Funding Essential Services
Provided funding for services such as housing support to the frail and elderly, Alzheimer's respite care as well as other elderly support services.
Care Home Payments
Increased the level of payments to seniors for residential services in adult residential care homes, licensed developmental disabilities domiciliary homes, community care foster family homes, and certified adult foster homes.
Nursing Home Without Walls Program
Provided funding to assist elderly to remain at home by providing payment assistance for long-term care. Also extended the program for two years and included the neighbor islands.
Affordable Rental Housing Units
Provided funding to increase elderly housing projects.
Resident Assistants
Provided funding to hire geriatric social workers to serve as resident assistants in housing projects for the elderly.
Working Against Predatory Practices
Reduced the exploitation of the elderly and disabled by prohibiting specified unfair and deceptive practices in the rooming house business.
Protecting our Kupuna
Allowed DOH to conduct unannounced inspections of ARCHs to ensure proper care and treatment of elderly residents.
Hale Ho’ola Hamakua (2004) $9,000,000
Hale Ho’ola Hamakua (2003) $142,000
Upgrade air conditioning system
Honokaa Senior Citizen Center (1988-1989) $5,000
Funding for plans, design, and construction of chain link fence
Kohala Hospital (1991-1992) $35,000
Funding for plans and design to add a twenty-bed long term care wing to existing facility
Kohala Community Center (1990-1991) $174,000
Funding for plans, design, and site selection for center
Puueo Community Center (1989-1991) $1,250,000
Funding for plans, design, construction, and equipment for center to include licensed, facility for child care
Talk Story: Looking Ahead
Senior Wellness Snapshot
Hawaii’s elderly population grew nearly four times faster than the national average between 1970 and 2000 according to the Executive Office on Aging and the University of Hawai‘i Center on the Family. Between 2000 and 2020, the older adult population is estimated to increase by 73% while the total population will increase by 17%. For this same time period, the population 85 and over is expected to increase by 116%. This has both ramifications for the quality of life of our Kupuna and the outlook for government balance sheets.
In response to these trends, I have worked with communities to support and fund programs to begin providing more care givers and other trained elderly care personnel, broadening access to information about these services and programs, and increasing the capacity of facilities to properly handle these demands. I believe these actions have placed the Big Island into a leadership position in the state in eldercare resource services for senior wellness and the comprehensive caring of our Kupuna.
Pointing To A Longer Term Solution
New eldercare outreach facilities located in Hilo and planned for Honoka’a represent giant steps forward by being in the first in the state of Hawaii to serve as a “one stop shop” for information and services relating to elderly, frail and disability care. The centers will provide greater access for residents of the island, but especially those in the first senatorial district (Hilo, Hamakua and Waimea), which has a growing population of older adults and family caregivers. The old Sun Sun Lau restaurant site in downtown Hilo will be the county’s Aging and Disabilities Resource Center (ADRC) and the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s North Hawaii Education and Research Center (NHERC) in Honokaa will house the Hamakua eldercare resource center.
The Hilo site was selected as a pilot project under an initiative under the Federal Older Americans Act to establish Aging and Disabilities Resource Centers (ADRC) in each state to better assist and reach out to the growing population of elderly and their caregivers. The ADRC is part of a continuing effort to improve the quality level and accessibility of services directed at primarily family caregivers who are most in need of assistance.
At the same time, we also worked to establish a similar center on a smaller scale as part of the health complex site including Hale Ho’ola Hamakua long-term care facility and the Hamakua Health Center and Emergency Room next door to University of Hawaii at Hilo’s NHERC. Positive synergy is expected from the combination of these elements which all serve a common purpose.
Additionally, after working with the community to help secure funding, North Hawai‘i welcomed the expansion of Hale Ho‘ola Hamakua on Friday, August 8 in a “groundbreaking gathering” held at the long-term care facility in Honoka‘a. The increased capacity will provide health care options to additional families with special needs. For some time, the wait list for admittance to Hale Ho‘ola has limited these health care options for many families.
Providing more long-term care beds means freeing up acute care beds currently occupied by long-term care patients and as a fiscal benefit, increases the revenues earned by Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) due to the higher reimbursement rates for acute care beds than for long-term care beds. This is a positive step in addressing the financial crisis now faced by HHSC. This facility is part of a comprehensive strategy that we have been working on to address some of the structural problems with HHSC while meeting the obligation we have to the elderly and their families in our community.
Keeping Focused On The Task At Hand
Ongoing regional eldercare community-based group meetings continue to solicit input and feedback on these state and federally funded resource centers and other elderly issues in the region relating to long-term care, elderly housing, nutrition, transportation and assisted living. We must continue to push to get ahead of the curve so that we can meet the burden of caring for those who worked hard to give us the life and world we enjoy today, as well as keep the public balance sheet in good working order for the generations to come.
To The Point: Caring For Our Kupuna
• Continue to facilitate and enlist the assistance of resources from the community and all levels of government
• Continue to put the pieces together of the vision for a model health care campus in Honoka‘a that includes: Hamakua Health Center; Hale Ho‘ola Hamakua (75 bed long term care nursing and 4 critical-access facility that also operates a 24-hour emergency room); University of Hawai‘i at Hilo’s NHERC (planned satellite site for an Aging & Disability Resource Center); and future plans for a senior housing facility.
• Remain proactive and collaborative in our effort to become a model for the nation in ensuring wellness for our seniors
