Posted on: Sunday, December 5, 2004

Families urge streamlined approach to elder services

By Tanya Bricking Leach and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

Answers were hard to come by when Ann Hashimoto, a 44-year-old research associate at the University of Hawai'i, began looking for emergency housing for her father-in-law.

The pressure of caring for aging family members had become so great that it was the turning point in a decision Hashimoto and her husband made not to have children of their own.

They had enough to deal with in finding a place for her 82-year-old father-in-law, who was forced to move out of the apartment he had rented with a friend for more than 30 years. Hashimoto's Kane'ohe townhouse was too small to take him in, and her father-in-law craved his independence. With an income of only about $6,000 a year, his options were limited.

Hashimoto ran into roadblocks as she sought help. She finally found a low-income senior housing facility after calling Catholic Charities and filling out the paperwork to help him get aid.

Her experience is shared by many Hawai'i seniors and their families, who described a need for centralized information and a comprehensive, coordinated system of elder services.

"I cannot imagine how a working parent could find the time to deal with all of this," she said. "Worse yet, I cannot imagine how an elderly person without family support would be even able to find their way to the right agencies for help."

The AARP's state director, Greg Marchildon, agrees the state needs centralized information.

"Now, when you make a phone call, you're told to make another phone call and another, then told to check a Web site," he said.

Information is "hidden in silos," he said, but that can be fixed: "The state government can play a big role to institutionalize the point of entry, so we have a consumer-friendly system, or at least, a one-stop place to get answers."

Pat Sasaki, executive director of the state Executive Office on Aging, acknowledged the need for centralized information and comprehensive service, but said the state is hampered by limited funding.

Having a single place to call would help ease confusion.

But state Rep. Dennis Arakaki, D-30th (Moanalua, Kalihi Valley, 'Alewa), suspects that people won't like it once they hear about their options.

"They're going to find either services are not available or be put on a waiting list, or they're not affordable to the average person," he said.

Arakaki, who serves as chairman of the House health panel, said lawmakers worked for years to create a long-termicare program that would have helped the elderly stay in their homes as long as possible. But Gov. Linda Lingle rejected the plan last year, calling it inadequate.

That plan would have charged taxpayers $10 a month to create a state program providing about $70 a day to pay for long-termi care expenses for up to a year to those who qualified. The tax would have risen gradually to $23 a month by 2012.

When she gives her State of the State address next month, Lingle said she will describe how her administration is planning to meet some of the needs of Hawai'i's rapidly aging population. One proposal will deal with long-term care.

"We're still trying to make final decisions, and whatever decisions we make have to fit into the budget and the financial plan," Lingle said.

Early in 2004, she proposed giving state tax credits to those who purchase long-termicare insurance and providing more options to those who need home- and community-based nursing care.

State Senate Human Services Chairwoman Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi, Nu'uanu), said she hopes to work with the governor on other solutions as well.

Chun Oakland is drafting a proposal to create universal healthcare insurance programs that include long-term care, dental and medical services. "It would be an authority created under the state," she said.

Stella Wong, Catholic Charities Hawai'i vice president in charge of programs, agreed that seniors and their families searching for services must find a way to "piece it all together."

Wong said there are not enough case managers or service agencies to fill the need now, let alone when Hawai'i's aged numbers increase.

In Wong's view, the nonprofit sector could do more to help seniors and their families meet their multiple needs.

"There has to be a nonprofit out there willing to step in," she said, "because the state doesn't have the funds to do it."

Advertiser staff writer Mary Kaye Ritz contributed to this report.