Aging and Disability Resource Center in Hilo : One-Stop Center for Services to Seniors and Disabled Opens in Hilo Nov 14
Hawai`i County will soon become among the first communities in the United States to have a nationally recognized model for co-locating services, the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Hilo.
The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) is designed to be a one-stop center for finding information on services for our seniors and disabled community.
The blessing and grand opening of the ARDC will take place on Friday, November 14 at the renovated Sun Sun Lau building on Kinoole Street in Hilo.
The vision of Mayor Harry Kim was for seniors and their families to have a one stop shop for information and resources on caring for yourself or a loved one in the community.
This center aims to cut through the maze of searching for information and helps to access these resources.
The ADRC brings together several County and private programs serving seniors and individuals with disabilities: the Hawai`i County Office of Aging, Coordinated Services for the Elderly, Hawai`i County Nutrition Program, Senior Training and Employment Program, Services for Seniors, Alzheimer’s Association, and the Arc of Hilo.
Through Information and Assistance services and Options Counseling on long-term care, individuals can make choices in planning for needs now and in the future.
“I have always known the important role our county plays in the provision of services to our islands kupuna and family caregivers, but the full impact was not realized until a few years ago when I myself came face-to-face with the challenges of being a family caregiver,” said Mayor Harry Kim.
The Mayor was taken aback during a conversation one day in 2005 with Gordon Furutani, who heads the federal HUD office in Hawai`i. It turned out that Furutani was struggling with the same issues of caregiving for an elderly loved one as Mayor Kim. “He was tied up in knots on where to go to ask for help,” Kim said.
Kim said it became very clear to him that although our Office of Aging has done a commendable job of developing a network of services, these services needed to be better coordinated and more easily accessible.
“If someone like Gordon Furutani was having a difficult time navigating the maze of services and options, what about the average individual who may not be as well-informed?” Kim said.
In early 2005, Kim directed the Office of Aging to pursue establishment of a resource center for caregivers and seniors capable of providing information and counseling on long term care issues in a one-stop setting.
He wanted a non-threatening, welcoming environment where any caregiver or senior, regardless of income and/or background, would feel comfortable going to for needed assistance, information and training. “I wanted these individuals taken by the hand and walked through the system,” Kim said.
Up to now, caregivers would need referrals to numerous agencies scattered all over town
The facility needed to be centrally-located and easily accessible. The Mayor asked Bill Takaba, our Director of Finance, to pursue the possibility of acquiring the former Sun Sun Lau facility to house a one-stop center for services to seniors and the disabled.
Three years later, the new Aging and Disability Resource Center will soon be up and running. The Office of Aging said that more than a dozen agencies and programs will be housed in the center with over 30 different services accessible on-site with memorandums of agreement enabling many more services accessible through coordination.
When someone calls or visits the center, they will be in contact with highly professional individuals with many years of experience to provide information and counseling to help people navigate the maze of available options so informed decisions can be made.
What happens you call or visit ADRC?
When someone calls or visits the ADRC (Aging & Disability Resource Center), they will be in contact with highly professional individuals with many years of experience.
Our Information & Assistance/Options Counselor is a registered nurse with over fifteen years of case management experience. The ADRC Coordinator has over 35 years of experience working as a professional Social Worker in the area of Developmental Disabilities as well as recent consultant work with long term care facilities, and our Caregiver Resource Specialist has over 30 years of experience in both the aging and disabilities arenas.
Certified AIRS (Alliance of Information & Referral Services) Community Services Program Assistants with the Coordinated Services for Elderly Program will add to this resource base along with Office of Aging planners.
The ARC of Hilo will also provide a staff person for provision of information and assistance for the physically disabled.
Services for Seniors, a case management agency, will also be available for consultation on long-term care issues. Having the State Department of Human Services on the second floor will add tremendously to the effectiveness of the facility in terms of long term care options, services, and coordination.
The intake, assessment, care plan development, service authorization, and case management functions will be coordinated by the Office of Aging with the goal of streamlining and improving access to and coordination of needed services.
What agencies and programs will be housed at the ADRC?
A total of nine agencies will be housed or represented at the facility, with oversight over 15 distinct programs and well over 30 different services.
The facility will house the local Area Agency on Aging, Hawai`i County Office of Aging (Planning, Advocacy, Information & Assistance, National Family Caregiver Support Program, State Kupuna Care Services, Options Counseling), the State Department of Human Services, Adult Community Care Services Section (State Medicaid, Med Quest, Adult Protective Services, Foster Grandparent Program, Adult Residential Care Home placement, Repatriate Services, Chore Services), ARC of Hilo (Information & Assistance), Services for Seniors (Short Term Case Management Agency – Elderly – Personal Care, Heavy Chore, Respite, Day Care), Hawai`i County Nutrition Program (Congregate and Home-Delivered Meals), the Coordinated Services for the Elderly Program, CSE (Outreach, Transportation, Chore, Information & Assistance, SagePlus), and the Senior Employment and Training Program.
Sharing an inter-agency office will be the Legal Aid Society of Hawai`i (Senior Services Component – Power of Attorney, Guardianship, Landlord Tenant issues, Neglect, and Abuse, Medicare, Medicaid, SSI, Food Stamps, VA, Health Care Issues, Family Issues divorce, adoption etc., Reverse Mortgage, Estate Planning, Wills), State Department of Health Adult Case Management Program (Long Term Case Management Agency for the Elderly – Coordination of Interdisciplinary Team Meetings, Case Management for at risk elders and evaluation from a nursing prospective), the Alzheimer’s Association (Advocacy, Information, Training). Mayor Harry Kim has been having discussions with the University of Hawai`i at Hilo College of Pharmacy to provide medication management services at the facility.
Future Plans for the ADRC
The long term vision for the Aging and Disability Resource Center calls for the establishment of satellite ADRC’s in Honokaa and Kailua-Kona and the utilization of video conferencing technology to connect the ADRC’s with all districts on the island.
We hope the community will take advantage of the many services for seniors and the disabled that now will be under one roof. We want you to feel welcome and comfortable when you visit the Aging and Disability Resource Center, a place where you can be assured of finding the assistance you need.
For more information about the Aging and Disability Resource Center, please call the ADRC at 961-8626.
