Wong Care Home closed

Beginning in 1974 Wong Care Home in upper Kapahi provided a refuge for Kauaians with mental illness, those who were developmentally disabled and others with behavioral problems.

The treatment allowed clients to lead lives that were as normal as possible, opening the door for some to return to their own homes, sometimes with supervision, or to participate in outpatient programs.

But the doors of Wong Care Home closed on December 31 because of declining profits, according its co-owner Tom Warling.

The facility was among the largest of 18 care homes currently licensed to operate on Kaua’i.

The closure of the care home was voluntary and the care home’s services will be missed, said Dianne Okumura, a supervisor with the state Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Assurance, which licenses care homes statewide.

“We were sad to hear of their closure,” Okumura said. “We appreciate the support they provided in the past.”

More recently, there was talk of using the facility to tackle a pressing problem on Kaua’i – homelessness.

Island groups talked about converting the care home into the island’s first emergency response shelter for the homeless. But that option was not followed up on.

Subsequently, the owners of Wong Care Home, Warling and his wife, April, have put the property – four buildings totaling 10,000 square feet on an acre of land – up for sale.

Warling said his business shut down partly because the state invested money in new programs statewide that encouraged clients to live independently, Warling said.

This situation resulted in the loss of clients at his business and other care homes in Hawai’i and cut back on payment of government reimbursements for services, Warling said.

The availability of new medications also allowed clients to “operate at a higher level” and live independently in alternate state housing projects, Warling said.

Warling said his company stayed in business as long as it did partly because its clients “were treated like family,” Warling said.

The closure was painful, Warling said, because it meant having to relocate 24 clients who had come to know Wong Care Home as “their home.”

“We had great support from the neighborhood,” Warling said. “The neighborhood knew some of the clients and they accepted them in their community.”

The clients were either put in the state hospital on O’ahu, returned to their homes or put in other care homes.

Okumura said the closure sparked concern because of the relocation of the clients, some of whom eventually went to Mahelona Hospital and to a skilled nursing facility at Wilcox Hospital.

Okumura said Warling worked diligently with clients and family members in the relocation of his former clients.

Warring said his care home had “a good run” before its closure, and that he will now begin work as a Realtor.

Three years before its closure, other options were considered including a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, a health retreat and a yoga retreat.

But Warling said he didn’t follow up on those because the care home was still successful at the time.

At one point, the health department also asked Warling to consider setting up a special room for emergency mental health treatment staffed by a psychiatrist. But that option didn’t fly either because of cost, Warling said.

The idea for the care home came from Allan and Linda Wong, who worked at the state hospital and opened their first care home in a Quonset hut in Kane’ohe on O’ahu in the early 1970s, Warling said.

The Wongs came to Kaua’i and opened their facility at its current site in 1975.

Warling, who is married to the Wong’s daughter, April, helped manage the facility beginning in 1985, and eventually bought it in 1994.

Before its closure, the facility had between 14 and 20 staff employees and was allowed by Kaua’i County to care for a maximum of 35 clients.

Okumura said Kaua’i’s population is small, but there appears to be a need for care homes on the island. “There are more providers that are willing to be licensed on Kaua’i,” she said.

Staff Writer Lester Chang can be reached at mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 225).