Guest Viewpoint for Friday — January 23, 2004

• Drug rehabilitation facility should not be located in former Wong’s Care Home

Drug rehabilitation facility should not be located in former Wong’s Care Home

By DENISE BROWN

I’m writing in regards to the Drug Rehabilitation Facility in the location of Wong’s Care Home. There are a great deal of concerns, especially the security and safety of our community that live in this area. Although I do realize that we so desperately are in need of such a facility, I strongly oppose the location.

Kapahi is such a wonderful, secure place, with reliable neighbors. We as a community feel safe with our surroundings. Maybe that’s why Wong’s Care Home was such a success at one time.

But now with this proposal our community feels threatened. The safety and security of our children, elderly, and families are at risk. And this is very disturbing for me because I too have family that live there and I do have future ties with the area at stake.

I have done some research on Drug Rehabilitation patients, the number one priority is that the patient themselves need to be ready for this intense transaction (life change). A supportive environment is needed for such individuals to have a positive outcome. It’s also based on a voluntary admission; no one is forced to stay at the facility against their will. They are able to leave on their own if they please to do so.

Without the support of such a strong community it will be hard to be successful with any type of proposal. Whether it is a Care Home, Rehabilitation Center, Piggery, Flower Farm, Housing Development, you name it, what ever it may be. The community needs to be involved and a part of the development because this will affect their future (family).

Of course there were many occasions that I (as a child and adult) have encountered the Wong’s patients. Whether they were coming over to use the phone, asking for a cigarette, walking through our property / pasture, trying to “run away”, or even weeding our yard in the middle of the night. There were even some occasions that obscene gestures like exposing themselves and inappropriate language was used, all of these were reported to the Care Home staff. These are just a few encounters that I have experienced throughout the years of growing up there. It just goes to show that there will always be some kind of inter-action with the patients and community.

For my own personal security I took such measures as planting large heliconia plants near the property line to have some kind of privacy. Also having to tie-out two large dogs as well, they were my alarm system, should anyone be on the property or nearby, they would bark. We also put up a fence to keep out those that did wonder off from the Care Home.

Kapahi is well known to be “way up in the sticks” so to speak. Yes it is nice to be surrounded with peace and quiet (nature). It’s secluded from all the hustle and bustle from our every day busy life, as we all well know “Modern Society”. And this is what we need to do, is to help these individuals to get back into society with a positive attitude, “I know I can succeed” in an environment where other facilities are easily accessible to their needs such as educational classes, support groups, employment, voluntary help services and so much more. All of this needs to be at arm’s length to have a successful outcome.

These individuals that are going through the Drug Rehabilitation have many challenges ahead of them, emotionally, and socially. They will not be a positive influence on our children that are in the area. So many of us take walks, go fishing, horseback riding, bike ride, even swim at the nearest swimming holes. Just the thought of an encounter with a patient that will be unstable is unnerving.

There is another issue in regards to the property itself. One of the structures extends over onto our property which needs to be addressed and properly dealt with. Also the maintenance of the buildings and adjacent property needs to be fixed and clean as well. There are some health issues that need to be taken care of such as the water sewage problems. The existing greenery needs to be well maintained, there are times that the fallen trees and branches would block our driveway on many occasions.

So I urge you to pleases take into consideration all of my concerns as well as safety factors that will affect both the community and individuals that will be affected by this proposal. I strongly believe that Wong’s Care Home is not an adequate and suitable location for a Drug Rehabilitation Center.

Denise I. Brown is a former Kapahi resident who currently lives in Lihu’e.