Home Care In Hauula, HI

UPDATE 4/5

Crews have repaired a 12-inch water main break that caused a sinkhole -- and traffic nightmares -- on the Kamehameha Highway near Hauula on Tuesday.

Traffic on the highway was contra flowed for hours while crews worked to make the repair. HDOT reported that the repairs were made and traffic fully re-opened on the highway around 1 a.m. Wednesday.

ORIGINAL:

HAUULA, Hawaii (KITV4) -- The Kamehameha Highway was shut down in both directions after a sinkhole opened up just south of Hauula, Tuesday morning.

The sinkhole was caused by a 12-inch water main break on Kamehameha Highway, between Punaluu and Hauula.

The sinkhole is reported at 53-833 Kamehameha Highway, near Kapaka Road.

Crews with the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) responded to the scene and are now repairing it.

As of 3:30 PM, one lane on Kamehameha Highway is open in Kahuku-bound direction along near Hauula, with the single lane being contra flowed.

Drivers are being told to expect delays in the area. The size of the sinkhole has not yet been released.

Many residents are still without water. A water wagon was brought in to provide water for homes in need.

There is no estimated time for when the repairs will made and the highway fully re-opened.

Representative Sean Quinlan says he received many calls from residents voicing their frustrations with today's road closures.

"Road closures can be at times life-threatening if you need to go to hospital, get your dialysis, it can be a lot income, you cant get to work or a job you need to perform, its more" shares Quinlan.

Resident, Terry Galpin, tells KITV4 issues like these are a major inconvenience for her and her neighbors.

"Nine times out of ten the issues are because the state didn't do something or they didn't do it right and so it is frustrating and now none of us have water" shares Galpin.

Drivers are asked to avoid the are and seek an alternative route if possible.

So far there have been no reports of crashes or injuries due to this incident.

This is a developing story. Check back with KITV4 for more information.

The state Department of Health has revoked the license of a Hauula assisted living facility, informing the facility that it must shut down by the end of the month — a move that left the fate of dozens of residents in limbo.

The Office of Health Care Assurance sent a letter dated April 12 to Dignity Senior Living at Oceanside Hawaii and wrote that it must discharge or transfer all residents by April 30. Dignity received the letter on April 16 and notified its elderly residents this week that they would likely need to vacate the facility by the end of the month.

Keith Ridley, who leads the Office of Health Care Assurance, said it’s the first time he knows of that the state has sought to shut down an assisted living facility. He said the decision was made after his office learned Adult Protective Services had concluded there was caregiver neglect at the facility.

“Once APS issued that finding we really had no choice but to revoke their license,” he said Wednesday. “By law, we don’t have a choice. The facility cannot continue to operate.”

However, the company has until Monday to request a hearing to contest the state’s decision, which Ridley said could delay when residents would have to vacate.

The company’s chief executive officer said he planned to appeal the decision and urged residents and their families not to panic.

The state’s long-term care ombudsman expressed concern that such a sudden move would pose major challenges for many of the residents and their families.

“I’m not aware of this ever happening in the state of Hawaii,” John McDermott said in an interview. “It’s a shocker. This will cause a real problem for the residents who have to find another home, because many of them have family members that live in other states or on a neighbor island.”

In addition to caregiver neglect, the license revocation stemmed from three complaint investigations that led the state to cite 149 facility deficiencies, “including deficiencies that placed residents at risk of harm without immediate corrective action,” according to the April 12 letter from the Office of Health Care Assurance.

The facility also did not have a registered nurse available 24 hours per day, a licensure requirement, and allowed unlicensed staff to administer medications without Health Department approval, the letter alleged.

The letter noted that the facility has 10 days from the day it’s received to request a hearing to appeal the shutdown.

Albert Chen, Dignity Senior Living’s CEO, said the company plans to do so.

“I want to make it clear that we are not closing the facility. We will be contacting the Department of Health,” he said in a phone interview from China where he is visiting. “We have a good working relationship with licensing. So this decision came to us as a surprise.”

