REPORT TITLE:
Ewa Villages Community Development


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates moneys to issue grants out of the general fund to
support Ewa Villages Community Development Corporation.  Requires
grants to benefit the frail elderly, medically fragile infants
and children, and their families and caregivers in the community.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           130
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR EWA VILLAGES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
   CORPORATION.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii's citizen's,
 
 2 public and private health care providers, and insurers are
 
 3 increasingly concerned about the growing number of frail elderly
 
 4 and medically fragile infants and children and the cost of
 
 5 medical care.  Ascertaining the most appropriate and caring
 
 6 environment for these individuals is a challenge.
 
 7      In 1990, individuals sixty years and older comprised 15.7
 
 8 per cent of Hawaii's population.  The percentage of Hawaii's
 
 9 elderly population is projected to increase.  By 2010, it is
 
10 projected that this age group will grow by 72 per cent, making
 
11 them 21 per cent of Hawaii's population.  
 
12      While the emphasis in the last few years has been focused on
 
13 the frail elderly, there is also a growing need for community
 
14 based care for those infants and children who are medically
 
15 devastated.  Due to increased drug usage by pregnant mothers and
 
16 enhanced technology which increases the survival rate for
 
17 premature infants, the number of medically fragile infants and
 
18 children has been increasing.  Most of the medically fragile
 
19 infants and children have some brain damage, and are being tube
 

 
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 1 fed and are unable to be cared for in the security of their own
 
 2 homes.
 
 3      The acute care hospitals have provided an excellent resource
 
 4 for infants and children during the many months of critical and
 
 5 acute care, yet, there is a lack of appropriate and trained
 
 6 caregivers once these children are ready to leave the hospital.
 
 7 As the childrens' conditions stabilize, physicians and discharge
 
 8 planners are forced to keep the child in the acute care hospital.
 
 9 The acute care hospital is not the most appropriate setting for a
 
10 child to develop.  The children's emotional needs are best met in
 
11 an environment that is stable and nurturing.  Acute hospital care
 
12 is also extremely costly.
 
13      The needs of the medically fragile infant and child are very
 
14 unique and require a warm and secure setting to provide the child
 
15 with the clinical and emotional care which is so critical.
 
16 Training the parents on how to care for them is the eventual goal
 
17 of transitioning the child back to its most ideal setting, the
 
18 home.  Such a care center is missing in the continuum of care for
 
19 the medically fragile child of Hawaii.
 
20      Our community which faces the growing dilemma of the frail
 
21 elderly and the medically fragile child must assume its share of
 
22 the responsibility to design and develop alternative community
 
23 based services to assist the residents of Hawaii.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           130
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      The Ewa Community Development Corporation is a private,
 
 2 nonprofit organization which seeks to provide a continuum of
 
 3 health care services to both the frail elderly as well as our
 
 4 medically fragile infants and children.  The program is designed
 
 5 to integrate an intergenerational concept for services, both
 
 6 residential as well as day care, within the 7.5 acre campus.  The
 
 7 program is designed to create a sense of belonging, warmth, and
 
 8 security in a nurturing environment.
 
 9      Ewa Community Development Corporation intends to provide the
 
10 following programs:
 
11      (1)  Pediatric skilled nursing care;
 
12      (2)  Dementia/Alzheimer unit - including day care for the
 
13           demented clients with indoor/outdoor wandering areas;
 
14      (3)  Intergeneration day care for infants, toddlers,
 
15           preschool and frail elderly with extended hours for
 
16           working caregivers;
 
17      (4)  Adult residential care/swing bed;
 
18      (5)  Respite care for short stays;
 
19      (6)  Caregiver training in early childhood development and
 
20           geriatric care; and
 
21      (7)  Varied community based programs such as chore services,
 
22           meals, case management, etc.
 
23      While the legislature's efforts are rightly focused on the
 
24 frail elderly, the needs of the medically fragile child must also
 

 
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 1 be addressed.  Additionally, as the State faces another critical
 
 2 budget session, the legislature must respond to the programs and
 
 3 initiatives that are the most important.  This project meets a
 
 4 critical need in our community.  
 
 5      The purpose of this Act is to appropriate general fund
 
 6 moneys to issue grants to support Ewa Villages Community
 
 7 Development Corporation, which will benefit the frail elderly,
 
 8 medically fragile infants and children, and their families and
 
 9 caregivers in the community.
 
10      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $       , or so much
 
12 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, and
 
13 pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statues, to be used to
 
14 issue a grant to support Ewa Villages Community Development
 
15 Corporation, the activities of which will benefit the frail
 
16 elderly, medically fragile infants and children, and their
 
17 families and caregivers in the community.  The grant shall be
 
18 used to develop and operate the programs to provide needed
 
19 services to the frail elderly and medically fragile infants and
 
20 children.
 
21      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
22 department of health and human services for the purposes of this
 
23 Act.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           130
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.
 
 2 
 
 3                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________