Daycare center in Waipahu opening today
By Kalani Wilhelm
Advertiser Staff Writer
A project five years in the making culminates today with the grand opening of the Waipahu Community Adult Day Health Care Center and Youth Day Care Center.
Advertiser library photo • Feb. 5, 1999
The $3 million, 9,000-square-foot facility will offer community-based health, therapeutic and social services programs to the elderly and disabled adults as well as daycare for preschool-aged children from low- to moderate-income families.
"There's definitely a growing need for this type of service in the area," said Sen. Cal Kawamoto.
The community will get its first look at the center today during blessing ceremonies.
Sen. Cal Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Pearl City), executive director of the Waipahu Community Foundation, has spent the past five years heading the project, which was originally scheduled to open last year.
"There's definitely a growing need for this type of service in the area," said Kawamoto, adding that the center will be the first of its kind in Waipahu. "I think this new program will also relieve some of the daily burden currently faced by family caregivers."
The center is at the corner of Hikimoe and Mokuola streets.
Roland Gella, director of O'ahu Head Start, said centers that cater to the needs of senior citizens and children are at a premium across the country.
"There are not too many intergenerational programs like this in Hawai'i," said Gella. "It's a good collaboration between senior citizens and young children."
The midtown Waipahu center was constructed and furnished with $2.7 million from the City and County of Honolulu and a $245,000 grant from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The state's contribution was a 39-year property lease at $1 annually.
Kawamoto praised Dr. Richard Ikeda, director of Health For All, a private nonprofit healthcare corporation based in Sacramento, Calif., for his role in helping to start the center.
Ikeda, a former Waipahu resident, has opened a number of healthcare clinics for low-income families and Adult Day Health Care Centers in California, Kawamoto said.
With the large number of seniors in Waipahu, the opening of the center has generated a buzz among adult care centers. Many welcome the new facility.
The Waipahu Hongwanji Mission Adult Day Care Center assists 58 senior citizens and is regarded as one of the busiest. But director Vanassa Tanouye said the services they provide are limited. "It's a blessing to the community," Tanouye said of the new center. "We only can provide so much assistance. If seniors need a higher level of care, they can go there."
