Dad Moves to Maunalani

This afternoon Dad left Kaiser Moanalua and went to Maunalani Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (MNRC or Maunalani). About an hour before he was due to be picked up, Nurse Christy gave Dad his oxycodone so that he would have less pain when he needed to be moved. Hospital Aide Emi cleaned Dad up and changed him out of his hospital gown and put him in his shorts & t-shirt.

Dad has been cleaned up and is watching TV while he waits for the transport van.

The hospital aides and Nurse Christy moved Dad to the gurney. And Aaron from ABC Transport Services loaded Dad up in to his van and took him to Maunalani. We followed and met Aaron at the 3rd floor entrance to MNRC.

Aaron loads Dad up on the transport van.

When we arrived at Maunalani, we signed in, got our ID badges, and headed to Dad's room that he is sharing with 2 other patients. Dad's room has a great view, unfortunately he doesn't have the window bed, though he is in the middle bed so he can see more of the view, than the fellow by the door.

Most of the windows look southerly towards Leahi, the other looks southwesterly towards Pearl Harbor.

After the aides and nurses got Dad settled in, I met with Kirsten from Admissions, gave her copies of the Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), Advance Health-Care Directive, power of attorney paperwork, and signed all the admission paperwork. The previous night I had gotten on-line and looked at Maunalani's website; I found out they have a monthly newsletter and events calendar. The newsletter noted that there was a display of origami dolls throughout the month and a talk by the director of the State Office of Veterans' Services this afternoon so I went to look for those.

The display case the origami dolls are in was donated by the family of Dad's friend Walter & his wife Sally.

Ron speaks to the Veterans Club; Walter & Sally's daughter Lynn is at the far right.

Treats served at the Veterans Club meeting.

I spoke with Lynn after the meeting and told her we had moved Dad in about 3 hours earlier; she said she and her sister Lei had been wondering how Dad was doing. She went to his room a little later to visit with him; he remembered her! Lynn also comes to play ukulele for the residents on Mondays & Fridays; I'm going to try to get Dad out of bed for that. She also showed me around some of the facility on the 3rd floor. The dining room is on the 3rd floor; she showed me which table the 442nd veterans sit at, she said there is a space available for Dad. Lynn said to give her a call if we had any questions.

The view out the dining room windows; this looks out over Palolo Valley.

Later Anna came to take Dad's photo for their records. When anyone opens his electronic file, his photo pops up giving them another way to verify that they are treating the correct person.


After dinner Physical Therapist Zhanna came by to assess Dad's current physical ability. Because of the pain he is experienceing from the severe arthritis in his hip, she decided we need to have the nurses give Dad his pain medication about an hour before the physical therapy session to reduce his pain. He wasn't able to even get to the edge of the bed to sit up; she ended up just doing simple things, mainly passive range of motion and some active assisted range of motion while Dad lay in bed. The past 8 days of lying bed have really taken a toll on Dad's strength.

Zhanna doing assisted range of motion exercies with Dad.

I spoke with Nurse Rio about Dad's medications since I had not seen him getting any; she said for new patients that arrive in the afternoon, the medications arrive from the pharmacy about 8 pm. She said she would start the Ceftriaxone as soon as it arrived; she said the Oxycodone would also arrive at that time, in the meanwhile she is giving Dad Tylenol. Before I left she had me confirm all the other medications Dad is taking. On the way out I took a photo of Leahi from the patio area; they have great views from Maunalani! I hope Dad can get strong enough to get in to a wheelchair so that I can take him out to see the views.

#37 Leahi at twilight.

Happy Birthday to Kip!