The Plaza at Punchbowl
| Client: | Sound Health Management |
| Location: | Honolulu, HI. |
| Use: | Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care |
| Unit Count: | 108 |
| Building Area: | 100,000 SF |
The Plaza at Punchbowl offers a high level of personal care through its assisted living and memory care programs, offering independent living as well. Located on the slopes of Punchbowl crater above downtown Honolulu, this six-story structure with secure, below-grade parking, offers spectacular views of the City, Diamond Head and the Pacific Ocean. The interior of the Plaza at Punchbowl community carefully combines the many cultures represented by the residents.
The Memory Care and Assisted Living Plus floors allow frail residents to socialize and dine in their own residential neighborhoods, while the Pikake dining room serves gourmet offerings to active residents and their guests. Menu items served in the dining room include dishes from Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, American, Mexican, Korean, and Italian cultures and utensils such as saimin bowls and chopsticks are used.
Activity areas are designed to support and nurture the many cultures. Seventy-five percent of The Plaza's resident population is Asian, many of whom are Japanese.
Shopping trips to the local grocery and the Japanese store are scheduled regularly, allowing residents to pick up specialty items like ume, edamame and kim chee, as are excursions to the Japanese Cultural Center, Buddhist temple, and the Hawaiian Plantation.
Nursing staff respect the hygiene culture as well. For example, residents of Japanese heritage are accustomed to bathing with a washbowl (bucket) in the shower. They fill the washbowl with water, use it with soap to wash and then use the shower to rinse off. This style of bathing comes from the idea of bathing oneself before entering the tub. It is common in Japan that the tub be filled and used for soaking rather than cleaning.
Caregivers remove their shoes prior to entering a resident's apartment. Caregivers learn common caregiving words in the resident's first language to help with communicate. On the Memory Care floor, residents whose primary language is not English tend to revert back to their first language.
