For months, elderly and disabled residents in four state-owned housing projects have had to wait as long as 30 minutes for elevator service, virtually marooning many tenants in their upper-floor apartments and endangering others in need of emergency medical care, according to state officials and building residents.

Officials of the state Public Housing Authority blamed the problems on obsolete equipment. The officials said they are working to repair the elevators, but the work may take at least three more months.

"We want the residents to know we're not ignoring them," said Pamela Dodson, outgoing head of the housing authority. "I know they're frustrated. So are we."

Since mid-2005, the state has canceled one public housing elevator repair contract, awarded another on a nonbid basis and now is in the process of competitively awarding a new repair and maintenance contract.

At Kalanihuia, on 'A'ala Street, a main elevator has been broken and unrepaired since at least March, leaving only one smaller elevator in service.

There also are broken elevators at the Kalakaua Homes and Paoakalani Homes for the elderly on Kalakaua Avenue near Waikiki and the Ho'olulu and Kamalu elderly housing apartments in Waipahu, said Dodson, whose last day on the job was Friday.

Eighty-nine-year-old Kam Chock Lau lives on the 15th floor of the 16-story Kalanihuia building. She said she suffers from hypertension and heart problems, and when her heart problems recently flared up, she called her grandson for help, then walked downstairs 15 stories to meet him in the lobby.

"Since the elevator is so slow, I told my grandson I was going to walk down the stairs," Lau said though an interpreter.

Her grandson took her to a hospital, where she was treated overnight, she said.

Emergency medical technicians called to the building must wait for elevator service and have problems fitting all their equipment inside the smaller elevator when it does arrive, said Clarissa Hosino, president of the Kalanihuia residents association.

Many residents are in wheelchairs or use walkers, meaning at best only three or four people can fit in the single working elevator at one time, contributing to the delays, Hosino said.

Shu Feng Hu, 82, a 16th-floor resident, said she was stuck inside one of the elevators at Kalanihuia for two hours about six months ago.

Thomas Tan's mother, Wah Pau, 80, also lives on the 16th floor and rarely leaves her apartment, Tan said.

"Sometimes both elevators have been down," he said. "She's afraid that she's going to get stuck inside, so she doesn't want to come down.

"I come every day. I'm worried about her. I want her to get outside more."

Betty Lou Larson, an elderly housing specialist with Catholic Charities Hawaii, said broken elevators represent "potential disaster" for affected residents.

"Even aside from the medical response issues, there are physical and mental health issues," Larson said.

"Elderly and disabled people need to get out of their apartments. People who are isolated tend not to be as healthy, mentally or physically. They need to socialize. They need to go shopping at the neighborhood store. That's really important for seniors. They have a connection with a clerk at the bank, at the supermarket. It's a part of daily life, where they feel they're part of the community."

Yuk Pang Law, who runs Hawaii Immigrant Services, which assists Chinese immigrants, said many of the Kalanihuia tenants speak little English and are afraid of complaining.

Larson said the same thing, adding that tenants of the low-income projects don't want to do anything that they fear would jeopardize their housing status.

But more than two dozen agreed to meet with The Advertiser on Thursday because they are so frustrated by the elevator problems at the building, said Law, who translated remarks by Chinese-speaking residents.

Derek Fujikami, the engineer in charge of a state project to repair and modernize elevators in all public housing projects, said there are problems finding replacement parts for the broken elevators in the elderly housing projects and at Kuhio Park Terrace.

At KPT, the twin-towered high-rise public housing project in Kalihi, four of six elevators are out of service, creating long delays and deep frustrations among residents there.

State personnel and private repair companies have said obsolete equipment and repeated vandalism have contributed to delays in fixing elevators at KPT.

"Kuhio Park Terrace is our No. 1 priority," Fujikami said. "This (Kalanihuia) is No. 2."

Late last year, the state Public Housing Authority awarded two nonbid repair contracts to Hawaii Vertical Transportation Inc. for maintenance and repair of public housing elevators.

One of those contracts, worth $375,318, includes the broken elevators at the four elderly housing projects. It expires at the end of this month.

Michael Tomihara, chief executive of Hawaii Vertical, said the manufacturer of the elevators at Kalanihuia, U.S. Elevator, was "bought out by another company" and replacement parts are difficult to come by.

And the replacement part for the broken Otis elevator at Kalakaua Homes is no longer available, Tomihara said.

Repair work at Kuhio Park Terrace, he said, has been complicated by vandalism and "three years of neglect" before his company began work at the facility.

Tomihara's firm received a $50,000 nonbid emergency contract to repair the KPT elevators. That contract expires in October. Last month, three of six elevators there were out of service. Now four are broken.

Fujikami said the state is awarding a new repair and maintenance contract to cover all 35 public housing elevators, but the deal has not been finalized.

The repair work should be done "within the next three months," Fujikami said.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration is planning a complete overhaul and modernization of all public housing elevators and is in the process of selecting a consultant to begin planning that job. The administration estimated the cost of the work to be $15 million.

The Legislature this year appropriated $5 million toward the modernization and repair work.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.