Tara Benson practices the skills she has learned at the Kupuna Education Center at Kapiolani Community College.

"And I started working at Kupuna education center and I really didn't know much about gerontology but they told me that they had these classes and a lot of the skills that you're going to be learning are also related to occupational therapy,” said Tara Benson.

Tara has a personal interest in her classes.  "Yes, I have elderly grandparents that are very active right now but in the near future, they will have to look into either a caregiver come into the home or possibly relocating to somewhere else."

We watched Tara practicing some of the skills she has learned - skills that she didn't expect to achieve in the beginning.

"After taking the course, completing the course, learning more about seniors, and their needs and the needs that aren't getting met, I really started to gain an interest in the topic and now I would be more than happy to be the first family member to volunteer,” said Benson.

Now that she has these skills, where does Tara go to find work?

"We have lots of home care agencies that families can go to hire someone to come take care of them, so the home care agencies will hire them and then families can hire them directly also,” said Tony Hathaway of the Kupuna Education Center.

Tara took the full 7 weeks of classes - and it was hard work.

"It is actually kind of fun also, I mean it's a lot of work but there's a fun aspect to it, too.  I think she got an appreciation of what it's like to work with elders and what some of their concerns are,” said Hathaway.

"Once I get older, I want to be able to give back to them, the way they've given to me so I hope that my children will feel the same way,” said Benson.

KUPUNA EDUCATION CENTER 734-9108

www.kupunaeducation.com