Q: Why is the Department of Health's Leeward Placement and Continuing Services Office moving from Waimano Home & Training School to Dillingham Plaza in Kalihi? This office houses all the social workers for the Leeward District, who are responsible for hundreds of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled clients in the area, including my sister. It not only creates a hardship for many of them, but it also forces the state to move from a rent-free facility to someplace where they will have to pay rent. I don't think this is proper. Leeward social workers
now ‘more accessible’It may not look like it, but the location actually should be more convenient, said Health Department spokesman Patrick Johnson.
The 14 people affected - 11 of them "case managers" - will be moved to an office already rented by the state. The idea was to "move the office off the mountain and make it more accessible" to 600-700 clients by being on the bus line and in a shopping center, Johnson said.
The first choice was a location in Pearl City, "but there was not enough money to pay for that," he said. "The plan is to eventually move the office to Kapolei, where a structure is being built. But that's down the road."
Meanwhile, the workers who do not deal directly with clients are being transferred to Waimano.
- On-call water board workers use city vehicles
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