Posted on: Friday, February 28, 2003

'Unannounced visits' means unannounced

It isn't as laughable as Bill Clinton's difficulty over the definition of what "is" is, but it could be a lot more tragic.

The young Lingle administration seems to be having such qualms about inconveniencing the operators of adult residential care homes that Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the new state health director, insists they should get "a week's heads-up" before unannounced annual inspections take place.

"I would ask Dr. Fukino to go to the dictionary and look up the word 'unannounced,' " said Greg Marchildon, executive director of AARP Hawai'i, whose 140,000 members overwhelmingly support unannounced inspections.

Gov. Lingle herself said during her campaign that the state must have the authority to conduct unannounced inspections of adult residential care homes.

This view is even more urgently warranted in light of an Advertiser three-part series last week, written by Mike Gordon, that documented that at least 10 elderly people have died from neglect or abuse since 1999, and that during the past decade, 33 people 65 and older died in cases where decubitus ulcers — pressure sores associated with neglect — were the underlying causes of death.

Gordon also reported that laws that would have strengthened protections for the elderly have been rejected for years at the Legislature.

Thus, there's no excuse this year for the Legislature to let our elderly citizens down yet again. And central to needed legislation is a robust regime of unannounced inspections.

Fukino thinks it's unfair that unannounced inspections should be a complete surprise. We understand the thinking: Who wants to work with the prospect of Big Brother bursting in unannounced at any moment?

But it's clear that's exactly what's required to keep care homes "on their toes." Other enterprises subject to inspection, from bars to restaurants, are not given the luxury of advanced notice.

Lawmakers must not shrink from doing what's right.