AARP To Honor Baker and Souki as Legislators of the Year

AARP Hawai’i will host an advocacy celebration and award ceremony on Monday, Aug. 22 to honor Sen. Rosalyn Baker and House Speaker Joseph Souki as “AARP Legislators of the Year” for their leadership in championing the passage of the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable Act in the 2016 Legislative Session.

More than 150,000 unpaid family caregivers in Hawai’i will now receive additional support as a result of the important bill being signed into law.

House Speaker Joe Souki. File photo by Wendy Osher.

The event will recognize other Maui lawmakers, community supporters, family caregivers and AARP volunteers who raised awareness of the daily challenges facing family caregivers and their critical role in performing often complex medical procedures as part of aftercare following discharge.

Also in attendance will be Rep. Angus McKelvey, Rep. Justin Woodson and Rep. Kyle Yamashita. They too will be recognized for their support of family caregivers.

The CARE Act requires acute care hospitals to:

1) Designate a caregiver which will be recorded on the patient’s health record.

2) Notify caregivers prior to their loved one’s discharge or transfer to another facility.

3) Offer the caregiver the opportunity to receive instructions on medical tasks needed to be performed at home following discharge.

Sen. Roz Baker. File photo by Wendy Osher.

“We are excited to be honoring Sen. Baker and Speaker Souki as ‘AARP Legislators of the Year,’ as well as other lawmakers, for their support of family caregivers in Maui and across all of Hawai’i,” said Barbara Kim Stanton, AARP Hawai’i State Director. “Often times, family caregivers are unprepared and uninformed on how to care for their loved ones when they are discharged from the hospital, and they need instructions on how to perform the necessary tasks such as medications management, administering injections and wound care – which will help in the patient’s recovery.”

Deborah Stone-Walls, Director of Maui Office on Aging, will be offering remarks. AARP Hawai’i’s Advocacy Director Audrey Suga-Nakagawa will also shed light on how AARP plans to educate family caregivers in Hawai’i about what comes next now that the law has passed.

AARP will also be live tweeting from the event (@AARPHawaii), and conducting a Facebook Live stream.

The event will be hosted at King Kamehameha Golf Club, 2500 Honoapiʻilani Highway in Wailuku from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.