Medical Treatment is the Servant of Genuine Human Caring

Mr. Shoichi Nakamoto joined the Hale Makua Wailuku Ohana in February of 2012, and currently resides on the Lanai Neighborhood.  Mr. Nakamoto recently began expressing to his care partners that he was tired of eating his pureed diet, and really wished he could eat saimin again. 

Mr. Nakamoto’s diet orders prescribed by his physician did not allow for saimin. Holly Alling, Speech Language Pathologist with SunDance Rehabilitation (pictured here with Mr. Nakamoto), heard his request and decided to take action. She has been working on safe swallowing techniques with Mr. Nakamoto to try to help him once again enjoy a bowl of saimin, even though Mr. Nakamoto’s medical history conflicts with a diet upgrade.

This picture shows the first day that Mr. Nakamoto was able to enjoy a bowl of saimin here at Hale Makua under close supervision from Holly. Not only did he have a huge smile, but he requested chopsticks and was instantly able to use them with ease!

This is an example of the Eden Principle Seven: Medical treatment should be the servant of genuine human caring, never its master.

Moving Decision-Making Closer to Elders

Hale Makua Wailuku resident William Shigetani’s daughter-in-law brought in bananas for Mr. Shigetani and staff. There were so many bananas care partner and Neighborhood Clerk Lily Vergara thought it would be nice to make something different with the bananas for Mr. Shigetani to try. At lunch time she fried and boiled the bananas and brought them to Mr. Shigetani. While he was skeptical at first, he tried the fried bananas and enjoyed them so much that he told Lily that he didn’t want to share them with the other residents.

This is an example of Eden Alternative Principle 8: “An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or those closest to them”.

Resident-Directed Care Creates the Feel of Home

Resident Dave Fichman needed more space for all of his family photos and frames for his loose photos. When he mentioned this to care partner Rhonda Reny, she was eager to help in whatever way she was able to. She didn’t need to think twice or seek approval for bringing in some picture frames that she wasn’t using at home and finding some inexpensive shelves. Rhonda worked with Dave to arrange all of his photos and care partner Edwin Asuncion to install the shelves.

Together with Dave, Rhonda and Edwin, decided how the photos and shelves should be arranged; creating a more home-like, personalized space for Dave.  This is an example of Eden Alternative Principle 8, which states “An Elder-centered  community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision making into the hands of Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.”