He said the facility’s location makes it difficult to recruit talent and he’s working with the state to resolve the problems. He said that the facility is the only large assisted living facility in the state that accepts Medicaid patients.

“They already have a very limited choice of where to stay. It’s very challenging for them to find a quality place to stay,” he said.

When asked about the state’s list of problems at the facility, Chen said, “We don’t want people to take it wrongly that we are taking advantage of our seniors. It’s entirely not the case.”

Abrupt Eviction

McDermott said federal law requires nursing homes to give patients 30 days notice before they discharge them, but that requirement does not apply to Dignity because it’s an assisted living facility, not a nursing home.

Nursing homes tend to provide more medical care than assisted living facilities and are subject to more stringent regulations.

McDermott noted if Dignity were a nursing home, it would have been required “to notify the ombudsman the same time they notify the resident so the ombudsman can help if the resident wants to appeal.”

Ridley from the Office of Health Care Assurance said he understands it may be challenging to discharge or transfer patients within weeks but said it is necessary for their health and well-being.

“The residents, if they stayed, would be at high risk,” he said. “Really, the state can’t allow the facility to operate under circumstances that endanger their clients or their residents.”

The news has alarmed Waimanalo resident and former Civil Beat reporter Kirstin Downey, who said she learned Tuesday that her mother is among 61 elderly residents who will need to find another place to live.

“This is ludicrous that they would shut down this fast during COVID,” she said. She said her mother is terrified and the concern is taking a toll on her health.

Downey doesn’t know where she’ll move her mother, who requires 24-hour care.

“If there are problems it’s very good to highlight them and address them, but why would you do it in a COVID-19 pandemic where they have no place to go? What kind of madness is this?” she said.

McDermott agreed that it would be difficult to find new homes for the residents in such a short time frame since other facilities might be full or too expensive.

“It’s not easy for older people, especially if they’re having some confusion, to adjust to a totally new environment. It can become very confusing and very frightening,” he said. “In fact, there’s a term for it. It’s called transfer trauma. People can even die sometimes from this kind of a major, major move.”

He said if the facility were a nursing home, the Health Department could replace the facility’s administrator in order to fix the deficiencies but that law doesn’t apply in this case.

“I don’t know what they can do with assisted living because there are no federal laws for this,” he said. “This is basically saying that this is a hopeless situation and that no matter who is the manager or what company takes over, it’s not fixable, so everybody has to move out.”

Problems At The Facility

Ridley said it’s possible that a hearings officer could side with the company and keep the facility open. He doesn’t know of a precedent for this particular type of hearing — in the past, he said, facilities that faced similar citations closed of their own accord.

In the meantime, Ridley said he’s working with Dignity Senior Living to create a plan to transfer or discharge the residents. He said the onus is on the company to find spots for their clients at other facilities.

Dignity Senior Living has been cited by state health inspectors in the past, including in a 2020 annual inspection report last January that found one resident whose doctor-recommended diabetic diet was not being honored by the facility’s service plan.

Other complaints included missing documentation about physicians’ orders and issues with the administration of medications and related record keeping.

Records also showed that one resident needed additional help, like nighttime care, incontinence care and laundry services in May 2019 but had not received those services by the time of the department’s 2020 check.

Problems with employee training and medical clearance also were reported. Three employees had not received proper training to administer medications and treat wounds. Ten staff members had not provided the required documentation that they had been cleared for tuberculosis. One employee did not have the CPR and first aid certification required at such facilities.

Other issues were related to the building itself. In 2019, the Honolulu Fire Department found that the facility’s fire alarm system needed repair, exit signs were not properly lit and a laundry room needed new smoke and fire barriers. At the 2020 inspection, there was no sign the facility corrected those issues.

An elevator permit that expired in October of 2019 had not been addressed at the time of the January 2020 inspection.

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - State crews are responding to a partial collapse of Kamehameha Highway in Hauula.

