WAILUA — The sight that greeted Marcia Jungas and Kathy Romig of San Diego, California, was unlike anything they had seen before. Enjoying the tidal pool at Lydgate Park on the final day of their vacation, the couple were amazed
WAILUA — The sight that greeted Marcia Jungas and Kathy Romig of San Diego, California, was unlike anything they had seen before.
Enjoying the tidal pool at Lydgate Park on the final day of their vacation, the couple were amazed and impressed with the flotilla of long-term care patients from the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital in the water.
“This is marvelous,” Jungas said. “It looks like everyone is having fun.”
The beach outing, the second for Mahelona Hospital this summer, was planned to coincide with the visit of 15 students from the Okinawa Prefectural College of Nursing, said Josie Pablo, the recreational activities director for Mahelona.
“We’ll have a bon dance on Friday night, too,” she said. “It will give the students a feeling of home, plus show them how we do bon dances here.”
Pablo said the outing and bon dance are annual events for the hospital, but because the hospital is celebrating its 90th anniversary, the events became part of the “90 Days of Celebration.”
“It’s so good to see the students doing this,” said Akiko Conquest, a Kapa‘a resident who came to the event when she found out about it. “Normally, the students are so shy when they come here, but look at them — they’re laughing and talking and having a good time. And, this is part of their learning.”
Conquest, who came from Osaka, Japan, said there isn’t a program like this in Japan.
“In Japan, they have programs, but it’s different,” Conquest said. “It takes so much money to operate and many don’t make it. I hope these students bring back what is happening here and speak up so these kinds of program can take place there.”
But the program would not be possible without the cooperative effort of many different agencies, Pablo said.
“We use the Kaua‘i Bus to help move the patients from the hospital to the beach and back,” she said. “And there are all the different branches of the hospital that get involved in coming to the beach, preparing a picnic lunch and getting the residents back.”
Among those involved are the hospital’s dietary, nursing, physical therapy, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, grounds and the Mahelona Auxiliary, Pablo said.
When the hospital first started doing the beach outings, it was dependent on its own bus with help coming from Boy Scouts Troop 83 and coordination with the auxiliary.
But over the years, the Kaua‘i Community College Nursing program has stepped in to volunteer, and the outing coincides with the arrival of the Okinawa college students who touched down on Kaua‘i Sunday for a two-week stay. The students get a taste of American medical practices while honing their skills in the English language and getting a taste of Hawaiiana.
The massive coordination effort of getting all the pieces in place belongs to Pablo, Placido Valenciano, one of the hospital staff members, said.
“If it wasn’t for Josie, we’d be stuck at the hospital doing the same thing in the same place, like any other day,” he said. “This is all Josie!”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
