Palolo Chinese Home is opening a $10 million skilled-nursing and rehab center to help fill a growing demand for long-term care.
The 69-bed facility, including an eight-bed hospice unit, will offer services for seniors, disabled adults and those recovering from illness or injury who need short-term rehabilitation.
The addition is the final phase of a $25 million campus redevelopment that began more than 10 years ago and doubled the number of beds at the 15-acre campus to 130 to keep pace with Hawaii’s aging senior population. The organization has about 160 employees and is adding another 30 with the expansion.
There are 2,383 beds and 139,455 individuals age 65 and over in Honolulu, according to the latest research by the State Health Planning and Development Agency. There is a need for 5,857 nursing home beds — resulting in a shortage of more than 3,000 beds, based on AARP’s use rate for elderly residents.
“There’s a need,” said Darryl Ing, CEO of Palolo Chinese Home. “We’re all afraid of the silver tsunami because baby boomers are getting older and they’re going to need services.”
In 2009 Palolo Chinese Home added a three-story facility with 44 skilled nursing beds and another 17 beds in an adjoining building.
“In three months we were full. Over the past six years we’ve remained at a 98 percent-plus occupancy rate,” Ing said, adding that Hawaii has the fewest skilled-nursing beds in the nation per 1,000 residents. “There were times we got calls from people who supported the home for many years, saying our mom or husband is getting older and we need services, and sometimes we couldn’t accommodate them. It’s a shame we couldn’t support someone who supported us.”
Darlene Nakayama, chief operating officer and administrator of the facility, said the expansion comes at a time when hospitals are being pressured to make space for acute-care patients.
“Our community hospitals are under the gun to discharge residents on a timely basis and also to free up their beds for people who need hospital care,” said Nakayama, whose mother lives at the secluded care home in the back of Palolo Valley.
“The residents we are getting are a lot sicker than they were previously,” she added. “The service we provide is a lot more acute than it was maybe even 10 years ago.”
Aside from care home residents, the center has added 113 skilled-nursing beds, senior day care services, overnight respite, hospice and community-based programs such Meals to Go, which delivers hot meals to seniors in the community. In addition, the home is specializing in stroke patients and those with Parkinson’s disease or dementia.
The facility, founded as a hospital in 1896 to care for early Chinese immigrants who worked on Hawaii’s sugar plantations, has dramatically changed its patient mix and services in recent years.
“Some may still think we only serve those who are Chinese, but we are deeply committed to serving all of Hawaii’s people,” Ing said. “We started as a hospital for Chinese immigrants working on the sugar plantations
120 years ago, and now we focus exclusively on long-term care. This newest addition increases our capacity to provide the best quality of life for aging adults and to better support their families.”
Renovations are underway in the Victoria Ward Hall, adjacent to Palolo Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center, for a new rehabilitation services department; space for administrative, program and support services; a salon and spa for the residents; and a chapel. Victoria Ward Hall will connect to the new building when it is completed in November.
A grand opening of the facility is scheduled for early December. For more information call 748-4911.
