Young Brothers gives to Easter Seals

LIHU‘E — Members of the Young Brothers Foundation recently got the chance to see how some of their community grants will benefit Kaua‘i’s people.

Faye Hirayama, physical therapist at the Kaua‘i Easter Seals, explained how foam-in-place seating cushions work to help clients with scoliosis cope with their disease. Funds from the Young Brothers grant will be used to procure supplies for this system, which can provide different densities of foam cushions to fit children and adults but can also be quite costly.

Shayne Tokita, director of the Easter Seals, said that they were really fortunate to have Hirayama on staff at their Aikahi Street location, and with the in-house Liquid SunMat system that Hirayama trained for, scoliosis patients can now have their special cushions done in a day or two instead of the 6-month wait they had to endure before Easter Seals picked up the system.

In addition to the cushioning system, Hirayama also showed Foundation members the splinting system used to help scoliosis patients. Part of the Young Brothers grant will also be used to get supplies for this system. When both systems are utilized, it allows the Easter Seals to begin treatment 6 months sooner instead of having to have the patient and their families travel to O‘ahu for measurements and then having to wait for the cushions and splints to be made. Hirayama noted that it is important to get an early start in the treatment of scoliosis.

Hirayama pointed out that under Tokita’s leadership, the Kaua‘i Easter Seals office has done a lot of innovative things, many being firsts in the state.

Easter Seals of Kaua‘i services children and families from birth to three years of age and works with any child with special needs, working in all areas of development, as well as working with their families, Tokita said.