Nancy Medical Sitter Service (Florence)

Nancy (医療的ケアシッター ナンシー) is a nurse-led sitter service for medically complex children (医療的ケア児) and children with disabilities, run by the certified NPO Florence. Nurses with pediatric experience come to the home, so a child who needs suctioning, tube feeding, a ventilator, or tracheostomy care can be looked after safely. The whole idea is built around small “I want to try that” moments on both sides: a child who wants to play more or meet more people, and a parent who wants an hour to breathe, run errands, or get to their own appointments.

Nancy operates through the home-visit child development support (居宅訪問型児童発達支援) system, which brings two practical advantages parents care about. Because it uses that disability welfare framework, the cost is subsidized by the local government and families pay a low out-of-pocket amount. And because it runs under a different program than visiting nursing, a family can use Nancy on the same day as another provider’s visiting nursing (訪問看護) rather than having to choose between them.

Nancy serves the Tokyo 23 wards, Yokohama, and Kawasaki, with a separate program in Sendai, and eligibility and fees are set out for each area. The office keeps weekday hours from 9am to 6pm, and new users are enrolled through an application process the site walks through step by step. Nancy is operated by NPO Florence, whose head office is in Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo.