Program for Hana Elders Gets HMSA Grant

By Wendy Osher

Wheel-chair accessible Kupuna cottage, Maui Now file photo.

The Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike Building Program in Hana, Maui is among eight local health programs in the state that were included in the latest round of grant awards from HMSA.  The first quarter grant awards from the Hawaii Medical Service Association total $195,533.

The Hana program was awarded $30,000 to support Malama Na Kupuna, a program in which at-risk youth build handicap-access improvements and cottages for elders in the Hana community.  By assisting elders, youth gain valuable skills while making a difference in the community where they live.  The program specifically addresses community health issues, such as overcrowding of facilities for kupuna with disabilities.

Another Maui program awarded an HMSA grant this time around is the Maui Memorial Medical Center Behavioral Health Partial Hospitalization Program.  The program, which falls under the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, is an intensive interdisciplinary psychiatric outpatient program for patients who lack skills to function independently but do not need the confinement of acute hospitalization. The grant award was in the amount of $16,500.

Other grant recipients include:

• $100,000 to Friends of Family Specialty Courts, a program that ensures families receive coordinated care through collaborative case conferencing.
• $5,000 to Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, to support the printing and distribution of the 2011 Hawaii Directory of Elected Officials.
• $4,158 to Hawaii Primary Care Association, to support the Training for Community Health Center Staff session at the Healthcare Financial Management Annual Conference in April.
• $24,375 to Hui Malama O Ke Kai Foundation, to support the Capacity Building and Organizational Leadership Project, a grassroots intervention program in Waimanalo.
• $5,500 to Shriners Hospital for Children, to support the Ho‘olilo Weight Management Program, a multidisciplinary program involving nutrition counseling and physical activity training for children.
• $10,000 to Special Olympics Hawai’i, to train athletes, including Neighbor Island participants, for statewide competitions on May 27, 28, and 29.

“Funding from the HMSA Foundation will go toward ensuring that yearly competitions, training, and the State Games can continue. These services to our athletes, along with other programs we offer, create change and provide ways to enhance quality of life,” said Nancy Bottelo, president and chief operating executive of Special Olympics Hawai’i.

“The HMSA Foundation is proud to support worthwhile community health programs across the state,” said Mark Forman, executive administrator of the HMSA Foundation. “Investing in the health of our Islands is really about building healthy families and healthy communities for today and tomorrow,” he said.

The HMSA Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization that aims to stimulate research of pressing issues facing Hawai’i’s health care industry. It was founded in Hawaii in 1986 as a public foundation, but was converted to a private foundation in 1997 to allow for larger contributions from donors.