WAILUA — The morning sky from Kapa‘a to Wailua was bursting with gray rainclouds, but nothing could stop the Mahelona Medical Center recreational-therapy crew from taking their 40 long-term care patients on a “beach day” to Lydgate. Thus, five Kaua‘i
WAILUA — The morning sky from Kapa‘a to Wailua was bursting with gray rainclouds, but nothing could stop the Mahelona Medical Center recreational-therapy crew from taking their 40 long-term care patients on a “beach day” to Lydgate.
Thus, five Kaua‘i Buses were packed with folks, many in wheelchairs, and brought to Lydgate Park, where the wind and sporadic rain didn’t stop until the Mahelona group started their swim.
The twice-annual outings started 17 years ago when Samuel Mahelona Hospital staff members were looking for another way to keep long-term care patients involved in the community. Josie Pablo, hospital recreation therapist, has been with the hospital for 18 years.
Many hands are needed to carry out this recreation program that is unique to hospitals in the state. According to Pablo, Mahelona is the only Kaua‘i hospital to carry out such an excursion.
Helping yesterday were hospital maintenance staff, physical therapists and aides, Mahelona Auxiliary members, Boy Scouts, Retired Senior Volunteer Program members, and for the second year, Kaua‘i Community College nursing students.
Once the buses arrived from Mahelona, the patients were set up under the shelter of the park’s large pavilion, where they were slathered with sunblock and readied with their swimming clothes. To bring them down to the saltwater pool, maintenance staff and other volunteers used wheelchairs with sturdy, inflatable rubber wheels. In some cases, a machine with handles, levers and straps, called a Hoyer Lift, was used to transfer someone to a specialty wheelchair.
“Up they go, we gotta get them going. No obstacles,” said Mary Jo Sweeney, KCC nursing instructor.
Once at the beach, the patients got situated in beach chairs with floating armrests. Of course, they were all fitted with life jackets. Tuesday, there were 21 nursing students participating as part of their six-week summer curriculum before they graduate in July as licensed practical nurses.
There were also five Boy Scouts from Troop 83, out of Lihue Hongwanji Mission. The troop is led by Scoutmaster Alan Yamamoto and former Scoutmaster John Iwamoto, who was in scouting for more than 30 years. The scouts and nursing students, two at a time, took turns wading through the water to assist the patients in their floating chairs.
“Every time they come here, they learn one thing — one day you’ll be as old as them, and we want to help the elderly, because one day someone will help you,” Yamamoto told The Garden Island, with troop member Jonathan Cabot helping put away floater chairs nearby.
Joanne Noone, nursing professor, said that each August, a group of Okinawan nursing students come to Kaua‘i to participate in a learning exchange. That’s where KCC first got involved with the Mahelona beach outings. But Noone said she “thought it was such a valuable experience” that it has been incorporated into the curriculum. The same students volunteered in the hospital last fall.
“It was exciting. When we were loading up the buses, he (patient, Mr. Yoshimatsu) was waiting for half an hour for the bus. We kept telling him he would be the first one in. Then when we got here, he was the first one to go swimming, and he was so excited,” said nursing student Sheree Koki.
“At first, he was cold, but he pointed to us where he wanted to go and who he wanted to visit, of his fellow friends,” added student Rialyn Negrillo.
“It’s fun because they hardly come out. Even if the water is cold, they’re excited to go out,” said classmate Glenda Esposo.
Many nursing students realized the importance of the beach outing as a way to keep up the spirits of those who have been hospitalized for long periods of time.
“It’s a lot of fun. A lot of them don’t get out a lot, so it helps with their spirits. At their age they need to have some fun,” said KCC student Gelina Ruiz, a 2001 Kaua‘i High graduate.
On working with these folks, Robert Henry, also a National Guardsman, said “working with long-term patients — it’s a challenge, but it’s also very rewarding.”
More than 40 Mahelona long-term care patients were treated to the annual beach day and picnic at Lydgate Park. Other hospital workers and volunteers included maintenance staffers Keith Silva and Cornel Lum, physical therapist aide Elaine Morita, physical therapist Placido Valenciano, Greg Planas, in charge of food and lunch, occupational therapist Sharla Hasegawa, Samuel Mahelona Hospital Auxiliary President Betty Matsumura and nutritionist Colleen McCrackin.
Kendyce Manguchei, Life and Styles writer, can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