The Kahuku-bound lane of the highway was closed near Pokiwai Place but has since reopened.

The state has been grappling for years with structural issues of Kamehameha Highway along Windward Oahu and the North Shore. Worsening erosion and rising seas are battering the oceanfront thoroughfare ? the only way in or out.

In 2020, the state Department of Transportation spent $2 million on emergency repairs to stabilize and support the ocean side of Kamehameha Highway after a section of road fell into the water.

Hau’ula resident Derrick Pressley has been monitoring this stretch for years and was there when a section of highway collapsed in 2020.

HNN talked to him in November, nearly three years later, in which Pressley said he was worried it could happen again after noticing cracks.

The DOT in November told Hawaii News Now there was no immediate threat to the highway, and the cracks were not on the roadway itself.

Oahu #hitraffic Kamehameha Hwy (near 53-600) Kahuku Bound Lane Closed due to Landslide. Traffic being Contra flowed.

— Hawaii DOT (@DOTHawaii) February 7, 2023

Two months after that interview, Derrick told us the cracks continued to worsen, but the DOT said the highway was in good shape.

During a visit to the area in January, DOT Director Ed Sniffen listened to residents’ concerns.

He said long-term plans for the highway were in the works but needed more research, but in the meantime, the DOT said it would continue maintenance on the road and make repairs as needed.

Time was not on the DOT’s side — this collapse happened right before maintenance was scheduled.

After the most recent collapse, crews checked the integrity of the roads.

“We had our staff go throughout the Hauula corridor sounding the pavement to ensure there are no other voids we can find.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

But Pressely feels like his warnings were not taken seriously.

“The Department of Transportation said the area was safe,” said Pressely. “What are you going to do now? Erosion is not going to stop. Get the highway fixed. Stopped putting it off.”

Sniffen said temporary repairs have been made and will resume on Wednesday.

Both lanes of the road remain open.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright 2023 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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Officials say Friday’s collapse of Kamehameha Highway in Hauula from coastal erosion is merely a preview of what’s to come as climate change and rising sea levels accelerate into the future.

“This is what climate change looks like,” said Joshua Stanbro, chief resilience officer and executive director of the city Office of Climate Change. “As an island community we’re on the front lines, and we’re seeing it in real time.”

With some 250 miles of oceanfront roads under threat of shoreline erosion, the state Department of Transportation has a tiger by the tail.

Ed Sniffen, DOT deputy director for highways, admitted earlier this week that the department has had a difficult time keeping up with the growing problem.

>> Photo Gallery and Video: Work begins on collapsed highway in Hauula

Indeed, the section of state highway in Hauula was identified as the state’s most critically threatened stretch of road in a report to the DOT nearly two years ago.

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The Statewide Coastal Highway Program Report, spearheaded by University of Hawaii engineering professor Oceana Francis, was updated this summer with the Hauula section remaining the top priority.

The report warns that the estimated cost for delaying improvements until severe damage develops may be “50 times or higher than the cost of implementing preventive measures now, not to mention traffic interruption, inconvenience, safety concerns and business losses.”

Meanwhile, the DOT announced Monday that additional segments of the roadway will be added to the emergency repairs for a total of 1,500 feet, boosting total costs for the temporary project to $600,000.

“Adding 1,200 feet of repairs is necessary to ensure another collapse doesn’t happen with the next swell or storm system,” Sniffen said in a news release.

There was no word on when more permanent repairs are planned for the Hauula section.

Bradley Romine, coastal geologist and coastal management specialist with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, said the state faces a huge challenge in maintaining access for communities along vulnerable coastal highways.

Romine said proactive long-term planning for place-based adaptation strategies is needed by agencies, stakeholders and communities.

“These problems are sure to only worsen with ongoing climate change and sea level rise,” he said.

Chip Fletcher, associate dean and professor in UH’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said Hauula is a living laboratory and a blueprint for the challenges we face as sea level rise worsens in the next couple of decades.

