Providing Hands-on Care For Kupuna

By Jim Cone, vice president/general manager, Kupuna Concierge

In the next 10 years there will be 300,000 people between the ages of 65 and 100 living on the island of Oahu. Per capita, this is the largest concentration of elderly in the United States. A very large percentage of these kama’aina will need physical, mental and emotional assistance of one kind or another (as will their families), and many may not have the needed resources.

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Some of the Kupuna Concierge staff, (front, from left: Valerie Takahashi and Jim Cone; (back) Kelly Kawamura, Kimiyo Barnett, Susan Pearlman, Lisa Sekiya, Margaret (Peg) Williams, Kelly Hironaka, Krystle Rasos, and Kathy Miyamoto. Photo from Kupuna Concierge

The question is, how is our society preparing for this “aging” phenomenon?

Child & Family Service (CFS) is a highly effective private, nonprofit agency that has been strengthening families and fostering the healthy development of children for more than 113 years. CFS has 39 programs, and two years ago created Kupuna Concierge (KC), an in-home personal assistant care business for seniors.

KC is a social enterprise for CFS. With both federal and state funding to nonprofits presently at a vulnerable time in history, CFS not only wants to build a business that will fund and support programs (especially gerontology programs) serving the needy, but do so in an exceptional way.

KC is a fee-based program that provides an exceptional level of care and highly personal customer service. Personal assistants care for kupuna in their homes. KC management has more than 20 years of hands-on care-giving experience and staff supervision. Clients range from a 55-year-old with early dementia who needs help traveling and preparing meals, to a 91-year-old who needs 24/7 care. KC, along with its exceptional care of our kupuna, is able to utilize the many departments of the 350-employee Child & Family Service, from IT to maintenance to its many family areas of social services, to provide a full concierge service.

All in all, Kupuna Concierge is CFS’s answer to a needed out-of-the-box solution to help continue funding a mission to serve the truly needy and bring dignity to those in their later stages of life. The Hawaii senior care market has growing vitality, as do the need and expectations for exceptional service.

For more information, visit kupunaconcierge.com or call 543-8423.