Ige should help elderly couple

Thank you for your article drawing attention to a quite unbelievable situation: Mr. and Mrs. Noboru Kawamoto, a couple aged 94 and 88 and married for 67 years, are not allowed, for various complicated bureaucratic reasons, to live in the same care home ("Care home measure is deferred," Star-Advertiser, May 5).

The Star-Advertiser noted a similar situation in 2009 and Gov. Linda Lingle stepped in to help.

She signed a bill that allowed another elderly couple, the Kaides, to reside in the same care home under a two-year demonstration project. The law lapsed in 2011.

A measure to allow House Bill 600 failed to clear the conference committee for this year. The Kawamotos will be forced to live apart unless someone helps.

Noboru Kawamoto is a veteran of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. I appeal to Gov. David Ige to step in and rectify this decision that ignores the human beings involved.

Ellie Crowe
Hawaii Kai

Bring couple together again

I read the article written by Rosemarie Bernardo ("Care home measure is deferred," Star-Advertiser, May 5), and felt like someone just plunged a knife into my heart. What is wrong with our Legislature?

The Kawamotos have been married for 67 years, not relying on Medicaid.

Noboru Kawamoto is a veteran of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, but he and his wife are forced to live in separate care homes because, under state law, only one private-pay individual can reside in the same community care foster family home as two Medicaid recipients.

Is our Legislature forgetting that this same situation can happen to them or someone dear to them?

Can’t Gov. David Ige do what Gov. Linda Lingle did in April 2009, when she signed a bill into law that allowed the Kaides to reside in the same home?

Let’s make this a priority and bring the Kawamotos together again.

Kanani Kekuewa
Keaau,Hawaii

Help celebrate Nurses Week

Nurses are the backbone of health care systems, bearing up countless patients and working long days to help save lives.

National Nurses Week, which runs from May 6-12, is a time to recognize the vital role nurses have played in hospitals and health care settings in Hawaii and our nation.

Nurses set a high bar, ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect while being treated for a variety of medical needs.

Tell a nurse "Happy Nurses Week" and how special he or she is.

Janet Grace
Waikiki

Undeclared war occurred in 1893

Your story about Honouliuli becoming a national monument did well in explaining the undeclared war of Dec. 7, 1941, to start World War II and what can happen to prisoners of war ("Monument’s dedication hopes to remove stigma of shame," Star-Advertiser, April 1).

It was earlier, in 1893, when the first undeclared war happened in Honolulu and the government collapsed. The head of the government was arrested, tried and convicted of treason and imprisoned.

The two incidents have similarities but the Hawaii incident has never been addressed in 122 years.

Louis "Buzzy" Agard
Downtown Honolulu

No one religion owns spirituality

True spirituality is not cultural beliefs or practices through any religious dogmatic rites.

True spirituality is the passing on from one generation to the next information (knowledge, wisdom and understanding) that advances humanity as a whole through technologies that benefit all cultures.

No culture owns spirituality; no religion owns spirituality, whether you talk to God or not.

Donald Simpson
Makiki