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So I want you to know, I mean, and I ask you to please support this amendment because it’ll only
<br />benefit the consumers, people with disability on the island of Hawai`i. Thank you.
<br />ALAMEDA:Thank you, Ms. Miranda. Any questions? Commissioner Salavea?
<br />SALAVEA:Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Is it Dr. Miranda?
<br />MIRANDA:No. Bernie Miranda.
<br />SALAVEA:All right. Thank you, Bernie. Can you give us an example of what,
<br />you’ve heard some of the testimony and we’ve had previous testimony in Kona about how a
<br />service provider is not integrating well or working well with the community that it has come
<br />into. Can you give us an example of what measures the Department of Health can institute
<br />towards a service provider that is having a difficult time integrating?
<br />MIRANDA:We try very hard. We have to follow the Fair Housing Law, so it’s kind of
<br />a, you know, we have to be very cognizant of that. But we try very hard to be good neighbors
<br />and good tenants; and so we try to work with the communities. We can’t red tag the houses
<br />because, you know, I’m saying, our folks, our people with disabilities, are protected by Fair
<br />Housing Laws. They’re a protected class of folks. So just like you wouldn’t, you know, say,
<br />have a meeting, you know -. If a particular family was moving into the neighborhood, you
<br />certainly can’t have a meeting unless it’s a licensed home, if you’re opening up a regular group
<br />home that might be certified. But we still, in spite of that, try to work with the neighbors and try
<br />to get them, be attentive to their concerns, because I think that’s really important. To be good
<br />neighbors you have to sometimes, even you’re walking on the edge of the law. You have to try
<br />to work with people, you know, so that people are more open to having you as a neighbor.
<br />ALAMEDA:Mr. Salavea, follow-up?
<br />SALAVEA:Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in your experience, you’ve seen homes that, or
<br />you’ve seen I guess both types of cases where, you know, maybe a home gets opened in a
<br />community and, you know, right off the bat it’s smooth, it runs well, things are all right; and then
<br />maybe the other extreme of that scale would be something where there’s a lot of community
<br />opposition, people, you know, or the community opposed to it. I’m trying to look for a
<br />percentage or how often is it good or bad, I mean, is it more on the side where it takes time to
<br />establish that repertoire between the service provider and the community?
<br />MIRANDA:We’ve had homes that have opened up in communities where the
<br />communities were very supportive right off the bat. And we have had our challenges, and I’ll
<br />give you an example. Right here in Hilo when we opened up the licensed Crises Residential
<br />Shelter on Apoki Street, it was very difficult for the neighbors initially, and rightfully so, because
<br />of what was perpetuated in the media about people with mental illness. I mean, it’s always like
<br />killers on the loose, or that, you know, they’re going to come and terrorize the neighborhood,
<br />there’s going to be traffic problems, etc., etc., etc. And, so we had a, because it was a licensed
<br />facility, we had a meeting with the neighbors, and invited the neighbors to come to the house,
<br />and we had a little potluck; and they came en mass to the house. It kind of, this is kind of
<br />interesting, they kind of all grouped at the mailbox, and then they all came down the hill
<br />together. And we talked and they talked; and there was a lot of anger; and they stated their
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