Queen Emma plans
elder-care complex
The Waipahu facility will have
By Jerry Tune
109 beds and 164 assisted-living units
Star-BulletinThe Queen Emma Foundation plans to develop a Waipahu elder-care complex that would cater to a spectrum of seniors, from those needing minimal medical assistance to Alzheimer's patients requiring 24-hour care. Anticipating a crisis in health care for the state's burgeoning senior population, the foundation has drawn up plans for the Waipahu Senior Care Village on 13.2 acres at 94-1145 Awaiki St. near Waipahu High School.
The plans call for three separate facilities: one for seniors who need nursing care; another for those who can get by with an "assisted-living" program that provides some help with daily chores; and a third for patients with Alzheimer's.
"This (three-level concept) has never been done before in Hawaii, and I doubt its been done on the mainland," said Edwin S. Ohta, foundation vice president. "We studied different models on the mainland before adopting our plans."
There are about 3,500 nursing home beds in the state to serve an estimated 120,000 people over the age of 65. This ratio -- about 34 beds for every 1,000 residents over 65 -- is half the national average, according to a report to the 1994 state Legislature by the assisted living task force. Over the next two decades Hawaii's elderly population is projected to increase by more than 50 percent -- nearly 21/2 times the national rate, the report said.
The Waipahu Senior Care Village is to have:
Intermediate care/skilled nursing. These 109 beds would meet a critical need in Hawaii, Ohta said. Queens Medical Center has 100 to 120 people on a waiting list for nursing beds and there are 400 in the state waiting for space.
About 25 percent of these people need 24-hour, skilled nursing care while the rest need less intensive "intermediate" care, according to the foundation.
"The typical assisted-living person is a widow, 80 to 85 years old, who is a bit confused because of memory loss and has difficulty walking, dressing and/or bathing," Ohta said. "The big danger is falling down and getting injured."
(Existing Alzheimer's facilities in Hawaii are limited. The Alzheimer's Respite Center on Alewa Heights can serve 18 persons for day care only. The Ponds at Punaluu, which opens in late May or early June, will have 26 units for Alzheimer's patients.)
There are an estimated 17,000 persons in Hawaii with some form of the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Fifty percent of Hawaii people over 85 years old have some memory loss and need help with daily living, Ohta added.
In addition to these three separate facilities, the Senior Care Village also will include an adult day care that will be able to take care of 30 people who are dropped off in the morning and picked up later in the day.
Construction on the Waipahu Senior Care Village should start in the first quarter 1998 and be completed in a year, Ohta said.
Queens plans to go out for construction bids in the fall. The Waipahu site is zoned for residential use which permits nursing care facilities. An application for a conditional use permit will be submitted to the city this month, Ohta said.
Queens has been talking to city officials for many months, and the care facility is shown on the city's master plan, he added.
No cost figures are available yet, and no project financing has been arranged yet, Ohta said.
"There are plenty of places to go for financing," Ohta said. "We will know more about what the costs are (for the public) once we get our construction bids back (in the fall)."
As a general rule of thumb, a nursing home in Hawaii charges $4,000 or $5,000 a month and assisted-living facilities are expected to be about 60 to 80 percent of that, he said. At 70 percent, for example, the assisted-living units would be about $2,800 to $3,500 a month.
For that charge the resident would get health monitoring, personal care assistance, housekeeping, linen and laundry service, meals, utilities, maintenance, planned activities, off-site transportation, security and an emergency response system.
Ohta said the facilities will be one- and two-stories buildings designed with a residential character. There are five main buildings, each designed around two garden atriums.
Residents of the village will be able to work in therapy gardens or hot houses for orchids and use pathways that will be coded to help Alzheimer's patients, according to the foundation.
Architect Francis Oda, chairman of Group 70 International, said there are hundreds of trees on the 13 acres and nearly all of them will be saved or relocated.
Group 70 designed the gated facility in conjunction with Irwin Architectural Group of Huntington Beach, Calif.
The foundation said the Waipahu facility will employ 180 people, working in three eight-hour shifts around the clock. These will include nurses, nurses aides, maintenance people, cooks and administrators.
The Queen Emma Foundation was established in 1979 to manage the lands left by Queen Emma and other property owned by the Queen's Health Systems. These lands include more than 10,000 acres on the Big Island; 2,000 acres in central Oahu and 18.5 acres in Waikiki.
The Waipahu Neighborhood Board last night gave unanimous approval to the project.
"We believe its a positive addition to Waipahu and provides a service sorely needed," said Darrell Young, chairman of the board's planning and development committee. "Queen Emma has done its best effort to coordinate ideas of the board and community into its design."
