HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	182
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the department of health, through its Office of Health Care Assurance to implement a program to promote and develop and to insure an adequate supply of elderly health care facilities and services by providing education, training and support to the health care facilities they regulate.

     WHEREAS, the legislature also finds that a very serious issue facing our state is the lack of capacity currently in our community to provide adequate care in community-based residential settings; and

     WHEREAS, this is true not only for individuals with disabilities, but for the vast majority of elderly individuals in need of basic medical care or assistance with their activities of daily living; and

     WHEREAS, this lack of capacity will become more exacerbated over time, as the baby boomer population becomes of that age where it has an increasing need for assisted living; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature further finds that one of the unfortunate results of this lack of capacity has been a disturbing increase in the number of Hawaii residents discharged from hospitals or treatment facilities in Hawaii to facilities on the mainland; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature finds this to be an unacceptable situation As an island community, we have a responsibility to take care of our elders and individuals with disabilities in a proper fashion; and

     WHEREAS, the notion of shipping our kupuna to the mainland merely because they are old or ill and are occupying valuable space in a hospital while they are waiting for a bed to open up at a nursing home or care home is shocking; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature finds that the Department of Health has the mandate to promote health in the state by ensuring that there is an adequate supply of elderly health care facilities and services; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Health is mandated to reverse this alarming trend of sending our local elders and citizens with disabilities to the mainland simply because they failed to provide adequate capacity to care for them here at home; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Health must take affirmative action to build, develop, and increase our state's capacity to care for our people in a way that preserves their dignity and allows them to reside in a community-based setting and receive care appropriate to their needs; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to promote health in the state by ensuring that there is an adequate supply of elderly health care facilities and services  to care for Hawaii's needed; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health examine and determine the adequacy of the statutes, administrative rules, and inspection and enforcement processes, and make recommendations to modify them in order to promote, develop and expand residential care facilities for the disabled and elderly; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health provide community-based care and foster homes with education, training and support to ensure its expansion to meet the increasing demand; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2009 Regular Session; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and the Attorney General. 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Elderly Health Care Facilities and Services