HONOLULU (KHON2) — Sometimes, our kupuna living in care facilities are afraid or unable to speak for themselves.
State long-term care ombudsman John McDermott said he discovered that firsthand when he started the job in 1985.
“In the middle of the night, there’s a nurse aide who doesn’t like her and comes when she’s asleep and throws the blanket off and throws it on the floor. I said ‘You saw that happen?’ ‘Oh yeah, many times.’ ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ She just looks at me and says ‘You’ve never lived in a nursing home, have you?’” McDermott recalled.
Those fears can be eased as the ombudsman talks to the facilities anonymously to help advocate for kupuna. It’s a federal mandate under the Older Americans Act.
McDermott said overall, long-term care facilities in Hawaii do a great job, but as more out-migration continues on the islands, kupuna have less family to come visit, meaning advocates are harder to come by.
“That means you have that whole network that is now gone, that is not there to protect you. So that’s what we do. We have volunteers and staff and their job is to create and form a relationship with the kupuna, find out if they’re happy with the care that they’re getting, if not we’re going to try to do something to make it better.”
The problem is that they’re short-staffed. They’re trying to fill neighbor island positions on Kauai and Maui County and two vacant positions on Oahu.
“We have a little bit over 1,700 facilities and we have about 13,000 beds and by federal law, we’re supposed to visit everybody on a quarterly basis. That would be 30 facilities a day spread over six islands so it’s not possible for me to do that by myself.”
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McDermott believes in the mission so much, that he is putting off his own retirement until he can get staffing up to par. He said he’s looking for people who are trainable and empathetic.
If you or someone you know is interested in applying or volunteering, call the Executive Office on Aging at (808) 586-0100.