of everyone in the community, including young children and people with disabilities.Kyowa Medical Corporation and ALVAUS, Inc. have teamed up with Shimizu S-Pulse, a J.League soccer team based in Shizuoka City, to establish the "S-Pulse Welfare Fund," making a unique social contribution.Funds are set aside based on the number of goals scored at S-Pulse home games and the number of spectators in attendance. After the season ends, these funds are donated to local welfare organizations and medical institutions.This system energizes the local community through the activities of the team and helps to improve community welfare.

As part of this effort, we also support the "S-Pulse Cup" sponsored by the Shizuoka Council for the Promotion of Sports for People with Mental Disabilities. Our activities include holding the "Kyowa Medical ALVAUS Cup," which seeks to use soccer to increase the desire for leisure and lifelong learning among children with intellectual disabilities, and inviting teams participating in the Cup to S-Pulse undercard matches.

Kuribara Medical Instruments Co.,Ltd. Store has partnered with its hometown of Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, and the professional basketball team Gunma Crane Thunders to develop the "Ota Health Promotion 39 (Thank You) Project" to contribute to the health of the local community. In conjunction with Crane Thunders' home games, the store holds a "Walk from the Station to Opali (Open House Arena Ota)!!! Walking & Garbage Collection Event," which contributes to the local team by helping participants improve their physical fitness and beautifying the environment, among other things. The store also supports Thespakusatsu Gunma's community contribution activities, collecting and recycling plastic bottle caps and using the proceeds from their sales to send vaccines to children in developing countries.

To ensure that infection prevention measures are in place for children living in groups at schools and kindergartens during the COVID-19 pandemic, we donated 100,000 masks to Chiyoda Town, Oura County, Gunma Prefecture, and 360,000 masks to kindergartens in the vicinity of Ota City.

Although our activities are not flashy, we will continue to make steady contributions to society together with the local community.

In our Group, Kyowa Medical Corporation and ALVAUS, Inc., both based in Shizuoka Prefecture, have been holding "MEDI-Message" educational events in Shizuoka Prefecture since 2008. These events serve as opportunities for the local people to enjoy encounters with the medical world.These events feature talks by currently active medical professionals, corners where visitors can try out real equipment such as futuristic medical devices and endoscopes, and a popular show demonstrating laparoscopic surgery and cardiac catheterization in a recreation of an operating theater.

First held in 2007, MEDI-Message was initially an exhibition intended to allow medical professionals to view a range of medical equipment in one location. However, over the years, it has evolved into a community exchange event that can be enjoyed by a wide range of people.6,000 to 9,000 people visit each year, with elementary and junior high school students making up 60 to 70 percent of attendees.In recent years, we have mobilized all our employees to hold MEDI-Message with the generous cooperation of medical professionals and medical equipment manufacturers, and it has become an event that attracts visitors not only from Shizuoka Prefecture but from all over Japan.

Visitors have told us that MEDI-Message has provoked their interest in medical work, given them a feel of the sense of responsibility medical staff have toward their work, and inspired them to undergo medical tests after learning about advances in medical technology. We are now even seeing cases where children who attended MEDI-Message in the past have actually now become medical professionals as a result of their participation.It is also a valuable opportunity for medical staff to interact with the locals and hear their voices directly.During the COVID-19 pandemic, faced with difficulties in holding MEDI-Message at a physical venue, we began holding traveling "MEDI-Message Seminars" as a new initiative, offering talks from current medical professionals and hands-on experiences with medical technology at junior high schools in Shizuoka Prefecture.With the current shortage of medical personnel, we hope that the experience at MEDI-Message will inspire as many children as possible to enter the medical world in the future.