But the Hauula area, like many other low-lying coastal areas in Hawaii, has another related climate-change issue that must inevitably be addressed.

“The community is vulnerable to a rising water table,” he said, adding that the area — situated between the mountain and the sea, already has shown to be susceptible to groundwater flooding. “The ocean is rising and so is the groundwater. This community has extremely difficult challenges ahead.”

Fletcher said further studies are needed to determine how close Hauula’s water table is to the ground surface.

There have been a number of studies that show Hawaii’s coastlines will be especially vulnerable as climate change worsens:

>> A 2017 report for the Hawaii Climate Commission found that potential impacts on Oahu of 3.2 feet of sea level rise include the loss of $12.9 billion in structures and land; 3,800 structures, including hotels in Waikiki; the displacement of 13,300 residents; and the loss of 17.7 miles of major roads.

>> A 2018 study by University of Hawaii researchers found a third of the state’s shorelines vulnerable.

>> Another 2018 study by UH researchers examined a 5-mile stretch of reef-fronted shoreline from Hauula to Makalii Point and found accelerated erosion in the last 40 years.

Stanbro said adapting to climate change will not be inexpensive, and that’s why he supports Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s plan to sue the fossil fuel companies for damage caused by climate change and rising sea levels traced back to corporate action or inaction.

“It’s like death by a thousand cuts,” Stanbro said of the repairs Hawaii faces. “These fixes are costing millions, and they’re coming out of the taxpayers’ coffers when they should be coming from the oil companies.”

Hand painted onto the circular ceiling of longtime Hauula community member Kenneth Kenzo Furukawa’s three-story house are these words in Hawaiian: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” The words encircle an angelic scene Furukawa said he decided to paint after seeing many majestic ceilings on his trips to Europe.

Furukawa said house is named “Ku’u Home Me Na Anela O Nalani,” or “My Home With the Angels of the Heavens.” He said turning it into the structure it is today has been a matter of prayer. More than 30 years after buying a small, two-bedroom house, today the interior of his three-story home features a spiral staircase leading up to the ceiling art and Hawaiian words of ho‘okipa, or hospitality, that was painted and designed by Furukawa himself.

“I want kids to understand that you can. From an uncle who thought … I could not even live off [his first paycheck], to getting a house, I want them to know that you can. Nothing’s impossible.”

Despite not completing any formal training in architecture or design, Furukawa said whenever he goes to a new place, he always envisions what he would do to change it. When designing changes for his own house, Furukawa shared, it was no different. He said he would stand outside the sliding glass door on the deck and picture how he wanted to change its structure.

When he first came to look at the house, it was 42 years old, and Furukawa said it reminded him of his grandfather’s ranch house on Moloka‘i. The ranch house was built in the old board and batten style with old fashioned windows, Furukawa explained, which he said he likes, along with architecture and “nice things.”

One of Furukawa’s good friends and fellow full-time volunteer at the Hauula Community Association, Dotty Kelly-Paddock, said her friend is a gentle soul with a big heart for his community. “Ken [Furukawa] cares very deeply about making things nice and looking nice. He always says that in our meetings [community association meetings]. He wants people to care about their community and how it looks.” She added Furukawa frequently goes around the community offering to powerwash any of his neighbors’ properties, including the walkway in front of 7-Eleven.

Furukawa added, “My philosophy is, whatever your place is, ugly or whatever, you create your space.” Son to a Hawaiian mother and Japanese father, Furukawa said his parents named him after his father’s father, who passed away a month before Furukawa was born. “Kenzo,” Furukawa’s middle name, pays tribute to this grandfather and means “creative builder,” Furukawa explained.

It was this creative builder aspect of Furukawa’s personality that propelled his home-renovation project. Three years after he moved in, Furukawa said he had drawn up plans for the new design of his house. Using the resources available to him, including the bishop of his ward at the time who was a contractor looking for work, Furukawa made his designs come to life.

