This week, we’d like to highlight Hale Makua Health Services and the wonderful work they do here for elders in the Maui community. Hale Makua is a non-profit organization that provides Maui elders with residential care regardless of their ability to pay. Their mission is to give elders compassionate health services, improve their well-being and honor the journey of their lives. Over the years, Hale Makua has earned its own impressive journey to share with those who are interested in learning how it all began.
Hale Makua was founded in 1946. After World War II, members of the community and the Young Buddhist Association joined forces to raise money to build the first 24-bed home in Happy Valley. Later, in 1953, they were given facilities at Malulani Hospital where they opened in 1968 as Hale Makua Wailuku. The facility is a 124-bed nursing home with an open-air design and garden setting.
As of 1968, Hale Makua also began providing nursing care for elders who prefer to remain in their own Maui homes during treatment. With the increasing demand for skilled care throughout the 1970s, Hale Makua opened its Kahului location in 1978. They established an adult day health program in 1987 for adults who needed a safe environment during the day, where those who needed it would get restorative and rehabilitative health services.
That’s not the end of Hale Makua’s impressive history of adaptation and expansion to meet the needs of the community. In 1996, the Weinberg Care Center opened, and Hale Makua Kahului expanded by 118 beds. In 2002, they added a short-stay rehab wing of another 16 beds, bringing the total number of beds at the facility to 254. Finally, in 2007, Hale Makua became the first and only Eden Alternative registered home in Hawaii, and their Adult Residential Home Care opened in 2013.
It seems fitting that an organization with so many years of its own rich history should see to the needs of the elderly, who have lived through their own incredible journeys in time. The same philosophy of nurturing that guides Hale Makua to take care of Maui’s elders is likely the impetus of its own endurance, although the remarkable people who fostered its growth and services to the community may not have realized this.
If you’re interested in learning more or contributing to this special organization, visit HaleMakua.org. As always, those of you in search of Maui real estate will find our contact information at the bottom of the page. We would be happy to lend you our expert assistance. Mahalo!
