HPU officials oppose
facility for mentally ill
The state plans to use the
By Helen Altonn
Blaisdell Hotel on the
university's 'campus'
Star-BulletinHawaii Pacific University officials say they're working on "legal moves" to keep a state program for the mentally ill out of the Blaisdell Hotel.
Jim Hochberg, senior vice president, said the university "is not against any social welfare program of any kind. We're all for it. We're only concerned about the location ... smack dab in the middle of a college campus."
State health officials know HPU's position, said Linda Fox, Adult Mental Health Division chief, "but we don't think there is any basis for it." The state administration and consultants support the program, she said.
The Clubhouse program going in at the Blaisdell is nationally recognized for "pretty high-functioning folks who want to develop skills and get back to work," she said.
Hochberg said HPU was told there would be no problems when Safe Haven opened at 41 S. Beretania St. to serve homeless mentally ill people.
But he said, "One of the resident patients took a radio as a student was walking by and cracked the girl on the head. We had to get an ambulance and take her to Queen's. . . . A secretary had a live cigarette pushed into her cheek."
Because of these and other incidents, Safe Haven is looking for another location, Hochberg said. "They're tired of negative reports. Most incidents we report to them we're able to stop because of our security people, but still and all, the kids get scared."
Fox said the Clubhouse differs from Safe Haven in that it will be open only during the day for stable participants. "The fears HPU have are completely unfounded."
The Clubhouse at Palama Settlement, operated by Mental Help Hawaii under a Health Department contract, is being closed to help fund the downtown program.
"We see this as an opportunity to make it better," Fox said. The location is ideal to place clients in jobs or business-related activities, she said.
Palama Clubhouse clients and staff will be shifted to the downtown program, expected to open in about a month after renovations are completed, Fox said.
Up to 300 people may register for the Clubhouse, but only 20 to 30 probably would be there at one time, she said.
Hochberg said the area "is not really a business district. It is a college campus," he said, with HPU activities stretching across the upper end of the mall with the Blaisdell Hotel in the center. The bookshop and other activities are in the Blaisdell building.
With 8,490 students from all over the world, he said, "We have an obligation to their parents for their health, safety and welfare. Even one incident breaks that responsibility.
"Some kids just pack up and go home. They don't like the environment, and that's terrible."
Hochberg said HPU has 11 guards patrolling the area. Patrols will have to be increased if the Clubhouse is allowed, he said, because "90 percent of these folks smoke and will have to go outside to do it."
Saying she was speaking for herself, Helen Chapin, HPU vice president emerita and vice president of the Oahu Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said the Mental Health Division has a history of rushing into projects without talking to those affected.
The downtown Clubhouse plan "burst like a bombshell" on the Kalihi-Palama and HPU people, who hadn't been involved in discussions, she said.
"We want clients to be well-placed in programs," she said. However, she said it's "a very poor mix" to put them on Fort Street Mall with thousands of students.
Fox said "the irony" is that HPU's social work, psychology and human-service students use the Clubhouse programs for practical experience and want to do more of it this fall.
That relationship will continue, Hochberg said. "We're only concerned about the location."
Wayne Law, setting up the Honolulu program, said, "While I understand their concerns, if they give it a chance, I think they'll find it works out quite well."
He noted that some Clubhouse clients are HPU students. "Those very people they're scared of, they're actually part of their student body."
Law heads the Kauai Community Mental Health Center, which has an internationally certified Clubhouse called The Friendship House. It has had no complaints in six years, he said.
"Safety is a big issue for everybody," he said, pointing out participants won't do well if they don't feel safe. He said the Clubhouse is a "really neat model of rehabilitation that gives meaning to an individual's personal life and not just takes up time."
Other Clubhouses are in Waipahu, Waianae and Windward Oahu. Programs are starting on Maui and the Big Island.
Safe Haven also
By Helen Altonn
unpopular with HPU
Star-BulletinMental Help Hawaii looked a long time for a place to help homeless mentally ill people before it opened Safe Haven at 41 S. Beretania St.
Now, it's site-hunting again because of Hawaii Pacific University and other neighbors at Fort Street Mall, said Jim Carter, program director.
He confirmed that a task force has been formed to try to relocate the facility, which opened in December 1995 in the historic Edwin Thomas Home.
"It's in large part due to pressure from Hawaii Pacific University," Carter said. "They've been very tenacious in trying to get us out of here. The pressure hasn't stopped.
"It's been a real tough time for us being unpopular in the community in which we have to work."
Carter acknowledged incidents involving clients but said: "We feel it's not really the HPU campus down on Fort Street Mall. It's a public sidewalk."
Eduardo Duarte, Safe Haven's residential coordinator, said its 25 beds were usually filled until the past fiscal year. Funding cuts have reduced occupancy to about 19 residents, he said.
But the program is going "fairly smoothly" despite the money shortage, he said.
"Our case management staff has really been stretching themselves thin. Even though they had to reduce funding for certain areas, they certainly don't want to reduce their outreach and case-management services."
Duarte said Safe Haven has "taken an active role in maintaining the downtown community as a safe place for all the residents of Honolulu."