Furukawa shared other projects he has designed and completed over the years include a mini model of the Washington D.C. Temple and a Christus statue, both of which were displayed at the 1977 Moloka‘i Junior Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Annual Carnival. Furukawa explained this annual carnival was a huge affair in Moloka‘i where he grew up.

Furukawa said he was inspired by the 127-foot-tall replica of the eastern spires of the Salt Lake City temple that were displayed at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, according to the BYU Religious Education website. With this example in mind, Furukawa said he envisioned more for the Church’s booth at his hometown carnival and drew up plans for a mini Washington D.C. Temple because he liked the architecture. His dad helped him put it together, he added.

Another of Furukawa’s friends and fellow church member, Steven Carter, said Furukawa is not only creative but also he’s driven. “Creativity means something, but creativity coupled with work means a heck of a lot more. … He’s [Furukawa] a very hard worker, and he is willing to roll up his sleeves [and work]. And I think that kind of reflects itself in the way that he serves too. He doesn’t just talk the talk; he walks the walk.”

Making do

After graduating from BYU in Provo in 1980, Furukawa returned to Hawaii and lived with his sister in Honolulu, where he got a job at American Express Travel. “When I first got my first paycheck, when I looked at my paycheck I went, ‘They made a mistake. If this is my pay, I cannot live off of this!’” So, he went to his boss and asked her to check and make sure everything was okay.

When she assured him that nothing was askew, Furukawa said he thought to himself, “I cannot live with this pay!” Nine years later, however, his financial planner told him he had reached his goal and could afford his own house, Furukawa shared.

From there, Furukawa said his life was dollar movies, working two jobs, catching the bus whenever he could to save money and working on his house whenever he got the chance. Walking around his house, Furukawa also described different additions, such as countertops and curtains, that he received for free or relatively cheap because he’s not afraid to use materials others are throwing away to bring his ideas to life.

“My grandmother on the Japanese side of the family always said, ‘Go [to] school, study hard, work hard, save your money.’ But I always liked nice things. But you know, if you can’t afford it, then you just do with what you have.”

Furukawa said he was always interested in architecture, even when he was a child. When asked what style of house he wanted when he was growing up, Furukawa said he could not decide on any one style, adding, “‘No, I don’t want just one house. I need at least six.’” Although people have been surprised by this declaration, Furukawa said it proved prophetic in a way. After his father passed away, Furukawa said he and his sister were left with all the houses their dad had built on Moloka‘i, which happened to be six of them.

A good neighbor to all

He bought his now 75-year-old house in Hauula in June of 1990 and said he has lived there ever since. However, he visits Moloka‘i frequently to check on the rental units of his other houses. Although he didn’t originally have the best impression of Hauula, Furukawa explained, “That’s what I bought because that’s what I could afford.”

However, during his time here, he said his love for the place has expanded. Kelly-Paddock said, “[Furukawa is] so concerned about the community. He is very busy with his church and his rental properties, but I would say [the] Hauula community comes in there very close to next place.”

Kelly-Paddock, originally from Indiana, said she met Furukawa in 2009, although they both moved to Honolulu in the 1980s. In 2014, the two of them started “Hui O Hauula,” a nonprofit with the goal to “improve the resilience of the community,” shared Kelly-Paddock.

Carter, who teaches at BYU–Hawaii as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work, described Furukawa as “endearingly frank” and said he is always willing to serve but is also very direct.

“Ken [Furukawa] is one of those people who is just a good neighbor to all. He may say some things sometimes that not everybody agrees with, but he’s just a good neighbor to all. He’s sincere.” Carter explained Furukawa is always helping his neighbors with their yard work. One time, Furukawa brought grass in a garbage bag all the way from Moloka‘i and helped Carter and his family plant it in their yard, Carter shared.

“He’s willing to do—in his own kind of funny, quirky way—whatever he can do to serve people around him. I think service is a core part of who he is.”