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Stories
(Published in 2005)
A community partnership in Hawaii is tapping an often-overlooked resource—public access television—to raise awareness of health care programs and services for older adults.
The Maui Long Term Care Partnership (MLTCP) is airing an array of informational programs on Akaku: Maui Community TV, which serves the 115,000 residents of the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
“A key challenge to improving long term care and supportive services systems is creating buzz about the issues,” says Anthony “Tony” Krieg, who chairs the partnership and is the CEO and president of Hale Makua, an eldercare organization. “We’re using public access television as a catalyst to provide older adults, their caregivers and the community with crucial information about the state of long term care here.”
Crisis in Senior Services
Maui, like thousands of other U.S. communities, is facing a crisis due to a lack of services for older adults. “Baby boomers are aging at a time when Social Security benefits are in jeopardy and government funding for health-care programs is decreasing,” Krieg says. “Moreover, there is a shortage of nurses and other health-care workers, even as demand for services is surging.”
Policymakers and stakeholders “can debate the issues all they want,” he adds. “To help find solutions, our citizens must be well informed—and part of the answer is providing them with accurate, timely information using a resource that sometimes is underused, or even ignored, in communities nationwide.”
Public access TV is especially important in Maui County, which doesn’t have a local network television station. Many residents thus watch Akaku for coverage of public hearings and for updates on community or cultural happenings, as well as to tune in talk shows on current events.
Pairing Up
The Maui partnership soon recognized the potential to combine the power of Akaku’s reach with its own grassroots-planning model to improve access to and coordination of services for older adults. And it never hurts to have a friend in high places: Sean McLaughlin, Akaku’s CEO, is part of MLTCP’s leadership team. McLaughlin not only approved the pairing, but subsequently provided much-needed leverage to coordinate public service announcements and cultivate articles about long term care issues in the Maui News and regional community newspapers.
“With Akaku as our partner, public access television became more than about access to one camera or one show,” says Rita Barreras, project coordinator for MLTCP’s strategic planning initiative. “It became part of our communications strategy.”
Talking the Talk
In Hawaii, “talk story” means talking and listening island-style, taking an informal, conversational approach to communication, including using local phrases and common words such as “aloha” (hello) and “mahalo” (thank you).
The Maui partnership, recognizing the significance of “talk story,” uses it as the touchstone for all its programs airing on Akaku.
“Maui citizens are more apt to connect with programs presented in a style that they are comfortable with and respect,” Barreras says. “Building that type of foundation goes a long way toward gaining trust and buy-in for our initiatives.”
Specifically, the partnership uses “talk story” to:
- encourage people to learn more about long term care on the island;
- help create Maui’s regional planning and communication structure;
- recruit people to participate in addressing island-wide long term care issues;
- provide updates on progress; and
- develop solutions for improving long term care and supportive services systems.
Each public-access show produced on behalf of the partnership stems from a specific issue or need. “Opinions Maui,” for example, served as a live forum for residents to call in with questions about long term care on Maui and the neighboring islands of Lanai and Molokai.
Legislative issues are also addressed. Akaku’s educational affiliate, the Maui Community College channel, devoted an entire program to the Long Term Care Tax Bill, a 2003 initiative to fund community-based long term care services. Though that legislation subsequently was vetoed by the state legislature, the public-access show sparked significant dialogue and debate.
Recent shows additionally have brought together people from all walks of life—including policymakers, providers and older adults—to discuss ways to improve the island’s long term care and support services system. Further, because Akaku airs public hearings, MLTCP representatives who testify before county commissioners or town selectmen reach a broad audience. Akaku’s viewing cycle also means it can air a program multiple times each month, allowing key messages to be seen by even more viewers.
Equally important, public access television offers the benefit of creative control. The Maui partnership owns the finished Akaku programs and is free to use them, as well as any filmed footage, for its outreach campaign.
And it’s not just televised programs that have proven beneficial. Akaku has produced several videos on behalf of MLTCP, funded by Akaku’s own resources, in addition to grants from the County of Maui and the Hawaii Community Foundation. The videos focus on how long term care is organized and financed in Maui, and on what new models of service delivery might be available.
All told, the Maui partnership’s array of initiatives with Akaku has enhanced communication island-wide and, yes, created buzz. “Many of these programs get people talking, and that often leads to local media coverage,” says Krieg, citing radio talk shows and area newspapers as examples.
“Akaku and its affiliates have allowed us to become a spark for community education, bringing together people with varied backgrounds and experiences to identify new ways of using scarce resources,” Krieg says. “Public access television is empowering our mission to help meet the long term care needs of older adults.”
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